March 04, 2010
By the ZippyCart Ecommerce Software Content Team
Most people are probably aware that the United States Postal Service has been struggling for years to keep business afloat, as they have continually raised the price of stamps to counter the reduction in snail mail being sent out. Since people started to catch onto email, instant messenger, Twitter, and Facebook, there are fewer opportunities each year for most people to use the USPS. Now the USPS is proposing cutting things back a bit, so that they can run leaner, and better accommodate the higher volume days for mail. Their plan is to cut out one day of service and move to a 5-day delivery model. The USPS sees the trend continuing for them as they forecast they will capture less revenue over the next 10 years due to the reduction in snail mail. It is unclear if other changes are coming, but for now it is likely that mail service will be cut one day of the week.
One segment of the economy which might be hurt by this change includes smaller ecommerce sites online who use the service to ship their goods. While many ecommerce merchants use FedEx or UPS, there are still many who solely use the USPS or offer it as an option when people are checking out of their shopping cart. However if ecommerce sites have less options from USPS, it is likely that they will shift their business to UPS or FedEx so they can ensure that they can ship products to customers as quick as possible. This potential abandonment of USPS is not really being talked about or considered, as that shift could hurt USPS revenues even more than they predicted. USPS ultimately needs to give some more attention to these small ecommerce merchants who ship with them, to determine how their reduction in service could alter the shipping volume from some ecommerce sites.
Amy is the co-founder of ZippyCart. She went to school for film in Cleveland, Ohio and ended up working in the field of viral video marketing, which eventually led her to her real profession: SEO. When she's not writing for ZippyCart, she can be found out and about Seattle, WA.
