The harsh reality about the recent postage increase
by the US Postal Service.

On January 27th the United States Postal Service (USPS) increased postage rates on all letters and parcels. The increase for shipments within the US was small and no different from other years. Due to the modest nature of these domestic increases Archer has not raised postage on domestic retail orders while dealer orders now pay actual shipping.

Postage on International shipping however is a different story. 

These increases are quite dramatic and directly impact anyone with a small business. Anyone selling trinkets on Ebay, every cottage industry and yes, every mom-and-pop like Archer must now deal with these skyrocketing shipping costs... and the fallout in the form of customer complaints.

To put these increases into perspective, here are some facts:

An empty Archer shipper weighs 1 ounce (28 grams). Before the increase it cost $3.00 to mail that empty shipper to Europe. Today it cost $6.55!

Before the increase a 3 ounce (85 grams) parcel, our most common order, cost $4.56, today it's $9.45.

Before the increase a 5 ounce (142 grams) parcel cost $6.12, today it's $12.15.

Additionally, each shipper costs 25 cents and we have to pay the salary of the person doing the shipping.

So where does that leave Archer?

If you are one of our International customers you probably noticed that we are now charging $6.50 for shipping which is more than double the previous $3, but even with this increase we actually pay more than we collect for postage on every single shipper we mail internationally. 

Also remember that we are self insured at no additional cost to you. If your order doesn't get delivered we ship a replacement - no charge and no questions asked, and in many cases we can now wind up losing money replacing lost international shipments.

Despite all of this, Archer still has some of the lowest shipping rates in the hobby and we will do everything we can to keep it that way.

During the 24 years I've run this business, there have been few things more painful than this round of increases to our shipping rates, but as you can see we simply have no choice. 

Thank you, we hope you understand.

Woody and Jen
(The mom and pop that is Archer)