If you frequently receive mail and packages, you already know the frustration of picking up packages on a bad day. For example, if a package is delivered to your home but you’re away for the holidays, you’ll have to wait for the next delivery attempt, and it’s even worse if you still can’t be there to receive it at that time.
This is especially true for your customers if they receive their orders at lousy timing. They may even attribute this experience to poor customer service, which is terrible news for your business. That's precisely why if you want to mail a package to a customer, it's important to take timing into consideration. You have to make sure they're receiving it on the best possible day.
What Is The Best Time For You To Mail Packages?
While some may argue that the best time to receive packages differs from one person to another, you'll always find that there’s a time range that's preferred by the majority of consumers.
Monday: This is the day that the Postal Office opens for the week, and this is also the day most packages are delivered. That's why if the package is scheduled to arrive on Monday, it's most likely going to take longer than expected, so it's not the best day.
Holidays: Most individuals don’t expect to receive a package during holidays. So if their order arrives on a holiday and they’re not at home, they'll most likely be upset. Once again, it's not the ideal time.
Friday: People are most likely getting ready for weekend at this point of the week, so you shouldn't mail packages and schedule them to arrive on a Friday.
Saturday And Sunday: It should be evident that weekends are when people don't expect delivery, so it's advisable to avoid scheduling the arrival of packages on these days.
Tuesday To Thursday: From Tuesday to Thursday, people are already well into the weekdays, so they expect the arrival of packages within this period. The United States Postal Service (USPS) offers business shipping services, and with these, companies can expect each package to arrive at their destination one to three days after the customers place their order. Taking that into consideration, if you can send the packages from Saturday to Monday, your customers should be able to receive or pick up their orders from Tuesday to Thursday. Since there are times when the USPS office closes due to special reasons, make sure you check for post office closures online to determine whether the Postal Office is open or not.
Why Use The Postal Service?
Now you might be wondering: why would you need to mail packages in the first place? Won't courier services already cover pretty much all the shipping and handling needs of your e-commerce site? While that’s true, there are reasons for you to turn to postal services for business purposes.
1. Postal Deliveries Have Become Faster
Back in the day, the Postal Office was ahead of its time when it came to speed. What usually took months to deliver was shipped in a matter of weeks by the USPS. But that was before the internet. Alas, when the concept of emails was introduced, snail mail became obsolete (at least for your average Joe) but not to businesses since postal services could still provide a way to deliver or ship packages.
The good news is that ever since its founding, the USPS has grown considerably, and more importantly, their delivery has become quicker. If it used to take weeks to receive a package, it can now arrive a few days after a customer orders an item. It may even arrive overnight.
In conclusion, postal services deliveries are faster now than it was years ago. If you're still not convinced, rest assured that's not the only change in the country's postal system.
2. Postal Services Are Becoming More Accessible
A few years ago, using postal services to handle your e-commerce shipping needs was generally not a good idea. It was old-fashioned, and there weren't that many post offices around the country.
If your customers were situated in Guam, for example, it would take a lot longer for them to receive their packages, especially since there were only a few post offices in that state. But it's worth noting that this was about four years ago. Now, the government has established a lot more post offices in the country. You should now be able to find at least one within your area.
For that reason, the delivery time of the Postal Office is shorter than before when there was a limited number of post offices. This has allowed e-commerce site owners to greatly reduce customers' waiting time and, therefore, improve customer experience.
3. The USPS Now Has Tracking
In addition to becoming faster and more accessible, the USPS has integrated a few features from courier services. For example, the USPS now makes it possible for customers and businesses to track packages. By doing so, you can get general information about the package, such as its status, destination, and estimated arrival time. These details are particularly useful for analytics and may also serve as the metrics for the service's performance.
4. Postal Services Are Generally Less Expensive
Accessibility and speed aren't the best characteristics of postal services. If anything, they’re known for their affordability. This is because postal services only require the customer, which in this case is you, to pay for the shipping costs. On the other hand, courier services have extra fees such as labelling, handling, and inventory. As such, postal services are ideal for startups and individuals with limited funds who have just established their business.
Moreover, postal services often offer a lot more options than courier services. For example, the USPS provides bulk services, international and local shipping, and regional shipping. This gives e-commerce shops more leeway as to how they want to handle their own shipping needs.
Final Words On Mailing Packages With USPS
Most business owners prefer courier services over other options. This is because those are accessible and fast, and they typically com with additional features such as tracking. However, now that postal services have become a lot closer to what courier services are, they’re becoming more and more appealing to business owners, especially those with e-commerce sites. It's only a matter of time before postal service providers fully catch up to couriers, and it'd be pretty interesting once that indeed happens.
