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Post Office Loses $1 per order from China Shipped
ePacket shipment from China on ebay.
The Postal service is losing millions a year to help you buy cheap stuff from China - Washington Post
Some observations:
- Somehow for low weight items it seems cheaper to have an item shipped from China to the US, than ship an item within the US.
- ePacket takes around 14 days to get to the US. It may take up to a month.
- Basically Chinese sellers have taken over the market on eBay for new items of low weight mfg. in China.
- Some Chinese sellers get a US address (person), and still ship from China.
- For new girls dresses category, sellers from China now dominate it. This was not true a couple of years ago.
- No idea how returns work for sellers? Shipping from US to China is expensive, probably $15 starting per 1 lb. $16.75 using 1st class. This probably explains why there are so many companies that ship to China, probably use a container.
- Not sure how a US seller would compete with stuff from China on eBay, which seems to be about price, price, and price..
- ePacket my guess is subsidized by Chinese government, so super cheap and probably below their cost.
- USPS actually loses money, $1, on each item shipped from China via ePacket.
Labels: ebay, made in china, post office, shipping, shipping costs, USPS
USPS Announces New Shipping Rates for 2012
We do a lot of USPS shipping, so any price increase is always a worry. What I usually do is wait to the changes go into affect, and then adjust my charges after - hmm, losing too much money on shipping, need to increase shipping charge by a little to make it break even again :-)
Per this blog post from stamps.com, the main impact seems to be on Foreign Shipping which translates as about 10%, priority mail is 3.1%, and I am not seeing Media Mail I try very hard to keep our charges for shipping as close to the actual cost as possible.
International Mail
The overall increase for Priority Mail International will be 8.7%.
Express Mail International will increase by 11.6%.
Global Express Guaranteed prices will rise by 6.0%. Labels: shipping costs
Canadian Postal Workers on Strike
We ship to Canada via the Post Office, so there will be a delay. Seems to be rolling strikes. I am sure if your in Canada you know a lot more about this than me :-)
And I agree with this. What I have noticed with strikes is many customers find other alternatives, and don't come back.
Canada Post fears strike could cause long-term harm - Toronto Sun
Labels: canada, shipping costs
Postal Rate hike denied
That's a relief, I was worried there would be another increase. It seems like there was just one. Currently for shipping ChildBook uses the US Postal Service 100% because for what we sell, it's the lowest cost. And I try very hard to keep costs down. Postal rate hike request denied - Washington Post Labels: shipping costs
USPS Price Increases
Mail prices are going up again effective May 11th, where now a 1st class letter will be 44 cents, a 2 cent increase. I understood the price increases when the price of gas was increasing. Of course since last mail is being sent now due to the economy and the previous price increase, there is another price increase needed. Priority Mail 1st Pound is going up to $4.95, currently $4.80. Seems so little time it was $3.25. International and Express are also going up... Frustrating on my end with higher mailing costs and I did not increase my shipping rates at the last increase. Labels: shipping costs
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