The United States Post Office just made a big deal about the cost of a first-class stamp only increasing by one cent. What they did not make a big deal about was their dramatic rate increases for Priority Mail and Priority Mail International.

For example, a Large Flat Rate Box (you know, the kind they design just the right size to fit nothing…) originally shipped for $75 to any country in the world. That same box is now pushing $100 and the “Flat Rate” varies depending on which country it is going to.

The rate increases for Priority Mail International (anything over 4 pounds) were also significant.

The Mission Office receives a significant discount on packages shipped via FedEx. In some cases, we can ship by FedEx for less than, or just a few dollars more than, the cost of mailing packages via USPS. The advantage when using FedEx is that the packages are trackable and the delivery time is often significantly faster.

One thing you can do to help us move your packages along is to send us an e-mail when you place an order that will be shipped to the Mission Office. Each week, we receive as many as 30 packages for our missionaries. It is very helpful to our staff  to know that a package is coming and how you would like us to process it. When we receive a package and already have instructions about how to ship it, we can often get it out on the same or the following day after it is received.