USPS Ground Advantage

Starting July 9th, 2023, USPS will combine its delivery services into one category called Ground Advantage. Once updated to 12.11, and the change is in effect and new rates are loaded, you'll find that the old services names have been changed to Ground Advantage.

Rate Setting

If you use the Endicia interface and your Price group for USPS is set to Endicia Preferred, RS Associates Postal Rates, or Commercial Base, you will see rates for two Ground Advantage services; (oz.) for rates less than 1 pound, and (lb.) for 1 pound or greater. These are the Commercial rates.

Your existing margins/markups for the previously named services have been applied to Ground Advantage. Additionally, the Quick Rate Setting Utility will help you to set new Retail rates based on the new Published rates for this service. However, if you wish to review or make changes to your Ground Advantage rates, here’s how to find them:

• From PostalMate’s main menu, choose Tools > PostalMate Settings.
• · Select Set Shipping Rates on the left pane.
• Below Advanced, choose Weight-based services.
• For Carrier, select USPS.
• Click the drop-down menu for Select-service, you will see USPS Ground Advantage (oz.) and USPS Ground Advantage (lb.) here.

Note: Ground Advantage Retail service will only display if your USPS Price group is set to Published. These rates are higher than the Commercial rate and are not available for online postage. Retail rates may be used at CPU (Contract Postal Unit) locations. This is not common.

Service Display Settings

With this newly named combined service, you will only see one USPS Ground Advantage service on the Rate Comparison screen. Whereas in the past, you would have seen First Class Parcel, USPS First Class Parcel Retail, and USPS Parcel Select. Therefore, you may wish to make some changes to your Service Display settings. Here’s how:

• Choose Tools > PostalMate Settings.
• Select Shipping Settings on the left pane, and select the Service Display tab.
• Click on the tab you wish for USPS Ground Advantage to display.
• Click the “>“ next to United States Postal Service to expand the services.
• Place a checkmark USPS Ground Advantage (lb.) and USPS Ground Advantage (oz.) and click Save. This will ensure you see this service for all applicable weights.
• Repeat these steps for any tab you wish for USPS Ground Advantage to display. Optionally, you may enable USPS Ground Advantage Cubic to display on the same tab, or, hide it on a different tab if you prefer.

Rate Comparison screen

Once Ground Advantage is enabled on the tab(s) of your choice, here’s an example of how it will display on the Rate Comparison screen. Notice the service names are exactly the same.

If the weight entered is less than 1 pound, then rates for Ground Advantage (oz.) will display.

If the weight entered is greater than 1 pound, then rates for Ground Advantage (lb.) will display.