USPS Priority Mail Vs USPS Flat Rate Service

Shipping margins are essential to the profitability and sustainability of the eCommerce business. If you are not managing your transport rates in the maximum cheap and efficient manner, then you're leaving cash at the table. One innovative method to decrease the transport charges is with USPS flat rate shipping.

Shipping margins are essential to the profitability and sustainability of the eCommerce business. If you are not managing your transport rates in the maximum cheap and efficient manner, then you're leaving cash at the table. One innovative method to decrease the transport charges is with USPS flat rate shipping.


With flat-price shipping, the weight of a bundle no longer affects the fee of delivery. If you deliver heavy items, then this could save cash. On the turn side, flat-price delivery may be more significant and highly-priced if your package is lightweight.


What is USPS Flat Rate Service?


USPS Priority Flat rate service is an option of shipping provided by the United States Postal Service that gives 1-three day transport offerings for a single flat price. A flat-rate service is appealing to many shippers because it gets rid of your packages' weight and load problems so one can easily calculate transport costs. As long as your bundle weighs under 70 pounds, you can use USPS flat rate service for shipping your packages.

Related: How Late Does USPS Deliver? A Complete Guide


What Does USPS Priority Mail Mean?


USPS Priority Mail is a convenient, cost-powerful approach for delivering priority mail packages in a well-timed manner. The method for shipping orders through Priority Mail is quite simple, making it an excellent alternative for small companies that don't have sources for delivering on their own.

USPS priority mail makes use of the weight of your bundle and the distance it travels to determine how much is priority express mail you'll pay to ship the item to the desired destination.

Related: Compare USPS Priority Mail to Priority Mail Express


Flat Rate Service Vs. Priority Mail Service


An excellent rule is to deliver packages that are small but heavy in weight through flat-rate service and massive in size and light weighted boxes by priority mail service. However, there's more to recollect than just that. In addition to size and weight, you'll need to think about where the package deal goes.


The flat-rate service has a free flat rate box provided by USPS that you may order online or choose up at your nearby post office. Those packages commonly ship within 1-3 business days for a flat price—no matter how they're traveling—and encompass tracking statistics. Smaller flat rate boxes often price much less than larger ones, so you'll generally want to get the smallest alternative to suit your product(s). 


When you operate USPS priority mail flat-charge delivery, it's simpler to predict delivery costs: you recognize precisely what you're getting without calculating delivery zones and measuring dimensions and weights. Online businesses have more flexibility and choice in the matter of packaging with priority mail. Instead of being required to apply USPS-branded packaging, you could use your very own designs on packages and envelopes.


Distance is also an important point to consider before choosing between priority mail and flat-rate service. You have to keep your destination in mind before selecting the service. Items traveling far distances will value more excellent with priority mail service. However, the cost of shipping is unchanged in case you're going to the flat charge service.


 USPS has an area chart to calculate the space between the origin zip code and delivery spot zip code. There are a complete 9 USPS zones, with zones 1-eight on the continental us, Alaska, Hawaii, and US territories, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Zone 9 zip codes consist of US territories, commonwealths, and freely related states that can be primarily based in the Pacific Ocean, such as Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands locations. Region 1 includes zip codes that are nearest to the origin zip code. The larger the zone variety, the similarly the destination zip code is – so zone 9 zip codes have the most distance from the origin zip code.

Related: How to Get Free Shipping Supplies from USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL


Conclusion

Flat rate shipping remains a popular shipping approach in eCommerce as it's very truthful – charge one rate no matter the shipment weight. But priority mail has its benefits; they both are different regarding cost and package size. You have to make an intelligent decision according to your item size whenever you pick between USPS flat-rate service and USPS priority mail service.

Learn More: What do the USPS Tracking Statuses Mean?