Using a Postal Service for Your Business: What Are the Benefits?

E-commerce business owners have a tendency to work with couriers instead of their national postal services. However, depending on where you live, your country’s postal service could be a much better option than a courier could. One of the main advantages of sending items to clients through the postal service is that you tend to get much better rates; additionally, the postal service is fully insured and will compensate you for any losses which some couriers will not.

If you are interested in using your nation’s postal service to send products, this post will tell you what the benefits of doing this will be:

Opening Hours

One benefit of the American postal service that’s often overlooked is its opening hours. Did you know that most post offices have much more flexible hours than courier depots do? The average courier depot is only open on weekdays whereas postal offices tend to be open on Saturdays and sometimes even Sundays too. Whether you’re visiting the Cocoa post office or one in New York or even Tallahassee you need to make sure that you check out its opening hours before making a committed decision to only ship using the postal service. Because different post offices have different opening hours you need to find one with a schedule that works for you.

Something else that makes post offices much better than courier depots is that generally speaking, they’re open on holidays too. Courier depots have a tendency to be closed on special days of the year. Another good thing about post offices is that even when they are closed they usually have drop-off boxes you can leave parcels and letters in when they are not open which you cannot do if you are sending via a courier.

Better Rates

When you ship using the postal service you tend to get access to much better rates than you would if you shipped using a courier. A lot of people are under the impression that couriers are cheaper but this is usually only true for international deliveries. If for your business you are going to be sending parcels to foreign countries then it is generally a better idea to send them using a courier as they can offer much more competitive rates. Domestically speaking though, the postal service is best.

If you are going to use the postal service because they offer better rates make sure that you conduct your own research first. In other words, don’t just take this post’s word for it. In some countries, the postal service offers horrendous domestic rates. This post will refer specifically to the United States. If you want to access good rates then you might be able to get better deals by partnering with the postal service and signing a formal contract with them as you would if you were planning on working with a private, independent courier company.

Faster Deliveries

Another advantage of working with the postal service is that they tend to deliver parcels a lot quicker. You can actually get overnight parcels sent so if you need something to arrive within a day that can be arranged. The postal service can actually send parcels internationally overnight depending on the location. If you plan on working with the postal service make sure that you check out what your specific postal office’s drop-off times are. If you do not drop parcels off on time then you won’t be able to access specific delivery slots (i.e., if parcels leave at 6 pm each day and you drop it off at 6:01 pm you won’t be able to get overnight delivery). You can find out about your local post office’s drop-off and delivery time slots on their website or by walking in and asking them. If you are a business owner then it might be worth partnering with a courier agency on the side just in case you ever miss your local post office’s delivery slots. An alternative to dropping parcels off at the post office is to have them collected which most post offices will be more than happy to arrange for you.

Parcel Insurance

When you work with the postal service you get much better insurance rates and deals than you would with a courier. Some courier companies outright refuse to reimburse clients when their parcels go missing. By sending parcels with the postal service you’ll be able to ensure you get money back if they do not arrive. Not only will you get your money back but so too will the client whose parcel has gone missing. When the postal service delivers parcels they take photographs of them which adds an extra layer of security and prevents people from being able to commit acts of fraud.

Customer Service

The postal service’s customer support department is very good. Because the postal service is the largest courier agency in the country (regardless of what that country is) they have to put a lot of focus on dealing with customer queries and complaints. When you send parcels through the postal service you get to benefit from their quality customer support department. If you encounter any problems or issues then you can field the directly to their customer service desk and have them resolved in a matter of hours. More complex issues might take a few days to resolve but will be resolved nonetheless.

Friendly Couriers

Another thing to note is that because the postal service is the largest mail distributor in the United States (and of course, your country’s will be the largest domestically too) and because customer support is very important, postmen tend to be a lot more polite than private couriers do. If they were not polite then they would not keep their jobs for very long. The postal service has very high standards when it comes to its employees’ attitudes. Postal workers that do not have good attitudes do not last very long and lose their jobs very quickly.

Sending mail with the postal service is your best option if you are a business owner. The postal service has much better rates and their employees are trained much better than private couriers are. Check your local post office’s rates and drop-off times and if you can ask if they offer partnerships.