How The Progress Of Mail Service In The US Correlate With Shipping Costs

Anyone who has ever invented a product or sought to make a living by selling items either self made or in the retail market understands a basic need...


Anyone who has ever invented a product or sought to make a living by selling items either self made or in the retail market understands a basic need to move the product from place to place. Whether the need is a local endeavor, a nationwide event, or a global necessity, there are significant costs involved with getting the product from where it is created to the consumer who will buy it. Shipping has become a major factor in business, and controlling or managing it has become a significant part of every company.

As recently as three decades ago, the cost of moving product from place to place around the country was far less, though never insignificant. Smart businesses have always tried to keep careful tabs on such expenditures to ensure they did not get out of hand. Unfortunately, one of the key ingredients to transportation is oil, and we are dependent in large part on foreign oil. This has left us vulnerable at times to the political whims of other nations, with concomitant negative impact on business.

But the cost of getting goods around is not exclusively due to the cost of transportation. Packages require packaging, and much of that is also dependent on the price of oil, so we have double the impact on business. But in addition to these costs, the size and geography of the US has always had an impact on delivering mail and packages.

The United States feeling about the delivery of mail and the importance of that process was immortalized by the efforts of the Pony Express which began in 1860. The task was difficult and fraught with peril. The recruiting effort of the founder, William H Russell left little doubt how dangerous the enterprise would be as he even suggested his preference to hire orphans for the job.

As things develop, the easiest methods were harnessed first, so people who lived in the cities began receiving official free mail service in 1863. It would be three decades before an organization representing the interests of the farming community could coerce congress into officially launching rural free delivery. But even this new service did not reach all Americans, the west was largely without service.

The idea of free postal service throughout the United States was egalitarian but in its practical execution it was expensive. There was considerable resistance to the notion for that expense and because the companies that made their living delivering mail to the farmlands believed it would destroy their business, stores in town feared it would reduce the number of visits by rural residents and would therefore decrease their market.

As it turned out, everyone survived the concept and it became so famous it appeared regularly in TV with the program known as Mayberry R. F. D. Though most fans were unaware of the meaning behind the letters. The concept of free mail delivery began to crumble in 1847 with the introduction of the postage stamp. The young nation realized they needed to find an equitable way to pay for the service and made the use of prepaid postage compulsory in 1855.

None of these expenses related to getting the product to market is a surprise, except for the increasing percentage cost of shipping to the overall expense of being in business at all. It is important for new business owners to be sure their product has an eager and active market for their product before they invest too much in expansion. If they are not careful, the cost of delivering the goods can exceed the cost of the product itself.

Looking for an excellent Cross border shipping/courier delivery service? As Canada’s largest courier company, they offer overnight shipping, air freight, and other services to ensure your shipments get where they need to be quickly.

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