What is the difference between postal and courier services

But it will surely give your brand a competitive edge even as a small business. Next-day Delivery : the higher percentages of those making online purchases are millennials. To have them coming back to your store, settling for this kind of courier service might be the best decision for your brand. Real-time tracking and updates will make this courier service more effective and increase customer loyalty for your business. Intelligent Routing It takes an experienced courier company to know about this and follow through it.

Onboard Courier For items that require extra care and attention, or are very confidential, this is the best courier service for them. International Shipping International shipping has to deal with delivery with a global view.

Courier vs. Postal What is the Postal Service? Differences Between Courier Service and Postal Service Having looked at what courier and postal services are, it is vital to look into the differences between them. Pricing When it comes to affordability, postal service tops the rank. Real-time Tracking Both courier and postal service offer tracking services. Service Quality The service quality of postal service is as cheap as its price. The Role of NextSmartShip in Logistic Service Provision In the world of logistics, NextSmartShip is partnered with the biggest names and professionals to ensuring that your customers get their packages quickly and in a satisfactory condition.

Get Custom Solutions. Related Posts. The big question is, do you have a firm… Read More ». One of the essential parts of eCommerce… Read More ». Get Speakers' Powerpoints. Breaking into Global Markets with Crowdfunding. Background 2. Crowdfunding 3. The Strategy 4. Plan 5. Talent 6. Positioning 7. Conent 8. Traffic 9. Best sourcing practices: a. About Dragon Sourcing. Fulfillment With the US postal service — if you want to send a package to say — Germany, this is how it works.

Duties and taxes also factor into the equation. The US postal service is basically a national service. These are classified in terms of the service type, postage prices, features etc.

They are:. Priority Mail Express: Shipping merchandise, mailable items, letters etc. Priority Mail: Mailable items, letters, merchandise, bills etc. First Class Mail: Cards, letters, personal correspondences etc. Periodicals: For newsletters, magazines, regular subscription items. FedEx is one among the popular courier services with a plethora of services that makes it quite popular among the eCommerce businesses as well. They are well known for their effective time-sensitive shipping services worldwide.

Popular services from FedEx include:. They offer smart options when it comes to shipping anywhere in the world with quick and efficient tracking systems, customs cleared shipping, the effective packaging and much more. Despite the advancements in technology, people still make use of the postal services to send important documents, letters, deeds etc.

Courier services have their share of advantages, which is why they are subjected to certain kinds of services. Postal services are relatively cheaper when it comes to shipping. It is simple and all you need to pay is the shipping cost. Courier services are fast and their services are directly reflected in the price they charge for shipping.

If you need quick and instant options, you surely need to pay higher. Postal services do not have extravagant tracking options or proper customer service, hence you might need to have loads of patience in terms of waiting for your parcels or letters. They also have longer delivery times.

But again, some countries do have excellent postal services which are prompt and reliable. Courier services on the other hand are quite pricey when it comes to offering services. They offer insurance coverage, tracking options and much more to keep the transit safe and informed.

The charges they levy on the shipping will include fuel surcharges, parcel handling charges, and even remote area surcharges. But again these charges do add value to the business. The main advantage of handling international shipping with courier services is that it works around every aspect like taxes, duties to pay, cross-border conflicts, restriction on goods and also on how to ship certain items, especially which are temperature sensitive etc.

This is not to suggest that postal companies do not offer tracking apps, but they appear to be more basic, such as the shipment location and the day it will arrive. However, courier companies offer you real-time monitoring, so you know exactly where your packages are.

What makes courier services more interesting is that you can also ask for updates by contacting the courier company you are dealing with. A dedicated customer support department handles all of your deliveries proactively. You will now think less about shipments and then concentrate on key business activities. It is crucial that you still have excellent visibility when shipping goods internationally to know where the products you are sending are at. The best way to do so is by international monitoring, but this again varies between postal and courier services.

The only way you can get this added functionality is by selecting a mail service that explicitly provides monitoring. The courier services, on the other hand, also provide international monitoring.

It goes without saying that the service quality of private couriers, particularly end-to-end ones, will be better than postal services. An in-house customer service staff will be more aware of what is happening on the ground. In contrast, consumer postal service teams may be outsourced and would not have on-the-ground details to respond to individual customer inquiries. Network coverage may also help or hurt the standard of service. And when it comes to dealing with cross-border delivery, courier companies have an advantage over postal services.

Private couriers may have their fleets or advantageous connections with air freight companies to cover international shipping from one country to another, making it cheaper than postal services that rely on national carriers to carry packages to countries of destination.

Ordinary postal services typically do not offer reimbursement for items that have been lost or damaged. For paid add-ons, however, missing or damaged packages have a claimable sum that is capped. Therefore, if you ship an expensive piece of equipment like a smartphone, the add-ons may not be worth it.

At every step of the way, end-to-end courier services are kept responsible for the delivery. They typically have a claims department to manage cases that range from missing or defective goods to late delivery. Such firms allow merchants to provide a few documents to facilitate the claims process, such as a proof of payment, photographic documentation from your customers, and shipping materials such as the waybill.