YCD News, USPS recently set proposed pricing for its new channel called USPS Ground Advantage, which has a delivery time of two to five days.
USPS Ground Advantage is scheduled to launch July 9, and the product is awaiting favorable review and comment from the Postal Regulatory Commission, which must approve the proposal.
The USPS Ground Advantage published price will be 1.4 percent lower than the current pricing schedule for Parcel Select Ground and First-Class Package Service products. The agency said USPS Ground Advantage retail prices will decrease by 3.2 percent and USPS Ground Advantage Commercial published prices will decrease by 0.7 percent.
USPS said in February that it would combine three ground products into a new channel that would offer two- to five-day shipping times and pricing options based on pounds, ounces and cubic yards for packages weighing up to 70 pounds.
The three products being combined are First-Class Package Service, for merchants shipping packages under 1 pound; Parcel Select Ground, for shipments weighing between 1 and 70 pounds; and a new service called Parcel Select Ground Cubic, which is based on the size of the package which can also weigh between 1 and 70 pounds.
Shipments will be delivered through the Postal Service’s extensive ground network. The product is aimed at shippers who are willing to sacrifice speed for price. It is also available to customers of the Postal Service’s Priority Mail service who need two to three days of transit time but don’t want to pay Priority Mail prices.
Separately, USPS on Tuesday reported declining transportation revenue and volume for the second quarter of fiscal 2023 (Jan. 1, 2023 to March 31, 2023), which ended March 31. Total operating revenue for the quarter was $19.3 billion, a decrease of $484 million, or 2.4 percent, compared to the same period last year. Shipping and parcel revenue declined $162 million, while volume declined 5 percent to 89 million shipments.
Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), net loss for the quarter totaled $2.5 billion, an increase in net loss of $1.8 billion compared to a net loss of $639 million in the same period last year. On a non-GAAP basis, adjusted loss was $498 million, compared to adjusted revenue of $427 million in the same quarter last year.
According to Nate Skiver, head of expense management at consulting firm LPF, the continued decline in the segment is worrisome, especially for Priority Mail, whose sales are down 10 percent each quarter.
YCD understands Skiver said in a LinkedIn post Wednesday that the USPS will remain in a relatively tough position as long as UPS Inc. and FedEx Corp. continue to take market share from small and midsize businesses through ground services.