The shipping industry is absolutely huge. The size of it makes it extremely hard to understand how major carriers in this industry handle their synergy and logistics. According to UPS reports, they shipped 4.3 billion packages and documents in just a year 2013. This now leads to us questioning just how many such items were shipped by the USPS, FedEx, or other players in the industry like DHL. A 2009 study conducted by North American Technographics Retail Online Survey conducted on behalf of USP indicated that over 60% of customers who shopped online wanted affordable shipping and handling charges.
While most of this population wants free shipping, most of them are quite willing to settle for alternative-low-cost shipping. This leads to the biggest question- what are the best ways with which one can secure low flat rate shipping prices for your online store without needing big volume contracts? Most of these eCommerce stores are not even eligible to get this kind of volume contract.
Stamps.com
Stamps.com is one of the leading providers of discounted USPS postage that allows you to retain a basic membership for about $15 a month. Using this membership, users are given access to discounted shipping rates through USPS and shipping insurance. This is a great way for you to get lower prices on packages shipped out from your online stores daily. There are no necessary contracts, and the interface is relatively easy and simple. It is also designed in a manner to facilitate most eCommerce shopping carts and order management systems.
Endicia
This is the biggest rival of Stamps.com and is own by Tupperware maker Rubbermaid. Endicia, like its rival, offers customers access to discounted UPS postage and stealth postage, and easy label printing. They also offer great insurance deals- $0.65 per $100. Again like Stamps.com, it is contract-free and about the same membership cost.
Express 1
Express 1 represents absolute genius in the area of discount postages. By establishing relationships with different USPS, they have made a revolution. Using their strategies, they secured commercial plus pricing on Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express packages. This is mainly used for businesses that ship over 150,000 packages a year. Using this company, subscribers can ship packages weighing up to 20 pounds to anywhere in the US at meager rates with fast delivery of one to three days. Membership rates differ depending on the membership type.
Postage for this can be purchased whenever needed digitally. Any of the above three mentioned places can give you some of the best flat rate shipping prices. Even if you only manage to save only half a dollar on every package you ship, you could make phenomenal savings over the course of just one year. Imagine what you could do with your business and your life if you saved this much regularly!
