Discontinuation of USPS First Class implications for service to/from Alaska and Hawaii

[jnwaite1]

A recent announcement by USPS says they are merging their First Class, Retail Ground, and Parcel Select services into a new service called Ground Advantage. I ship from Alaska and currently send lightweight packages less than a pound via First Class service. These shipments leave Alaska by air to Washington state, and then routed to their final destination as usual and take only 4-6 days for delivery. All other "ground" services are shipped out via ocean barge down to Washington, which adds an additional 1-2 weeks to the delivery time and is simply not a viable shipping method when buyers want their merchandise quickly.

Does anyone who ships to or from Alaska or Hawaii have any insight as to whether this new Ground Advantage service is going to continue to use air transport to the mainland, or will everything have to go by barge? If the latter is the case, there will no longer be a low-cost-but-quick method of shipping lightweight parcels to/from these locations.  I'll either have to pay upwards of 2-3x the amount to upgrade to a 1 pound Priority package, or suffer the wrath of buyers for their long-delayed shipments.

[richard1rst]

I'm not even sure the post office has figured that out yet. Although the issue is obviously paramount for you, those of us the the lower 48 are also concerned for mail being shipped to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico etc.

I have been watching the announcements closely. In one article it makes reference to "the 48 contiguous states" while in another it says "including offshore deliveries". Take the even, take the odd.

[westshore2000]

In reading over the Announcement, it clearly reads that there are no changes to First Class Package Service. That is, until you get to the end of the announcement.  Then it introduces USPS Ground Advantage and states that First Class Package will combined under this new program.  I was on the phone with eBay Customer Service to get clarification.  Even after conferring with colleagues, she couldn't definitively states which statement was accurate.  I will surmise that it means there is no rate change just the name will change.  I also looked on the USPS website and it reads "USPS Ground Advantage, available to retail and commercial customers, is a better fit by combining three existing USPS® services into one comprehensive product. It is a perfect option for shippers of all sizes who want affordable domestic ground shipping to all 50 states, U.S. military bases, territories, possessions, and Freely Associated States."  They offer no further details.  The best guess is that the service construct will not change.  I question how, even in the lower 48, how 2-5 ground service is possible.  Additional announcements are to be forthcoming, according to eBay.  I was told to wait until July 9th and see what happens.   I was also told that I would need to update any listing offering First Class Package to reflect the new change. That cannot be done until July 9th.  Apparently, eBay is not currently going to do this on their end for everyone.  Presumably, lots of people will be working on Sunday, July 9th.

[richard1rst]

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@westshore2000 wrote:

 It is a perfect option for shippers of all sizes who want affordable domestic ground shipping to all 50 states, U.S. military bases, territories, possessions, and Freely Associated States."  I was told to wait until July 9th and see what happens. 

Ground shipping to Hawaii? Puerto Rico? Overseas APO bases?

Theoretically you could send it to Alaska via the Alaskan Highway. But are you aware that the Capital city, Juneau, is surrounded by such extreme terrain that there are NO roads leading into or out of the city. EVERYTHING has to come by plane or boat. Other far flung small village are no better. Bush Pilots in Alaska are highly prized.

The USPS and eBay have to step up and clarify this now instead of making us wait until the clock strikes midnight.

[ryanrobyn]

I live and sell from Hawaii - it will take from 4 to 6 weeks for my items to get there as that's what parcel post now takes. Wonder what will happen tp paying bills.I made numerous calls to USPS and they have NO idea that the time is that long now. Since almost everything I sell is less than 4 oz I will have to close up my 4 Ebay sites.

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

According to eBay's FAQs @jnwaite1 @ryanrobyn :

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/choosing-a-carrier-and-service/usps-and-ebay-labels

Will USPS Ground Advantage fly offshore?
Yes. USPS Ground Advantage will fly to/from/throughout offshore destinations as a 2-5 service whereas PSG currently travels by boat and is a 2-8 day service.

So it seems packages to Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico will travel by air to maintain the 2-5 biz day delivery time.

The exception would be packages that have to travel surface transportation only (hazmat, etc) and USPS will identify those packages as they need to be marked in accordance with USPS guidelines.

[jnwaite1]

Thanks @wastingtime101, these are really helpful. I didn't see these FAQs available before posting my original message, but they clear up a lot of questions and concerns.  

[jnwaite1]

Just a quick follow-up to this topic.

I have since shipped a couple of light-weight (< 1 pound) packages from Alaska to the lower 48 using the new USPS Ground Advantage and they both took less than 5 days to be delivered, so they went by air out of Alaska. It was also confirmed to me by my local post office that packages greater than 1 pound will continue to be shipped out by barge.

One big downside to the new service is that they are now being very strict about the package size. In the past you could get away with sending a fairly large package as USPS First Class as long as it was less than 1 pound. Now, if it is greater than 1 cubic foot, you'll get charged dimensional weight, which is always going to be more than the old First Class rates. 

On a positive note, the free insurance is a nice feature. 

[yahoo57]

USPS has updated the Ground Advantage FAQ on their website to include the note:

"Items weighing 15.99 oz or less travel by air to Alaska, Hawaii, and offshore destinations. Items weighing over 15.99 oz travel by ship to Alaska, Hawaii, and offshore destinations."

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/USPS-Ground-Advantage

This does not agree with ebay's Ground Advantage FAQ, which does not indicate the weight limit for packages to travel by air.

[teufeltronicslabs]

I know this is an old topic, but was just informed by a station manager in HI that Ground Advantage is no longer being being shipped by area, it is back to going to richmond CA and shipped by ocean freight.

Aloha <Customer Name Redacted>,

I’d like to apologize for the delay of your package. I’m not sure if it was explained to you that the process may take a while but continue to check tracking. If it’s a time sensitive issue or involves claims please contact the Mailer or Addressee regarding filing a claim, replacement or refund.

Thank you for contacting the US Postal Service regarding your USPS Ground Advantage, Parcel Select, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail or International FC shipment.

Standard Post is our most economical service and travels via surface transportation.  Within the Continental United States surface transportation includes trucks and trains.  Standard Post parcels are sent to Hawaii on ships that depart Richmond.

Due to variable transportation schedules, Standard Post can sometimes exceed published service standards.   Therefore, we inform customers at all points of purchase that. The timeliness of service to or from destinations outside the contiguous U.S. may be affected by the limited availability of transportation.  This information is provided by our clerks at the point of sale, it is printed on customer receipts and it is displayed on our website at USPS.com.

Due to the variability of transportation, Standard Post packages may take up to three to four weeks to the island of Oahu and four to six weeks to the neighbor islands. During the Holidays an additional week or two due to high parcel volume.

We apologize if these time frames were not apparent to you or the shipper, at the time of mailing.  We also apologize for any inconvenience this matter has caused and recommend using Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express in the future when timeliness is a concern.

Please feel free to contact me at 808-965-1158 M-F 10:00am-4:00pm should you have any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Michel Kaneda
Postmaster Pahoa Post Office 

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.