Priority mail vs USPS ground advantage

[pum2159]

Curious to know if you ship Priority mail or USPS ground advantage? Why do you choose one over the other?  I never use Priority because it costs more.

[deserdog]

I let the buyer chose. I have this in my listings:

Estimated shipping time
Ground: Estimated delivery in 2-5 days
Priority: Estimated delivery in 1-3 days
Media mail: Estimated delivery within 2-8 business days
These delivery times are estimates only, not guarantees.

If the item does not qualify, I leave out the media mail part. I have found that ground advantage is going pretty quickly.  to 

You sell more items if you can keep the cost of shipping down. For example, a 4 lb 12x12x12 package going to zone 8 is $12.47 for ground advantage, $21.60 for priority. 

Zone 1 it is only $6.83 for ground advantage and $7.00 for priority, in which case I would ship it priority.

[kensgiftshop]

I ship most orders Priority Mail.

1: The boxes don't cost you anything.

2: I use Flat Rate packages so I now exactly what it's going to cost to ship.

[richard1rst]

I have taken to using Ground Advantage ALMOST exclusively. If a package is going off-shore (Hawaii, etc) I will automatically upgrade to Priority Mail. I accept the extra postage as being a fair price to pay to avoid an unhappy customer due to the extended delivery time.

Interestingly, I have seen some posters say they only use PM because the boxes are free and you have to buy a box for GA. OK - but there is a limited selection of box sizes and paying several to many dollars more in postage to avoid having to spend maybe $1.00 for a box strikes me as penny wise and pound foolish.

All of my listings are free shipping so I have an unfettered choice as to what to use.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

Priority is cheaper than Ground Advantage in some cases...

For nearby zones, I've found GA can cost $7.85 and Priority is $7.15-$7.25. Even for up to a few pounds it can be cheap. I think I recall being able to ship 10lbs to somewhere nearby for ~$7.XX

Priority flat rate envelopes are fantastic. $7.60 for regular FR envelope and $8.30 for Padded. That can often be cheaper than GA >1lb going half way across the country.

And yes, materials are free so paying 20 cents more for Priority FR can beat paying GA + cost of materials, while getting faster service at the same time

[lakefor94]

The inexpensive items go USPS Ground Advantage. 

Expensive items and large/heavy shipments or anything I really care about go UPS Ground or sometimes USPS Priority if they are not large/heavy.

USPS Ground Advantage is more likely to be delayed occasionally than UPS Ground or USPS Priority.

[sapphire_studio]

I will upgrade to Priority if the cost difference is less than 50 cents usually if they live pretty close. I also use priority if it can fit in a flat rate envelope or bubble mailer especially if they are further away. Many times if they are relatively close to you ground Advantage is even cheaper than the flat rate envelopes.

[12345jamesstamps]

Some items can only go "ground"....lie perfume and such.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@pum2159 

I'm a huge fan of priority flat rate boxes, just mailed out one on Monday from Vegas to Detroit and it arrived Wednesday early afternoon.  Now I have 3 ebay packages purchased all going ground advantage and all 3 are really late with 1 going MIA.

     You be the judge, the shipping updates and speed are stinky right now.

[deserdog]

It all depends. I just shipped a package to zone 2, GA cubic .2, 1 lb. 2 oz. $5.81! Great price! Of course it all depends on the size and weight of the package. But GA has only been taking 2 or 3 business days to go to New England and states close to New England. Other areas, like for some reason OH, are taking longer, as is TX. I ship from CA.  Most of the times the buyers are choosing GA, or media mail if the item is eligible. 

[lakefor94]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

@pum2159 

I'm a huge fan of priority flat rate boxes, just mailed out one on Monday from Vegas to Detroit and it arrived Wednesday early afternoon.  Now I have 3 ebay packages purchased all going ground advantage and all 3 are really late with 1 going MIA.

     You be the judge, the shipping updates and speed are stinky right now.

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GA is a sub-standard service as Priority trucks will most likely move first and GA is left in wait. GA is also shipped by rail.

Most times GA moves just fine but we have entered into crunch time.

Just throwing this in for the OP.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I sent out my first over 1 pound GA parcel this week. I'll see how long it takes to get there.

If it's too slow, I'd rather pay an extra buck or two and see it get there faster.