USPS boxes you might not know about (and other tips)

Boxes

• USPS Priority Mail® Box 4: This box measures about 7” x 7” x 6”, so it can hold pretty much any duck or set of ducks I ship (or, small paintings back when I shipped canvas art). It has room for packaging material, easily fits postcards in addition to small packages, and is easy to carry. 
• USPS Priority Mail® Box 1096L: This box measures about 9” x 6” x 2” and it’s the perfect alternative when I have something that has a dimension only SLIGHTLY larger than would fit in a Small Flat Rate Box.
• USPS Priority Mail® Shoebox: This is a bigger box (about 14” x 5” x 7”) and interestingly it can be less expensive to ship than a medium flat rate box (as you can see in the table below)!

International Shipping

International shipping seemed endlessly confusing to me when I first tried to figure it out. I can’t say I know all the details yet, but some things that make it easier for me are:

• Fill out the customs declaration form online, not by hand on paper. It is so much simpler to understand when the USPS page guides you through the form. Use the USPS Click-N-Ship website (which now gives you commercial rates) if you don’t already pay for a website like Shopify with a direct USPS integration. Once you enter a foreign address, the customs declaration forms will show and they are simple to fill out.
  
    
  
• You do not have to use boxes to ship internationally: you can use a padded envelope with something rigid (like cardboard or a box) INSIDE the envelope- a padded flat rate envelope can be cheaper than a small flat rate box if it fits and safely packages your item (see table below). I learned this trick from a USPS employee! 😊
• Use USPS First-Class Package International Service instead of USPS Priority Mail International: I thought international shipping was always going to be $60+ USD and couldn’t understand how everyone was running their businesses with those prices. Turns out, people are shipping outside the US with USPS First-Class Package International Service, not USPS Priority Mail International- it’s a slower mail service, but still tracked.
  Example:
  

  Box type	Cost to ship to Canberra, Australia in USD
  First-Class Package International Service® Choose Your Own Box	$20.35
  Priority Mail International® Padded Flat Rate Envelope (12" x 9")	$42.90
  Priority Mail International® Small Flat Rate Box	$44.50
  Priority Mail International® Choose Your Own Box	$60.20

  
  To figure out what prices are for First-Class Package International Service, you can also use the tables that the USPS has published. Pick the country here and get its “price group”, and then take that price group and your total package weight over to the price table here.
  
  
  
  
  When I ship art internationally, I either use a box or a padded envelope with a box in it. Make sure you read the instructions on the postage you choose: for example, there are minimum sizes for boxes/ padded envelopes.
  
  
  

Regular envelopes

I recently learned that I can ship are internationally with just a regular card stock envelope, if it’s less than 3/4” wide and is a somewhat consistent thickness throughout. I use card stock envelopes because it provides another layer of protection to my art, and also importantly, helps even out the envelope width so that it can correctly pass through the sorting machines at the USPS (that’s where that 3/4” uniform width requirement comes from).


The envelopes I use are large because they kind of have to be- the USPS requirements for international letters are that a regular letter in a regular envelope cannot exceed 1/4” wide (which doesn’t fit my art), and the requirements for the next largest size (a “Retail Large Envelope”) is that the envelope dimensions are at least ~11” x 6” and not exceeding 3/4” wide… which is kinda big. And you can’t use the free USPS Flat Rate envelopes because this isn’t a Flat Rate package- you’ll have to source envelopes elsewhere, like at Uline. The USPS requirements for the Retail Large Envelopes are here: