Luckily, you won’t find anything like that on Pirate Ship. If a shipping and postage platform offers multiple tiers for a particular service - using words like “Base,” “Plus,” “Green,” or “Preferred” - then the difference between those platforms are markups charged by that shipping vendor. Remember that the USPS only has two rates, retail and commercial. While Pirate Ship isn’t the only company providing discounted USPS rates for retail customers, it is avoiding markups. When it comes to examining Pirate Ship’s affordability, it might be better to look toward the platform’s other web-based competitors, rather than the USPS. That is, Pirate Ship makes sure that shipping is absolutely no more expensive than the cheapest possible rate available at the USPS - and it helps regular old retail customers access those more affordable commercial rates. So, is Pirate Ship more affordable than the USPS? Sort of. One of the biggest elements of Pirate Ship’s business model? Charge no fees or markups above those of USPS, all while passing along the lowest-available, discounted commercial shipping rates offered by the USPS. How Does Pirate Ship Operate Without Charging Markups on the USPS’ Cheapest Rates? Thankfully, Pirate Ship simplifies the cost breakouts even further by issuing an annual statement with all of the USPS prices for customers’ information. If you send high volumes of commercial mail, you’ll be charged a commercial - and significantly discounted - rate for the same service. If you go down to your local post office to send a package, you’ll be charged the retail price for whatever service you choose. Prior to 2019, the USPS had three pricing tiers but, that year, it simplified those tiers, reducing them to just two: Retail Pricing and Commercial Pricing. And things seem to be changing constantly. That is, pricing isn’t super straightforward. In addition to offering multiple shipping services - First Class Package, Priority Mail Cubic, Priority Mail Flat Rate, Weight-Based Priority Mail, Priority Mail Regional Rate and more - USPS also offers more than one pricing tier.

How Can Pirate Ship Keep You Better Informed and Organized? The platform ensures that you’ll always be sold the cheapest option - and the option that meets all of your other requirements.

And, let’s face it, who has time to memorize all of these details? If you’re looking for a way to ship affordably, while still getting the most bang for your buck, Pirate Ship is the way to go. Photo Courtesy: Claudio Schwarz/UnsplashĪdditionally, there’s a lot of overlap between all of those services, though they all come in at drastically different prices. And, of course, your own needs: Do you want insurance? How about tracking? Needless to say, the right choice isn’t always obvious. That is, the USPS offers over a dozen different types of shipping services, and determining which service is most appropriate for your needs depends on a lot of different factors, including your package’s size, weight and destination. To put it simply, Pirate Ship knows all the details you don’t have the bandwidth to memorize.

Usps pricing tiers