Yesterday I went to mail an autographed book to Australia. I was shocked to find out that the Priority Mail International postal rates increased over 40% (from $16.95 to $23.95), making the postage to Europe and Australia more than the cost of the book. My immediate thought was that this postage hike would adversely affect small business sales to foreign countries. This is a cause for concern. This month, my sales overseas were only 2 % of total sales; small peanuts you might say, but not to me, and perhaps not to most indie authors.
It seemed a bit conspiratorial to think that the objective of the rate increase was to undermine Indie writers/artist and small business. I did not understand that the real conspiracy is to undermine the USPS itself until I read Deconstructing: How the USPS is Killing Indie.
I wasn’t completely unaware of the January postal rate increase; last week I bought forever stamps knowing that the price was going up a penny on first class mail. But until yesterday, I had not thought about the impact the rate increase would have on my sales—I was not thinking as an entrepreneur. Had I done so, I would have preemptively adjusted the rates for the signed books on my website or found an alternate way of mailing.
My compromises
Needless to say, I have decided to continue to offer priority mail to my US readers without passing on the $0.35 increase in postage. I based my choice on gut feel, not necessarily sound business practices, hoping to provide a little more value to the customer. For my Canadian, European, and Australian customers, I will now ship 1st class mail instead of priority mail. It may take a few days longer getting there, but it keeps the shipping cost down, though at an increase cost.
Lessons learned
- As an indie author, never stop thinking about the business side of marketing. Be aware that changes in the economy may impact your sales.
- Be preemptive. If I had paid attention to the increased postal rates, I could have used the increase as a marketing tool: “Buy before January 27th when the postal rate increases by 40%.”
- When the unexpected happens, try to find ways to mitigate the impact on your readers.
- Be flexible and try to find alternative solutions. For example, shipping 1st class or providing special offers, such as the two-book pricing scheme I developed
- Always try to find ways to provide value to your readers, they will love you for it.
Have you been impacted by the USPS rate increase? If so, how did you cope with it? Please let me know by commenting below.
