USPS changed its First Class mail service to Ground Advantage on July 9th. First class mail is now exclusively for letters and post cards. If you send packages, you need to use Ground Advantage.
It seems that Shopify is completely oblivious to this change and I am unable to purchase Ground Advantage shipping labels. The grace period has ended, and my post office is no longer accepting packages with First Class shipping labels.
Has anyone been able to purchase Ground Advantage shipping labels through Shopify? Has anyone received information about when Shopify might update its shipping options? Thanks.
Hi, The grace period actually goes till September 30th , although some PO’s are acting independently (as they always have). I have no idea why Shopify has not updated although I have a suspicion that since they sell insurance they will lose income when shipping automatically includes it, up to $100.
From USPS.com: Note for Business Mailers: The Postal Service allows a grace period to implement USPS Ground Advantage™ Service Type Codes (STCs) until September 30, 2023.
Thank you so much, this is very helpful. It is really unfortunate that Shopify hasn’t updated yet. As far as I can see, every other ecom platform has.
Here is a USPS-issued document about the grace period. If anyone else is having issues with the post office accepting their First Class packages, you can show them this publication. As @DonM mentioned, the PO should be accepting First Class packages until September 30th. (Now to convince my local postal carriers, while waiting for Shopify to catch up! )
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