The USPS First Class International is one of the most economical, efficient and affordable ways to send packages, postcards, and mail to people over 191 countries. For those who don’t already know, USPS provides a mailing service known as First Class International which allows you to send packages, mails, postcards, and envelopes internationally.
USPS First Class International
The United States Postal Service does not only act as efficient and affordable service locally but also globally. Operating as a separate federal agency under the Department of State, USPS is a highly effective and one of the most functionally optimized postal service in the world.
Mailing Services Offered by USPS
- Priority Mail: This is the most basic mailing service offered by USPS.
- Priority Mail Express: Priority Mail Express is the quickest local mailing service provided by USPS.
- First Class Mail: This is the local First Class Mail service provided by the United States Postal Service, with a 1-3 days delivery time.
- First Class Mail International: The USPS First Class International is a mailing service provided by USPS which offers 21 days of delivery time.
- Media Mail: This mail is specially designed to send media, audio and video files within the US.
- Retail Ground: For businesses and large stores, this is an ideal service since it allows them to send and receive oversized large packages.
Features of USPS First Class International
Following are some of the features offered by USPS First Class International service:
- This is the USPS’s most affordable international service.
- This service is for postcards, letters, and large envelopes.
- The service is only valid for the flats having the weight up to 16 oz.
- In order to send a mail, the sender requires a global forever stamp, which is available at the time of submitting the parcel.
- The delivery time of First Class International is 21 days but it varies according to the destination. Your package may arrive at the destination earlier in some countries than in others.
Restrictions of USPS First Class International
The United States Postal Service follows strict guidelines and rules which quite frankly are also the reason for their success. You must observe the following restrictions before sending a package from USPS:
- All the envelopes, cards, postcards, and mail should be in a rectangular form.
- A card, mail, the envelope should only contain documents and no other items are allowed.
- Depending upon the type of package you’re sending, there may be applied other weight restrictions as well.
- For more size and restrictions, we advise you to visit the official website of USPS.
- The weight of the mail pieces can be up to 15.994 oz or roughly 16 oz.
- Size restrictions are also applied and vary with different packages.
- There are country-specific restrictions as well, for that please visit USPS’s official website.
- Restrictions against prohibited and hazardous materials including cigarettes, drugs, and smokeless tobacco.
Pricing of USPS First Class International
The price for a USPS First Class International package varies on the destination and type of the package you’re sending. If a package happens to exceed the length, height or thickness et cetera of the standard size, it will be charged as the next larger size. You can check exact prices of USPS First class international package here.
If you’re sending a large envelope or a couple of envelopes, USPS will charge you at the rate of a package since it then becomes a package of envelopes and not an envelope.
In order to measure your correct price for sending the parcel, you should use their online calculator available on their website. The calculator should be able to give you an exact idea for your requirements.
Global Forever Stamps
In order to send a package, parcel, envelope, and card et cetera from USPS First Class International, you need a global forever stamp.
With a global forever stamp, you are able to send a postcard up to 1 oz anywhere in the world. The USPS sells the stamps at the standard price but suppose the price goes up after you’ve sent an envelope, the stamps still won’t expire.
Other than that, the stamps on larger, oversized and unusually shaped packages are based on the price group of the destination country. The USPS post office where you will submit your envelope or postcard should have the global forever stamps available. Just pay for them and you’ll be good to go.
- Price of Global Forever Stamps: The rate of standard-sized envelopes, letters, and postcards start at $1.15 per 1 oz and increases as you go up the weight range.
More about USPS First Class International
The USPS First Class International is an ideal, affordable, and the most efficient way for US citizens to send mail, letters, envelopes, postcards, and packages of envelopes weighing four pounds or less to international destinations. Although the United States Postal service does not guarantee delivery date or time, you can still have a rough idea of 7-21 days delivery duration.
The delivery duration varies according to the distance to the destination countries. For example, sending an envelope or a package to Canada will take a maximum of 7-8 working days. Your parcel at USPS travels to its destination by air, by ground or by both.
Conclusion
Hence, the USPS First Class International is an ideal, economical and most affordable service out there to send parcels internationally. The UPS is also an alternate service to send out packages internationally but their rates are quite high and can be unaffordable for some.
Therefore, it may be best for you to use the USPS First Class International to send envelopes, letters, postcards, cards, packages of envelopes at the most affordable and economical rates.
Sending a one-pound package from US to Mexico using priority mail international may cost up to $40-50 but sending the same package through USPS First Class International will cost $20-30. For Canada, the price starts at as low as $16 and goes up. For Mexico, the shipping price starts at $20 and then goes up according to the destination, weight, and size.