Peak Shipping Part 3: Dominate 2021 Peak Shipping Season
by EasyPost
Make sure to check out parts one and two of our peak season series!
Peak shipping season is sneaking up on all of us this year. September is right around the corner, kicking off the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons for companies across the country. Have you started putting together a game plan on how to approach peak season 2021? If not, here’s your sign to start!
In the third and final part of our peak season series, we’ll delve into EasyPost-specific features that you can consider to get the most out of peak season this year.
Industry-leading API capabilities
The importance of the right shipping technology cannot be overstated. If you’re looking for one of the most reliable shipping partners in the industry, EasyPost has you covered. Invest in technology that is always accessible to you and allows you to continue printing labels even when carrier networks are down.
For example, our shipping API uptime during peak 2020 was 100%. Last quarter, our uptime was also 100%. We strive to be as transparent as possible, always providing our customers with real-time information on our API performance.
How do we maintain such high levels of uptime?
- Stateless APIs to optimize the efficiency of requests and load to our servers
- Diversified cloud storage to fulfill requests
- Distributed data centers to support customer-facing services
- Carrier outage detection
- Our releases don’t have downtown or maintenance, and previous versions can be reverted instantly
- Security-first culture
When you create an EasyPost account, you can expect nothing but the best multi-carrier shipping API performance on the market.
Simplified access to a diverse carrier mix
As regional carriers continue to become an important part of many successful shipping strategies, it only makes sense to lean into our modern shipping solution. Consider our shipping API to access over 100 different carriers through a single integration.
We polled our customers in March 2021. Half of our customers who shipped at least 100 packages per month used more than one carrier. For our customers who shipped at least 1,000 packages per month, 65% used more than one carrier.
Regional carriers focus on delivering packages to specific areas within the country. For example, we have relationships with regional carriers in the Midwest, Northeast, and Pacific Northwest. The best part is that we’re constantly working to expand our regional carrier offerings to directly benefit our customers.
EasyPost’s regional carrier network
Why opt for a regional carrier?
- Reduced shipping costs (savings anywhere from 10-40% of national costs) compared to these carriers’ national counterparts
- More stable transit times, an incredible benefit especially during peak shipping season
- Ideal for companies with high demand volumes in particular regions
Even if regional carriers aren’t the right fit, consider utilizing multiple carriers as a safeguard ahead of the busiest shipping season of the year.
Hands-on logistics support
You need to have confidence in your shipping technology’s support. What if something goes awry and results in thousands of delayed shipments during the height of peak season?
At EasyPost, we have three separate internal teams dedicated to customer service and staying one step ahead of problems before they arise. Each of our customers has a dedicated CSM representative that can swiftly step in and answer questions, working closely with our engineers to resolve issues in hours, not days.
Our average first reply time is 4 hours or less, and this response timeframe is considered to be world-class. In fact, our average response time is 1.2 business hours. Our customer satisfaction scores typically come in anywhere between 80-93%.
We’ll never leave you high and dry and especially not during peak shipping season.
Ready to get started?
The sooner you start preparing for the uptick in packages around the corner, the better off you’ll be. If you haven’t signed up for an EasyPost account yet, we encourage you to do so today. Signing up is free (and easy) for our Developer Plan and you can get started in minutes. For those shipping more than 120,000 shipments per year, or for customers with complex shipping needs, contact us for custom pricing.