What Options Do You Have For Domestic Shipping?
The local online retail marketplace isn’t short of reputable shipping agents with a national foothold. Using both air and ground services, these carriers ensure that your products not only reach their destination on time but also in a perfect condition. However, each shipping company operates different product delivery packages that run on varying schedules and offered at varying rates.
It is, therefore, imperative that you orient yourself with the different domestic shipping options available to you when making a purchase. RunRex Overnight advise that knowledge of the shipping options also comes in handy for online entrepreneurs seeking to set up e-commerce stores. It helps them come up with the most appropriate product pricing decisions.
Here are some of the available domestic shipping options available to both store owners and online shoppers.
Next day delivery
Almost every domestic product delivery company runs a next-day delivery service. Notably, while most operate under different labels, their primary features remain the same. In most cases, subscribers of the next day delivery package have an assurance that their package will arrive at the destined address at the beginning of the next business day. These deliveries are made regardless of size and weight of the packages.
Some shipping companies like the UPS further spice up the overnight delivery package by offering a UPS Next Day Air package. The primary difference between the two is that while the conventional next day package delivers the products at the beginning of the next business day, the UPS Next Day Air ships items before the start of the business day. However, RunRex Overnight observes that the fast delivery comes at cost thereby making the overnight package delivery options the most expensive shipment packages currently available. In this regard, this shipping option is only suitable for urgent parcels and products.
2 – 3 day delivery option
Most shipping companies have also tried to strike a balance between cost and delivery time. They have come up with a two and three-day delivery options that remain fairly affordable compared to their next day counterparts. However, unlike the next day delivery option that only has two delivery periods, the 2 to 3 day delivery options vary significantly from one shipping company to another.
For instance, both UPS and FedEx delivery companies have come up with several packages for the two and three-day options depending on the time of day the packages are received. UPS, on the one hand, offers two second-day delivery packages with one at the beginning of the day and another at the end of the day. On the other hand, FedEx offers three second-day delivery packages starting with a morning, afternoon, and evening packages.
Even though they all share some common factors like product packaging and insurance, they vary significantly in price. The two and three day delivery time option remains the most popular shipping option as it offers traders a balance between time and associated costs.
Ground and home product delivery options
This remains the most affordable shipping domestic shipping option, but not without compromise. By subscribing to the ground or home delivery package, you expect to receive your goods not earlier than three days. Depending on your proximity to the product supplier, you might even have to wait up to eight days to receive your shipped items.
Unlike the rest of the packages whose delivery time is expedited by transport through some of the fastest means of transport like air, ground delivery option uses relatively affordable means like the road. Therefore, the ground delivery option should only be used for delivery of non-urgent products across the country.
Specialised products delivery option
Depending on the items you seek to buy or sell you can also solicit for delivery services from the carrier companies dealing with specific product niches. For instance, the United States Postal Services (USPS) runs a media mail package that only ships educational materials. However, note that just like the home ground delivery package, you will have to wait up to eight days to receive your package.
Note that there also exist several other contract companies that ship specialized products domestically at a regional level. Therefore, depending on the product you want to sell or buy, you can always liaise with them for equally excellent services.
Bottom line
When deciding on the most appropriate domestic shipping option, you first have to consider such factors as the urgency with which the shipped items are needed as well as the overall costs. If you crave for a more efficient product handling, also consider the nature of the item that needs shipping and whether there exist specific shipping options. However, note that different shipping companies charge differently even for almost similar packages. Considering the fact that you are pushing for lower overall costs, it would be advisable that you first compare the charges by different shipping service providers. Nevertheless, even though the shipping costs remain a priority when deciding on your shipping service provider, RunRex Overnight reminds you not to compromise on the quality of service.