The U.S. Postal Service’s pilot next-day delivery service, which has been operating in much of the Rio Grande Valley since the first of the year, will go nationwide by September, postal officials say.
The service, called USPS Connect Local, already is operating in 800 Texas locations.
U.S. Postal Service officials announced this week that USPS Connect has been successful in its Texas locations and will be run out nationwide.
The service is broken down into four components, USPS Connect Local, regional, national and returns.
“USPS Connect provides businesses of all sizes what they have been asking for — an affordable way to meet consumer demand for fast delivery,” said Louis DeJoy, postmaster general and CEO. “A pivotal point in our Delivering for America plan, it positions us to more fully leverage our network capacity to increase volume and revenue so we can continue to serve the American people with affordable, reliable mail and package delivery.”
USPS Connect Local charges fees based on weight. For example, items weighing under five pounds are $3.95, packages 6-10 pounds are $4.70, 11-15 pounds are delivered for $5.45, 16-20 pounds go for $6.20, 21-25 pounds costs $6.95 and over 20 pounds is charged $20.
The postal service is responding to demand from small, local businesses for next-day and same-day shipping as their online sales continue to grow. E-commerce demand isn’t limited to Amazon and big-box online retailers.
“We’ve listened carefully to our business customers to develop this program,” said Jakki Krage Strako, chief commerce and business solutions officer. “We’re increasing next-day deliveries. We’re also giving smaller businesses big-business rates and all businesses more user-friendly ways to interact with us.”
Businesses interested in learning more may visit uspsconnect.com, call 855-MYUSPSCONNECT (855-698-7772), email [email protected] or visit usps.com/business/business-shipping.htm.
