Which is best shipping method?

[vilkau]

When shipping, I was given the choice of shipping by:

USPS Retail Ground, and

USPS Parcel Select Ground.

What is the difference between them, what does each mean, and which one is best?

[kensgiftshop]

@vilkau 

You can offer both options, but you can't buy the shipping labels on Ebay.

Retail Ground can only be purchased at a USPS counter.

Parcel Select Ground, you'll have to purchase the labels on another site like Pay Pal or stamps.com.

[vilkau]

These are the options eBay gave me when I wanted to print the label and ship through eBay.

[friskya]

You can offer both options, but you can't buy the shipping labels on Ebay.

Retail Ground can only be purchased at a USPS counter.

Parcel Select Ground, you'll have to purchase the labels on another site like Pay Pal or stamps.com.

kensgiftshop is correct. Offer whichever one you like - just be prepared to either go to the Post Office if you choose Retail Ground, or to another site if you offer Parcel Select Ground.

[csbbct]

As far as the service differences between the two, there is no difference.  Both are ground services.  The only difference is that Retail Ground is purchased at the post office counter and Parcel Select was the same service where the label is purchased online in advance instead of at the counter and may offer a discounted rate for that.

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

Both services used to be known as Parcel Post. Neither is best.  They cost only a little bit less than Priority Mail.   IMHO Parcel Select Ground and/or Retail Ground should only be offered when necessary such as for hazmat or Oversize packages (i.e., length-plus-girth above the Priority limit of 108 inches). 

[csbbct]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

Both services used to be known as Parcel Post. Neither is best.  They cost only a little bit less than Priority Mail.   IMHO Parcel Select Ground and/or Retail Ground should only be offered when necessary such as for hazmat or Oversize packages (i.e., length-plus-girth above the Priority limit of 108 inches). 

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Yes, I agree that neither is best!  Retail Ground/Parcel Select used to be a good selection for larger boxes but ever since USPS starting charging surcharges for any box with a dimension over 12" on that service, it is not much cheaper than Priority Mail and more risk with the ground service.  For larger packages now I switched over to FedEx Ground which is half to a third the price of USPS Retail Ground/Parcel Select AND Priority Mail and last year with the shipping debacle around the holidays, I had no issues with my FedEx shipments although this month I've had some unexplained delays with some cross-country FedEx shipments so I'm not sure what's going on there. 

For sure I'm not looking forward to the shipping stress that we all experienced last year and hope it's different this year.