New USPS shipping cost increases seem to be targeted toward rural areas.

[colfaxstation]

Looking through the so called minimal impact to shipping areas, it appears the new USPS rate increases are targeted to rural areas.  Thanks a lot USPS.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

It's that "last mile" thing. 

[inhawaii]

It is what it is.

[chapeau-noir]

That's one of the edges the USPS had over UPS (and perhaps Fed-Ex), no rural surcharge! 😠

[richard1rst]

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@colfaxstation wrote:

Looking through the so called minimal impact to shipping areas, it appears the new USPS rate increases are targeted to rural areas.  Thanks a lot USPS.

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UPS and FedEx has done that for years. I'm actually surprised it took the USPS so long to recognize it.

Consider this: If the USPS could not raise the rural rates (only) then they would have to raise ALL the rates to cover the extra costs. Is that preferable?

And in any event YOU do not pay the shipping charges, your buyers pay it so it has, or should have, no effect on you.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Yup

Costs more to deliver.

[slippinjimmy]

Yes of course that is the target, that is where USPS has the highest expense to make deliveries.

USPS is obligated to provide service to all valid addresses no matter where they but that only applies to Lettermail not packages.

[jg.mason]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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And in any event YOU do not pay the shipping charges, your buyers pay it so it has, or should have, no effect on you.

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Not so sure about that. In another thread it was stated that this increase is for Ebay, Pirateship, Stamps.com, etc. So in effect what's going to happen is the sellers shipping discount is going to be less when items ship to those zips.

Don't have time to find the thread right now, I'll try to find it later.

[dbfolks166mt]

@colfaxstation wrote:

Looking through the so called minimal impact to shipping areas, it appears the new USPS rate increases are targeted to rural areas.  Thanks a lot USPS.

UPS and FedEx has done that for years. I'm actually surprised it took the USPS so long to recognize it.

     Agree I am actually surprised USPS has not implemented more surcharges on packages. 

Consider this: If the USPS could not raise the rural rates (only) then they would have to raise ALL the rates to cover the extra costs. Is that preferable?

And in any event YOU do not pay the shipping charges, your buyers pay it so it has, or should have, no effect on you.

     The one challenge that sellers may face is for those that use free shipping and build the cost into their price. Unlike the package size surcharges that were easy to build in since sellers knew their package size when they were creating the listing, with the rural surcharge you have no idea where your package is shipping in advance. I have not ben able to to find the full text of the increase or the rural areas but it could present some complexities if the surcharge is going to be significant. 

     Since eBay is adjusting the shipping calculator the shipping cost the buyer sees when they are looking at a listing should reflect the shipping cost they would have to pay if they are in one of the rural locations. 

[onefootflippers]

For those of you worried about free shipping I have to ask why? Your cost to ship can already vary by up to 300 percent, why would a much smaller variance matter to you?

[jg.mason]

Found it https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/USPS-has-another-Rate-Increase-as-of-Sept-16th-But-just-on-so... 

[luckythewinner]

Consider this: If the USPS could not raise the rural rates (only) then they would have to raise ALL the rates to cover the extra costs. Is that preferable?

Yes, it is preferable. In fact, the United States Post Office and the later Rural Free Delivery system were created in large part to ensure the entire population had low cost access to information and goods.

[tsme35]

On top of that, USPS is increasing shipping time to rural areas. Also there's a point of raising shipping costs and making the buyer pay shipping that they will stop buying.

[worldcoinauctions]

I use fixed price shipping and aim to at least break even on it (including the fees) on at least 80% of shipments, in the event that I get too many underpaid shipments on my free shipping listings I will up the shipping. How it works!  Similar on my auction listings, too many with too much loss = price increase. 

[richard1rst]

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@onefootflippers wrote:

For those of you worried about free shipping I have to ask why? Your cost to ship can already vary by up to 300 percent, why would a much smaller variance matter to you?

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Don't know where you got that bit of hyperbole. I can ship a 2 pound package from Nevada to California for $5.98, and that same package to New England for $8.97. That is a 50% increase, not 300%.

A 5 pound package to Calif is $6.53 and to NE $13.14. That is 100%, not 300%.