Like most things, shipping costs move only one direction... up. We've been particularly concerned about our mid-range packages, say, one to three pounds - the shipping cost often seems disproportionately high.
This week, we started offering a new USPS rate for orders of 1 lb or more:
USPS Ground Advantage:
You may already have seen this name, because for lightweight packages (under 1 lb) USPS Ground Advantage has replaced USPS First Class Mail.
However, we have now rolled out USPS Ground Advantage for packages over 1 lb.
What will this mean for you?
Cheaper than Fedex Ground/Home Delivery on many orders
We tested out USPS Ground Advantage on many shipments. Depending on the destination, for many packages between 1 and 5 lbs, it often saves $3 to $5 or more compared with Fedex Ground. This means that we can finally get more of those shipments to come in at under $10. Hurray!
USPS Ground Advantage will, unfortunately, probably not provide any savings on very large/heavy shipments (though it depends on the location).
SHORT TERM EXCEPTION: Purilens. Sorry - we have some software complications that we have not gotten to the bottom of yet, because of Purilens shipping from two locations and with different timing cutoffs. Currently, if we offer USPS Ground Advantage, it's going to result in some shipping delays due to increased processing time, so we preferred to wait till that's sorted out.
Secret: We occasionally run free shipping sales on the weekends. You'll only find out about these if you are on our mailing list, though.