Priority Mail: What it is and when to use it
For many firms, postal mail remains a crucial avenue of communication. Snail mail isn’t renowned for being one of the fastest forms of communication, though. Even USPS First Class Mail might occasionally take up to five days to arrive.As a result, businesses want a postal mail service to send essential documents more quickly. The United States Postal Service developed Priority Mail for this reason. It achieves all of its goals in a way that normal or First Class Mail cannot.
What is Priority Mail?
The USPS offers priority mail, a practical and reasonably priced postal service. But the difference between it and the other postal mail services is how quickly it is delivered. Deliveries of Priority mail, according to USPS, can take up to three days.
However, USPS Priority Mail frequently reaches its destination in a single day. Typically, one of these three criteria serves as the USPS’s determiner for priority mail.
- Dimensions
- Weight
- Flat rate envelopes / boxes
Over all other postal mail services provided by the USPS, Priority Mail service is preferred by many businesses. The fact that it costs more than other postal services like First Class Mail is even more intriguing.
What makes Priority Mail good for business communication?
As you might have guessed, USPS Priority Mail includes all the features you could possibly need for postal business communications. Here are the various components of Priority Mail and how they can benefit your business communications.
- Six days, including Saturdays, for delivery
- Every day of the week besides Sundays allows delivery. As a result, you are no longer concerned that your mailer will not arrive on time since you sent it close to the weekend.
- Mail from any Post Office
- You have more flexibility because you can send mail from any nearby post office. It also means that you can use several printers located closer to the receiver to cut down on delivery time.
- Give the delivery person your Priority Mail
- When the delivery person makes their routine delivery, you can also give them the mailpiece. Additionally, there are no additional fees associated with your prepaid packages.
- There IS USPS Tracking Available
- You may follow the delivery of your direct mail at no additional cost thanks to Priority Mail’s built-in USPS tracking feature.
- Services for Package Pickup and On-Demand Pickup
- At the time of regular postal delivery, you can hand your mailer over to your delivery person at package pickup. You can choose a time for the USPS to pick up your priority mail at your home or office location using the Pickup on Demand service. Here, you can set a pickup time for your mail.
- Use stamps or a postage meter to pay for postage.
- You can use ordinary postage stamps or postage meters to pay for Priority Mail. If you have a USPSCA, or United States Postal Service Corporate Account, you cannot pay for Priority Mail postage.
- Free Postal Mail Return And Forwarding
- The fact that USPS provides free postal mail forwarding and return service is another noteworthy aspect of Priority Mail.
- Purchase additional services for your priority mail.
- For your mail, you can purchase additional services like insurance. The Domestic Priority Mail may receive insurance of $50 or $100 depending on the mode of payment.
Priority Mail Commercial Services
The fact that Priority Mail offers commercial services is one of the key factors influencing this. It provides a number of commercial services that let companies cut costs and organize their postal mail communications.
Priority Mail Commercial Base Pricing
If you are a company that uses IBI postage meters authorized by the USPS to pay for postage, then you can receive a discount off the list price. Priority Mail Commercial Base Price is the name of the discounted price.
For your mailer to be eligible for Commercial Base Prices, some requirements must be met. It contains guidelines on how to print IBI postage. Additionally, you need to be cautious about how you send the necessary data to the provider of the postal service.
Priority Mail Commercial Plus Pricing
Priority Mail can be purchased at Commercial Plus costs for businesses, which are even more discounted than retail. They should first be qualified for Commercial Base Prices before becoming eligible for Commercial Plus Prices for their mail.
There is also a volume requirement for receiving commercial plus Priority Mail rates. Therefore, if your company utilizes postal mail infrequently, this price is not appropriate for you. However, if you have a customer relationship with the Postal Service, the Commercial Plus pricing may be feasible.
The Commercial Plus pricing takes into account how you print IBI Postage, much as the Commercial prices mentioned above. Finally, it electronically sends the pertinent data to the postal service provider.
Priority Mail Commercial Cubic Pricing
Priority Mail Commercial Plus Cubic Pricing may be available to certain commercial clients or companies. Such prices are also less expensive than the high retail cost. The requirements for cubic pricing are not too difficult. The only thing you need to do is make sure the mail volume requirements are met.
Prior to being able to get Priority Mail Commercial Plus Cubic Pricing, your company must first be eligible for Commercial Base Plus Prices. Additionally, the package’s type, weight, and dimensions must all meet Commercial Plus Cubic requirements.
Priority Mail Regional Rate Box
Commercial Base and Commercial Plus clients are among the businesses that qualify for the Priority Mail Regional Rate Box. Businesses can use the Priority Mail Regional Rate Box in one of two ways.
- Regional Rate Box A
- There are options for top-loading and side-loading boxes. Regional Rate Box A can support a maximum weight of 15 pounds.
- Regional Rate Box B
- There are options for top-loading and side-loading boxes. Regional Rate Box A may support up to 20 pounds of weight, and USPS-produced packaging is necessary.
Priority Mail vs Priority Mail Express
The USPS provides Priority Mail Express, a different postal service. Because many people don’t realize the distinction between Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express, they frequently mix the two. Priority Express Mail, formerly known as Express Mail, provides domestic mail delivery in 1 to 3 working days.
For the majority of US addresses, including PO Box addresses, overnight deliveries can even be scheduled. However, the fact that Priority Mail Express is a guaranteed delivery is what really sets it apart from the regular Priority Mail service.
Imagine that your Priority Mail Express mailer is not delivered by the USPS. In that situation, you can request a refund of the postage you paid. The Post Office where you delivered the package is where you can submit a claim for compensation. Therefore, Priority Mail Express is your best option if you need to transmit a document that is extremely important.
What is Priority Mail Flat Rate and is it more economical?
Similar to the ordinary Priority Mail that we have just described, Priority Mail Flat Rate is a postal service. The primary distinction is that with Priority Mail Flat Rate, you can send a piece of mail anywhere in the world for a fixed price regardless of its weight.
A mailpiece must, however, fulfill a number of requirements in order to be classified as flat rate. A Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope or package must first weigh no more than 70lbs. The USPS Post Offices sell free shipping goods, and you can also order free delivery of those supplies to your home or place of business.
Because it depends on your particular postal mailpiece, Priority Mail Flat Rate may not be your most cost-effective choice. Usually, for delivering small and heavy products, the majority of vendors prefer to use a Flat Rate. However, the Commercial service is less expensive for goods that are dimensionally huge but lightweight.
If your domestic item weighs less than 70lbs, Priority Mail Flat Rate enables you to mail it for a fixed fee. You may ship a package anywhere in the nation using Flat Rate without being concerned about the distance. Additionally, the Priority Mail Flat Rate pricing ranges from $7.65 to $13.90.
The weight, size, and destination of the item all affect the Priority Mail Retail and Commercial cost. Retail or Commercial, on the other hand, becomes your best alternative if your mailpiece is substantial, light, and headed for a nearby location.
Priority Mail Pricing
Depending on the priority mail option you select, the price may fluctuate. Let’s say you’re sending things via Priority Mail Retail or Commercial. If so, the cost may change according to the package’s weight, size, and destination.
Let’s say your Retail First-Class Mail shipment is heavier than 13 ounces. In this situation, the parcel is sent out automatically using Priority Mail service. However, if you have USPS Priority Mail Commercial Rates, the weight restriction for First Class Mail Service rises to 15.9 oz.
It’s also important to remember that if you want to add Priority Mail extra services, you can ask for a Priority Mail service pricing. To achieve this, though, your mailer must weigh less than 13 oz, and it can end up costing you nearly twice as much as usual.
Priority Mail prices start at $9.00 at the Post Office, $7.62 for Commercial Base, and $7.62 for Commercial Plus.
Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope Pricing
For non-flat rate envelopes, USPS occasionally accepts payment at the flat rate envelope rate. Your postal mail envelope must, however, be smaller than the 12.5″ x 9.5″ Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope for this.
Businesses must always make an effort to put their mail items inside Small boxes or Flat Rate envelopes. Why? Because regardless of the package’s weight and zone, it is almost always more affordable than USPS Regional Rate boxes.
Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope prices start at $9.00 at the Post Office, $8.50 for Commercial Base, and $8.50 for Commercial Plus.
Want to streamline your Priority Mail service? Try Switch!
What purposes does USPS Priority Mail serve? The majority of the time, the solution would be to make sure postal mail is delivered quickly and precisely. However, Priority Mail is not your only option for accomplishing this. Switch Mail is an automated direct mail service that can assist you in streamlining your postal business correspondence.
You may use Switch to automate all the laborious steps required in direct mail. Through an automated procedure, you can personalize, print, and deliver your mail, saving you precious time. Additionally, Switch provides an address verification API that enables you to authenticate addresses and guarantee accurate postal mail delivery. Try it today for free!