It's almost the end of August and Amazon and Veequ are still using First class and parcel post.

Yes, I think they want to see that Priority envelope when they pay extra for expedited.

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Thank you, and yes.

Though we have thought about a “stamp” or sticker (we make them, note to self) to delight them.

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Yes, I think they want to see that Priority envelope when they pay extra for expedited.

I’m not so sure. I send expedited orders by FC/GA all the time. I think, what matters more, is how quickly they get it.

In my case, FC/GA and PM get there just about as fast. But buyers don’t know that. So when they get fast FC/GA service, they think they got ‘expedited’, not knowing that if they’d chosen standard, they would have received it just as fast.

Expedited does get moved up in the shipping line, of course, so if everything can’t get out today, the expedited orders go first and a few standard folks may have to wait a day.

I used to use PM for expedited when I first started as a book seller, but since I switched to products that normally ship by FC/GA, no longer do.

The exception might be if the buyer is in a region experiencing some type of delay (weather, USPS staff shortages, etc) where some extra factor might influence delivery times, but if there’s no special circumstances, expedited orders ship by FC/GA.

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Agree, and if we can make “Expedited Stickers” that make them feel special, we should do it.

For me expedited is when we send our 1-2 day handling same day the order comes in.

For us it is the story of the “Rat Box” now I need to tell that story, I think I will do it in a new thread so we don’t take this off track.

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For me expedited is when we send our 1-2 day handling same day the order comes in

Yes, same here.

if we can make “Expedited Stickers” that make them feel special

Oh, I like this idea. Something like “Expedited - please rush”, I bet people would like that. :+1:

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I think that would be okay, actually. As long as it is not confusing to the post office. It needs to not look like an official seal.

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Put the stamp or sticker on the packing slip to avoid confusing the post office.

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This ^^^^. We find that FC and GA consistently beat PM for what we ship is is mostly under 1 lb. as far as delivery time goes. Years ago I used to use a stamp that said “Rush” and just stamp the package or envelope with it. The post office never had issues with it and I’m sure it didn’t make any difference but the customer perceives special treatment.

-Ana

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it is 8/29/23, and I still see a mix of First Class package and Ground Advantage in today’s FBM order queue.

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Officially Sept 1st and still getting some packages (US territories) as First class is the only option.

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My problem is that even though Amazon finally added GA they didn’t remove First Class. So when I’m in a hurry I have accidentally printed First Class labels. I know, need to pay attention but why is First Class still there??
So far those First Class hasn’t caused a problem (carrier scans & tracking is updated) but think it could.

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Especially on October 1, 2023 and after …

Grace period for First Class Package is September 30, 2023 …

Amazon wasn’t ready … metric tracking needs to be correctly programed before pulling the plug on First Class Package as the metrics tracking would break and/or report wrong. And the Ground Advantage needed to be added into the metric tracking. Amazon must have not wanted to gamble that they could get both changes done correctly at the same time.

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Still getting orders that will only ship 1st class.

Anyone else?

And Amazon continues to amaze…

This response from @dominic_amazon in response to the post about Media mail options –
WHAT is he talking about with ‘the potential change to First Class’???

I’m not religious by any stretch of the imagination but happen to like Amazing Grace. Sadly for Amazon it gets revised to: “I am still lost and can’t be found.”

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Thanks for the info. Was thinking grace period was over.

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So official advice from Amazon is ship using unprotected methods because we can screw up a nocturnal moist dream.

Well it is officially the 29th and I still had one order where ground advantage was not an option, only 1st class.

We will see what happens tomorrow. This is the last day USPS will accept 1st class postage for packages. I still have 2 returns pending for 2 weeks now. Be interesting to see what happens with them.

Looks like USPS has extended the deadline until Oct 31st.

Well it is officially the 29th and I still had one order where ground advantage was not an option, only 1st class.

Have you checked your ‘deliver by’ dates? Long story short, Buy Shipping is often using longer transit times, up to 2 days longer, for Ground Advantage than for First Class. This can mean that GA will be supressed if your deliver-by date is too soon in the future.

Long story long…

Back in May (I think it was May… @LostMyMarbles?) Amazon started improving messing around with the transit times they were using for first-class mail.

Here in Oregon, it used to be (for years and years) that Buy Shipping always used five transit days for FC mail, regardless of where it was going. I could be shipping to New York, or across the street… Buy Shipping always estimated delivery would take 5 business/transit days. :woman_facepalming:

But when they started playing with things back in May, they changed the transit times for First Class to 3 days to the east coast, and to my surprise, it’s stayed that way ever since. :open_mouth:

Oddly, to the middle of the country, transit times still remained 4 days.

These new transit times were not accurate predictions of when packages would actually arrive, but since it matters more what Buy Shipping thinks will happen, than what will actually happen, it gave us more flexibilty in label choice.

But then what Amazon did… in typical Amazon fashion… is go back to the longer transit times when they implemented Ground Advantage. :frowning_face:

So what we’ve seen is GA often showing estimates in Buy Shipping that are 2 days longer than those for first-class. Since GA appeared, every east coast package I’ve had has shown 5 days by GA, and 3 days by FC. :roll_eyes:

If you shortened your delivery promises based on the new, shorter times of first-class, that could explain why you aren’t seeing Ground Advantage options now. You need to change your templates to be longer again now.

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Geez… Amazon. :woman_facepalming: :roll_eyes:

We are expecting the above issues to be reconciled quickly, but the extended grace period will help ensure a good experience for our Selling Partners

Way to spin your failures. :laughing:

If you’d just implemented these changes back before the deadline, and worked out any bugs then (like every other shipping service on the planet), THAT would have been the ‘good experience for your Selling Partners’.

Not doing it by the deadline…
Then screwing it up…
Then not getting it fixed…
Then having to bully the USPS into giving you more time because you don’t know what you’re doing…

is not.

Please let me know if you experience any difficulty from your local USPS office regarding this extended grace period, such as First Class packages not being accepted…

Anticipating that these problems will occur is really NOT the way to ‘ensure a good experience for our Selling Partners’

And saying that all you’ll do about is is ‘make sure the update has been shared with that location’, what good is that going to do??? The package will still be sitting at our warehouses, unshipped, because USPS won’t accept it because First Class doesn’t exist anymore.

Poor Amazon. They’re just so clueless and they don’t even realize it.

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