New Shipping and Mailing Rates Bring New Challenges and Opportunities for Businesses in 2019
January 24 2019 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Largest Discount Ever for Metered Mail Gives
Businesses Greater Incentive to Leverage Automation
Technology
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), a global technology company that
provides commerce solutions in the areas of ecommerce, shipping,
mailing, and data today noted that the recent rate increases by
FedEx® and UPS® and the pending January 27 rate increase for the
U.S. Postal Service (USPS®) will prompt U.S. businesses to adopt
new and innovative solutions and services to optimize their
mission-critical shipping and mailing operations.
Many of these businesses have exploding package volumes, with
needs in both mail and digital communications. The complexity of
managing multiple disparate carrier rate structures and systems for
packages, as well as mailing rates, is causing many businesses to
look for solutions and incentives to both lower their costs and
simplify their processes. New technology, tools and services are
available to help businesses simplify their operations by
integrating shipping and mailing, connecting physical sending with
digital systems and data, and delivering consolidated accounting
and reporting functions.
“Businesses are continually challenged to better manage their
shipping and mailing operations,” said Chris Giles, Vice President,
Global Product Management, Pitney Bowes. “Thankfully, there are new
cloud-based multicarrier solutions, like SendPro from Pitney Bowes,
available to help even the smallest shippers and mailers maximize
their budgets. These solutions help small businesses compare
package rates between carriers to best meet their customer
requirements and deliver like the big guys. For mailers, the
metering discount and presorting options, will allow businesses to
lower their overall mailing costs with each mail piece.”
Here are some of the key rate changes that could have
significant impact on most businesses:
Package Shipping Rates Rise Across the Board -- Package
shipping rates continue to rise for all three major U.S.
carriers.
- FedEx raised its FedEx Express package
and freight standard list rates by an average of 4.9 percent for
U.S., U.S. export and U.S. import services. It also raised its
FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery standard list rates by an
average of 4.9 percent as well.
- UPS increased its U.S. Ground, Air and
Freight rates by an average of 4.9 percent.
- USPS will institute an average rate
increase of 5.9 percent for Priority Mail®. Overall rates for First
Class Package Service will go up 11.9 percent and any package going
across the country will see a significant increase, anywhere from
$0.43-$1.43.
First-Class Mail® Rates Increase; But Greater Discounts
Available -- the price of a first-class stamp will increase
from $.50 to $.55; however, businesses that apply postage using a
postage meter instead of stamps, will now save $.05 on every
First-Class Mail letter they send.
In announcing the increase in the discount from $.03 to $.05 per
piece, the USPS noted that, “meter-based payment is more efficient
than stamp-based payment – it eliminates the need for stamp
production, distribution, and cancellation – and fosters more
consistent use of the postal system, slowing the migration of mail
volume to electronic channels. Small business volume in particular
should be protected by this decision.”
- Using a postage meter will save $.05
per piece, meaning instead of $.55 per piece, the cost is $.50. A
small business that sends 1000 pieces of mail per month can easily
save $600 in postage annually simply by using a meter. This metered
mail savings also applies to PC Postage®, Permit Imprints and
Pre-Cancelled stamps and is on top of the many other benefits of
metered mail, including convenience, accuracy, cost accounting,
security, and payment options.
* For more details on these rate changes, visit Pitney Bowes
Rate Change Central.
Here are three recommendations for businesses to optimize their
sending operations in 2019:
- Compare Rates. New cloud-based
solutions can help you deploy a consistent, unified and scalable
approach to sending packages and mail to gain greater control and
visibility into the true cost of shipping and mailing within your
organization. New technology can enable organizations to:
- Facilitate multi-carrier management,
enables selection of the best carrier for each package based on a
simple view of service level, cost and value
- Access USPS commercial-based savings
that aren’t available at the post office; saving up to 40% on
things like Priority Mail
- Initiate carrier pickup in real-time
from the desktop, tablet or mobile device
- Automatically reconcile all charges to
one account
- Improve the package receipt process, so
inbound tracking capability becomes as convenient as outbound
shipping
- Meter your Mail. Using a postage
meter saves 5 cents per piece for envelopes – up to 3.5 ounces.
This metered mail savings also applies to PC Postage®, Permit
Imprints and Pre-Cancelled stamps and is on top of the many other
benefits of metered mail, including convenience, accuracy, cost
accounting, security, and payment options.
- Use Presort Services. Presorting
helps maximize postal discounts and allows the mail to be
introduced into the postal system closer to its final destination,
generating deeper postal discounts and streamlining mailing
operations. Commingling your mail with mail from other businesses
will enable you to gain greater postage discounts while ensuring
your mail arrives on-time, at the right place.
Pitney Bowes is committed to helping businesses of all sizes
simplify their sending operations and thrive in the connected and
borderless world of commerce. For more information on the latest
rate changes and to learn how to simplify your sending operations,
visit www.pitneybowes.com.
About Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global technology company providing
commerce solutions that power billions of transactions. Clients
around the world, including 90 percent of the Fortune 500, rely on
the accuracy and precision delivered by Pitney Bowes solutions,
analytics, and APIs in the areas of ecommerce fulfillment, shipping
and returns; cross-border ecommerce; presort services; office
mailing and shipping; location data; and software. For nearly 100
years Pitney Bowes has been innovating and delivering technologies
that remove the complexity of getting commerce transactions
precisely right. For additional information visit Pitney Bowes, the
Craftsmen of Commerce, at www.pitneybowes.com.
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John Spadafora, 518-708-3466john.spadafora@pb.com
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