What is Overnight Mail Cost? And How You Can Save Money On it.
Snail Mail. Most of us would agree that the postal mail is well-deserving of that name, except for overnight deliveries. But even with fast overnight delivery, there is one thing that still holds back businesses from using direct mail: the overnight letter cost.
Businesses are always worried about how much an overnight letter costs and how they can minimize this cost. So that is what we are going to do here. We will explain how much it costs you to send overnight mail and how you can effectively minimize the expenses of sending them.
How Much Does It Cost To Overnight A Letter?
There are several options you can choose to overnight a mail in Canada. Different postal service providers, including our own Canada Post, offer super-fast mail delivery options. The cost of overnight delivery tends to vary depending on the delivery provider and the type of service you choose.
And that’s not all. Several contributing factors can significantly affect the cost of sending overnight mail. Even though some of these factors may not directly affect the postage of your overnight mailers, it still holds a significant influence over the ROI.
For now, let’s see how much it costs to overnight a letter using different postal service providers.
Canada Post Overnight Delivery Cost
Canada Post is usually every business organization’s first choice for sending direct mail communications to their customers and partners. In addition to this, Canada Post has a presence all over the country, making it a reliable postal service provider.
Priority mail is the fastest postal service your business can get from Canada Post. According to the latest postal mail charges released by the postal service provider, the Canada Post overnight delivery cost can range anywhere from $21.59 – $328.49.
It is worth noting that the overnight delivery charges change based on the size or weight of the package or letter. So, suppose you want to send a thick booklet or product catalogue. In that case, you might want to check how expensive it is to send it overnight.
FedEx Overnight Delivery Cost
After Canada Post, FedEx is another reliable postal mail service provider trusted by businesses for sending time-sensitive documents. One of the great things about using FedEx for overnight a mail is that it offers three different overnight mail services. The overnight service offered by FedEx include:
- FedEx First Overnight
- FedEx Priority Overnight
- FedEx Standard Overnight
More on that in a moment – but first, let us look at the overnight mail cost when your business employs FedEx Overnight services. The price of a FedEx Overnight mail can fall anywhere between $85 to $210.
It is also worth noting that the delivery time of the different FedEx overnight services varies from early in the morning to mid-evening.
UPS Overnight Delivery Cost
When it comes to delivering postal mail overnight, UPS offers a variety of services, much like the overnight services provided by FedEx. So, both UPS and FedEx provide similar benefits in terms of flexibility to overnight a letter. The overnight mailing services offered by UPS are as follows:
- UPS Early Express
- UPS Express
- UPS Express Saver
In a broad sense, the overnight mail cost for your business mailers using UPS can fall anywhere between $19.85 to $956.50. However, it is improbable any company will reach the upper price limit for UPS overnight mail as it is for packages that weigh 68kg.
How To Overnight A Letter?
A significant part of how your business sends overnight mailers is choosing the most suitable postal delivery partner. The mailing requirements of a company are usually in bulk, and most companies often go for the less expensive option.
Before choosing a postal delivery partner, every business has to consider its own postal mail needs. There are mainly three postal services you can use to overnight a letter, and they are as follows:
1. Overnight a Mail via Canada Post
Canada Post is often the first choice for sending all forms of postal mail for a business organization. Why do I say this? Because Canada Post offers the most budget-friendly postal service anywhere in Canada.
In addition to this, it also helps that Canada Post has a widespread presence practically everywhere in the country. Here’s how you can use Canada Post for sending time-sensitive documents of vital importance for your business.
Canada Post Priority Mail
As we mentioned before, Priority Mail is the fastest postal mail service offered by Canada Post for domestic mailers. It is worth noting that Canada Post claims that their Priority Mail can take up to 2 days for delivery. Anyhow, in most cases the delivery you can overnight a letter easily via Priority Mail.
Features and Additional Options
Canada Post Priority Mail is not only the fastest way you can send your postal mail but also one of the most expensive. But on the bright side, it is equipped with several features and additional options that make it perfect for time-sensitive business communication.
The significant features and additional options offered by Canada Post Priority Mail are as follows:
- Tracking: Priority Mail enables you to track your Canada Post overnight letter mail using a unique tracking number. You can also opt for an email notification for your delivery or even use Canada Post’s mobile app for tracking.
- Guaranteed On-Time Delivery: Suppose Canada Post fails to deliver your mailer within the specified time. In that case, you may be eligible to get a replacement service or credit equivalent to the shipping charges.
- Online Signature: Using Canada Post overnight letter mail means getting an online signature from the recipient. It is an excellent feature for businesses like financial institutions to send essential documents like adverse action letters, collection letters, etc.
- Up to $100 Liability Cover: Again, consider the example where you are running a financial institution. Wouldn’t you feel safer sending crucial documents like adverse action letters when it has a $100 liability cover? It is no wonder that the financial industry is actively investing in direct mail; you can read more about it here.
- Hard Copy Signature: Do you need a hard copy signature to overnight mail because the documents you are sending are too important? Canada Post has you covered with a hard copy signature collection option. However, additional charges do apply for hard copy signatures.
- Additional Liability Coverage: You can opt for additional liability coverage if you send a time-sensitive mailer that you can not afford to reach late. The extra coverage can cover your mailer for $5000, but there is a catch. You need to pay additional charges for the coverage.
2. Overnight a Mail Via FedEx
FedEx is a trusted postal mail service provider for many individuals and businesses. Although it does not have extensive coverage over postal routes all over Canada, like Canada Post, FedEx is still able to keep up. There are three ways a business can overnight a mail through FedEx, and they are as follows:
FedEx First Overnight
The FedEx First Overnight is the fastest overnight delivery option you can get from FedEx. It gives you superior flexibility to meet the deadline with next-day delivery. With FedEx First Overnight, your mailer can reach its recipient as early as 10 AM. However, it does not apply to all locations.
Features And Additional Options
As you can imagine, FedEx First Overnight comes equipped with many nifty features and additional options. It enables you to overnight a letter conveniently while ensuring peace of mind. Some of the most attractive features of FedEx First Overnight include:
- FedEx Delivery Signature Options: Businesses can set up a FedEx Delivery Signature Option for their mailers for an additional fee. There are three types of FedEx Delivery Signature Option, and they are:
- Adult Signature Required (ASR)
- Direct Signature Required (DSR)
- Indirect Signature Required (ISR)
- Saturday Service: FedEx lets its customers have a Saturday service option which enables overnight mail even on Saturdays. However, only the pickup option is available for FedEx First Overnight.
- FedEx Return Solutions: Businesses can quickly enable their postal mail recipients to return the mailer with FedEx Return Solutions. You’ll be glad to know that you can generate print labels or email labels for your mailers. Moreover, FedEx also lets the recipients return their packages at their physical offices.
FedEx Priority Overnight
FedEx Priority Overnight is another overnight delivery service from FedEx. It is available to all provinces and territories within Canada. Usually, the FedEx Priority Overnight offers morning deliveries to almost all metropolitan areas.
Features And Additional Options
In terms of features and additional options, the FedEx Priority Overnight service is very similar to FedEx First Overnight. Some of the features and other options available in FedEx Priority Overnight service include the following:
- Saturday Service: One main difference between FedEx First Overnight and FedEx Priority Overnight is the Saturday Service. Unlike FedEx First Overnight, the Saturday Service is not just limited to pickup alone in Priority.
FedEx Standard Overnight
Suppose you are looking for a more budget-friendly way to overnight a letter using FedEx. In that case, FedEx Standard Overnight is your solution. As you can guess, the lower postage rate for FedEx Standard Overnight implies that the deliveries may be relatively slower. FedEx usually makes FedEx Standard Overnight deliveries by 5 PM to businesses and 8 PM for residential addresses.
Features And Additional Options
You get the same features and additional options as you do in FedEx First Overnight for FedEx Standard Overnight. The only significant difference between the two is their delivery time and the cost to overnight a mail.
3. Overnight a Mail Via UPS
UPS has similar overnight mailing services to FedEx because both offer three different ways to overnight a mail. Let us take a closer look at UPS’s three overnight mailing services to examine whether it is suitable for your business.
UPS Express Early
UPS Express Early is the fastest overnight delivery option from UPS. It guarantees an early morning delivery of your business mailers. However, there are some cases when early morning delivery is not possible with UPS Express Early.
Features And Additional Options
The significant features of UPS Express Early are as follows:
- Delivery As Early As 9 AM: Although it may not be any practical difference, UPS early delivery is an hour quicker than FedEx takes to overnight a mail.
- Money-Back Guarantee: With UPS Express Early, you also get a money-back guarantee for on-time delivery.
UPS Express
UPS Express is another great way to ensure the timely delivery of your business mailers. It also offers early morning deliveries and free UPS packaging for your mailers. It means you can cut down on expenses for packaging your mailers.
Features and Additional Options
The features and additional options available for UPS Express are the same as UPS Early Express. The main difference between the two is that instead of a 9 AM delivery, you get a 10:30 AM delivery for UPS Express. However, you get a money-back guarantee, just like in UPS Early Express.
UPS Express Saver
The UPS Express Saver is the best option for businesses that want a budget-friendly way to overnight a mail. The cheaper overnight letter cost is the highlight of this service. In addition to this, you also get to save more money on packaging as UPS provides it to you.
Features and Additional Options
The UPS Express Saver comes with the same features as the UPS Express service. The main difference between UPS Express Service is that it does not have early morning delivery unlike the other two UPS overnight services. And yet you can still overnight a mail by 3 PM on the next day.
Which Is The Best Way To Overnight A Mail?
There is no perfect way to overnight a mail because business mail requirements vary from one company to another. Canada Post is ideal if you look for the most affordable and efficient overnight mailing service. In addition to this, you also get discounts for bulk mailing pre-sorted mail.
But, if you are looking for the fastest overnight delivery, then UPS is your best bet. FedEx also offers similar packages to that of UPS. It also provides advanced security to your mailers with its different FedEx Delivery Signature Options.
How To Use Direct Mail Automation To Minimize Overnight Mail Cost?
We know that using a postal service like Canada Post is the most cost-effective way to overnight a letter. But what if we told you that you could optimize your mail delivery so that you can save even more money?
An automated direct mail system like PostGrid can streamline your postal mail process and minimize wastage and errors. For instance, we were able to help one of our clients and a healthcare service provider significantly bring down their expenses with direct mail optimization.
Our automated system ensured that a consistent mailing reached the target audience and cost-effectively managed bulk orders. Similarly, every business can use a system like PostGrid to minimize their overnight letter cost by optimizing their direct mail processes.
Writer Note: Get maximum deliverability of your direct mail by using our automated direct mail system in combination with our address verification API and minimize your overnight mail cost. Don’t believe us? Request a free demo.
