Transcripts
Welcome to Unboxing Logistics, everybody.
Speaker:It's me, your host, Lori Boyer here as always.
Speaker:We are getting to the end of 2025, and I am excited.
Speaker:It has been a crazy rocky year, but we have an amazing announcement
Speaker:that I want to share with everyone.
Speaker:That is something that I think is really cool and gonna be able to
Speaker:help you a ton with your shipping through the rest of this peak season.
Speaker:So, we are doing an EasyPost Insider episode.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:And I have brought on one of the coolest guys at EasyPost, Tyler Diestel, to
Speaker:walk us through the entire thing.
Speaker:It's gonna be our USPS Claims product.
Speaker:Tyler, over to you.
Speaker:Tell us a little bit about who you are before you tell
Speaker:us about EasyPost USPS Claims.
Speaker:So I'm Tyler Diestel.
Speaker:I'm a senior product manager here at EasyPost.
Speaker:I've been here for going on six years.
Speaker:Initially was focused only on data, but now I've actually expanded.
Speaker:I've spread my wings and I've started to lead our Forge product as well as our EP
Speaker:Guard product, which USPS Claims sits in.
Speaker:Okay, first of all, six years at this company, in this industry, it's like six
Speaker:decades in some other, other industries.
Speaker:So Tyler knows it all.
Speaker:He's seen it all.
Speaker:He really gets to help shape our product and what we do here at EasyPost.
Speaker:So EasyPost customers.
Speaker:You got Tyler's ear today.
Speaker:It is really, really exciting.
Speaker:I love the USPS Claims product.
Speaker:So I want us to dive into what it is.
Speaker:So first, what Tyler is
Speaker:USPS Claims?
Speaker:Why did EasyPost decide to launch it?
Speaker:USPS Claims is an amazing product that makes it easy for shippers
Speaker:to get money back that is owed to them from the carriers.
Speaker:Now, a lot of times when a shipper purchases a label let's say for USPS
Speaker:Ground Advantage, they don't know that that label in and of itself comes with
Speaker:a hundred dollars worth of insurance.
Speaker:And so what we thought of back in 2021, I had one of our all star employees, Katrina
Speaker:Luthi come up to me when I was working on the data side of things, saying, hey,
Speaker:how can we help our shippers identify all the packages that they can actually
Speaker:file a claim for against these carriers to receive back this inherent insurance.
Speaker:Because we have a treasure trove of data and from our data, we can tell
Speaker:when a package is lost or damaged.
Speaker:So because we can tell that we're able to then file these claims against the
Speaker:carrier to help our shippers recoup that 100 dollars worth of inherent insurance
Speaker:that's part of these carriers' postage.
Speaker:Yeah, and I think I'd read a stat somewhere that said like, 60% of shippers
Speaker:don't ever file these claims and, and so I'm sure some of it, like you said,
Speaker:people just don't even know it's there.
Speaker:That's super common is to not know of benefits.
Speaker:I was just telling my team that, you know, I got an email from Amazon recently that
Speaker:saying, did you know with Amazon Prime, you give one free audible book every
Speaker:month and you're not using this benefit.
Speaker:And I was like, what?
Speaker:But I think it's one of those cases, a lot of times people don't know they have it.
Speaker:So you took our data, you decided to use it.
Speaker:So, so how does that work?
Speaker:Like our data can then identify like, oh, this was a claim that was lost and
Speaker:it's under a hundred dollars and it was shipped via USPS Ground or whatever.
Speaker:And so it's eligible.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So the first place we start is we will look at the carriers
Speaker:that are part of this program.
Speaker:So in this case it's only USPS.
Speaker:Then we will look for the specific service levels that that are eligible.
Speaker:So for USPS, it's Ground Advantage, Priority, or Priority Express, and then
Speaker:we will see if any of the shipments ended up being lost or damaged.
Speaker:We find that criteria and then we do one more thing, which is we look for what
Speaker:was the product that was being shipped?
Speaker:And what was the value of that product because only then can we
Speaker:actually say, hey, there was a $75 product being shipped, so please
Speaker:USPS pay this shipper back that $75.
Speaker:If it's over that hundred dollar threshold, then the shipper can
Speaker:only recoup a hundred dollars.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So, but if it is $120 item, they can still get a hundred.
Speaker:It's not like they're out cold.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:But we do need to know exactly what was that specific dollar amount.
Speaker:And so shippers can provide that dollar amount to us, one of two ways.
Speaker:One, they can provide it to us when they're purchasing the label.
Speaker:Or the other way is, in this process, let's say we get to a point where we
Speaker:identify there's 20 shipments that you created, Lori, and those 20 shipments
Speaker:we can file because they were all lost, but you never told us what the
Speaker:product value of those shipments were.
Speaker:So what you can do is log into your EasyPost dashboard.
Speaker:You can download a report that tells you everything about those 20
Speaker:shipments except the product value.
Speaker:So then you would go in, fill out the product value, and then upload
Speaker:it to the EasyPost dashboard.
Speaker:And right when you do that, we automatically file those claims for you.
Speaker:Okay, so let's say, so from my standpoint, I'm a shipper.
Speaker:I've shipped something out, it got lost.
Speaker:Do I need to notify you at EasyPost and say, this was lost,
Speaker:I wanna use your USPS Claims?
Speaker:Or do you just automatically contact me and say, hey, we noticed
Speaker:this is, how does that work?
Speaker:So first you would have to be enrolled into our USPS Claims program.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Does that cost money?
Speaker:Does not cost any upfront fees.
Speaker:What we end up doing is we end up splitting some of the money that
Speaker:gets paid out from USPS, and we will keep some of that as an admin
Speaker:fee and we'll pay you out the rest.
Speaker:Okay, so why wouldn't I want to just file my own USPS claims?
Speaker:Why would I wanna do it with EasyPost?
Speaker:Great question.
Speaker:So that goes to the point that we were talking about earlier
Speaker:of why don't people do this?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:First one we mentioned was they don't know that this is a benefit they have.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:The second thing is, they don't have time to do this.
Speaker:They don't have time to figure out which of their shipments are actually eligible.
Speaker:They don't have time to actually go in and file a claim for each of those shipments.
Speaker:They don't have time to follow up on the progress of those claims.
Speaker:In all of that.
Speaker:So essentially, a lot of shippers are just chalking this
Speaker:up as a cost of doing business.
Speaker:Whereas if they just agree to being part of our USPS Claims program,
Speaker:we'll handle everything for them.
Speaker:And so that's where this whole automation piece comes into
Speaker:play is you enroll with us.
Speaker:The only thing you would have to do in code would be you could provide us the
Speaker:product value whenever you purchase a label from our APIs, or you would just
Speaker:as we go through our claims process and we identify shipments that can
Speaker:be filed, we will send you an email saying, hey, there's 20 shipments that
Speaker:need additional info and they need that product value, please log into the portal,
Speaker:fill it out, and from there we take it.
Speaker:And what we do after we file the claims is, let's say all those
Speaker:claims get approved by the USPS.
Speaker:They will then issue out the funds to us, and we'll issue those funds
Speaker:right back into your EasyPost wallet.
Speaker:Okay, so help me understand as well.
Speaker:Does EasyPost, like using this system just once a month, like do an audit and
Speaker:then look for anything, or is it every single time one's lost, I may get a
Speaker:notification that it, there's a claim.
Speaker:Like how does that work?
Speaker:We go through this process twice a month.
Speaker:And so what we do is we look back through the last 60 days
Speaker:worth of shipments and see if there are any shipments that
Speaker:we haven't filed claims for.
Speaker:And we put them in through the process.
Speaker:And so.
Speaker:Like I said, we do that twice a month, once at the beginning, and then once
Speaker:in the second half of the month.
Speaker:After that's done and we've filed all claims, got them approved or denied
Speaker:we then enter in the payouts point.
Speaker:And so the payouts obviously is the last part of the process,
Speaker:and we do that once a month.
Speaker:So we will end up paying out claims about it turns out to be about three
Speaker:months after a shipment actually occurred.
Speaker:And let's say that shipment three months ago was lost or damaged, it
Speaker:would flow through the process and you would eventually get paid out for
Speaker:it within that three month period.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:So what I'm getting is, so step one, you go enroll in the program.
Speaker:Step two, you submit your info, make sure you have the data around
Speaker:your, your different shipments to make sure you have the, the value.
Speaker:And then step three, you and your team will be auditing and checking
Speaker:twice a month to look for any potential claims that can be made.
Speaker:And, and did you say that then you I like, lets, if I'm the
Speaker:shipper, would I receive an email or something notifying me of that?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So, we will notify you for any claims that we go through and we identify as being
Speaker:claimable, but need additional info, we would send you an email letting you know,
Speaker:hey, if you just provide us the product value for these 10 shipments, we can
Speaker:then submit these on your behalf to USPS.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:So then once that's gone through what kind of visibility do we
Speaker:have into the rest of the process?
Speaker:Sounds like about three months after the shipment went out, we'll, we'll get the
Speaker:payout and I, you know, I'm sure we'd be notified at that point, but during
Speaker:those, those months, are there updates?
Speaker:I guess just what sort of visibility do we have?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So, in your EasyPost dashboard, in the Carrier Claims section, you would actually
Speaker:be able to see the status of all of your claims throughout this process.
Speaker:What about edge cases, you know, it's partially damaged or what
Speaker:happens, I guess if the claim is rejected, what, what happens then?
Speaker:If the claim is rejected, then we do mark it as denied on our
Speaker:website, on our dashboards.
Speaker:The biggest reason for why something would be denied is generally because
Speaker:the shipper themselves have actually already gone and filed a claim for
Speaker:that specific package, and so they didn't even wait for our process.
Speaker:And that's okay.
Speaker:That's totally fine.
Speaker:Having a denied thing is not a bad thing.
Speaker:It's just more information for you to just know.
Speaker:Oh, yep.
Speaker:That's denied because when we saw that package actually get damaged, we
Speaker:immediately filed a claim with USPS and they paid us out already for this.
Speaker:So when we get the denied notification, it includes the reason for the denial.
Speaker:Yep, exactly.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:And then we get paid, and then throughout the process it's just continuing.
Speaker:You mentioned getting paid through the EasyPost wallet.
Speaker:Can you explain what the EasyPost wallet is in case somebody isn't aware?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So when you sign up for an EasyPost account, the way that you pay for
Speaker:postage isn't us charging your credit card every single postage
Speaker:that you buy, because then you'd start incurring a ton of credit card fees.
Speaker:So, to get around that, what we do is we have this concept of an EasyPost wallet
Speaker:where you can fund your wallet let's say a hundred dollars, and then we'll
Speaker:use that hundred dollars at a tab to pay for your postage going forward.
Speaker:So what we would do is essentially give you more money into that EasyPost wallet
Speaker:so you can use it for future postage.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:That brings up the question for me.
Speaker:While this is an EasyPost insider and it's focused towards our EasyPost
Speaker:customers, there are occasionally, well, not occasionally, there are
Speaker:always those who are listening and watching who are not EasyPost customers.
Speaker:If you have not, if you did not purchase your shipping through EasyPost, can
Speaker:you still use this USPS claim system?
Speaker:Unfortunately not yet.
Speaker:Right now, this is only for users that are using USPS, and that is
Speaker:not just the EasyPost's rates on USPS, but also if you're using USPS
Speaker:Ship we also support that as well.
Speaker:I just had to say, I talk to shippers.
Speaker:Every day I'm at shows constantly, I'm speaking on webinars, and if you ship
Speaker:USPS, you've gotta ship through EasyPost.
Speaker:This is so, so easy to do and is a massive amount of money that is getting lost.
Speaker:When you think 60% of those claims, I mean we're talking hundreds of millions
Speaker:of dollars that really is owed to you.
Speaker:It's just a pain to do.
Speaker:There's no reason, you know, at least move, look at moving
Speaker:some of your USPS volume over to EasyPost because it really is huge.
Speaker:If you're an EasyPost customer and you're shipping USPS, holy cow, please
Speaker:make sure you've signed up for Claims.
Speaker:It's not hard, it's free, it's easy, and, and we're gonna be keeping an eye on that.
Speaker:And even if you wanted to file it yourself, that's great.
Speaker:You know, as, as Tyler mentioned, you'll just simply get that notification.
Speaker:You'd already done it.
Speaker:So you're not gonna let money slip through the cracks.
Speaker:I, I was just speaking yesterday actually at a show and somebody
Speaker:in the audience said, you know, I just struggle with, it's so busy.
Speaker:And he was talking about returns specifically, but talking about hundreds
Speaker:of thousands of items and, and problem, and he's like, everything's piling up.
Speaker:I don't really know what to do with things.
Speaker:And it's, and that kind of a similar, I feel like Tyler with claims, that we're
Speaker:so busy just trying to run a business that it's really, really easy to let
Speaker:those claims kind of just slip through the cracks because of that challenge.
Speaker:So I love this.
Speaker:Anything else?
Speaker:So, sounds like the process is pretty straightforward.
Speaker:Again, enroll in the program, submit, make sure you've
Speaker:submitted the, the value amount.
Speaker:You, you'll be notified by EasyPost, so you don't have to reach out
Speaker:and tell EasyPost anything.
Speaker:And then probably about three months after is when you'll get paid
Speaker:out and the cycle just continues.
Speaker:Really easy.
Speaker:Again, tell us what were the USPS services that are covered?
Speaker:The USPS services are covered, are Ground Advantage, Priority, and Priority Express.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:Some of the most popular programs, so I love that.
Speaker:I do get a lot of questions around data.
Speaker:What about data security in this claims process?
Speaker:Is the data secure?
Speaker:Yes, the data is extremely secure.
Speaker:We're doing this all through a secure connection that we have with the USPS, and
Speaker:so there's no middleman that we're sending this data to, that then connects to USPS.
Speaker:It's us doing it directly and it's already through the data that we already
Speaker:have on file to support our shippers.
Speaker:It's, that's fantastic.
Speaker:And I, I always encourage everyone, whether it's a vendor
Speaker:like EasyPost, whether it's you know, at some other partners, you
Speaker:know, suppliers that you're using.
Speaker:It really is partnerships and the more you're able to feel comfortable sharing
Speaker:data and having that transparency, the more, you know, revenue you're gonna build
Speaker:the, the better environment you have.
Speaker:And so, yeah, just feel comfortable.
Speaker:Don't let data security concerns, we've got the programs in place.
Speaker:Don't let that stop you from doing something that could potentially
Speaker:bring you a lot of revenue.
Speaker:Tyler, one more question.
Speaker:So we talked about, you know, USPS are, are, you said you know yet as well.
Speaker:Are there other things that are coming?
Speaker:Is it offered through any other carriers?
Speaker:What, what are you seeing in terms of this for the future or whatnot?
Speaker:We are expanding to FedEx.
Speaker:And that's any FedEx account.
Speaker:Okay, great.
Speaker:And so that will be rolled out in the near future.
Speaker:If you are interested in that, definitely reach out to us.
Speaker:And from there we are going to eventually roll out to even more carriers, but
Speaker:at this point we're really focused on making sure that our FedEx offering is
Speaker:as great as our USPS Claims offering.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:So if people wanna be, you're saying kind of in a FedEx
Speaker:beta or something, reach out.
Speaker:And we can get that enrolled.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:We have lots of FedEx shippers out there as well, so I think
Speaker:that pretty much wraps it up.
Speaker:It's a fantastic program.
Speaker:I love it because it's free and it's easy and it just takes one
Speaker:more thing off your plate which is really kind of what EasyPost's about.
Speaker:I do wanna say, one of the biggest enhancements that we just did for
Speaker:this program is it is now so easy to sign up for it and you can do it
Speaker:without even having to contact EasyPost and talk to someone on the phone.
Speaker:All you have to do now to sign up for it is log into the EasyPost dashboard
Speaker:and accept our terms of service.
Speaker:And you're enrolled immediately.
Speaker:There's like a tab or something that says USPS Claims?
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:So if you navigate to the Insurance and Claims section, you, you'll
Speaker:see on the right hand side there's a nice little sign up section.
Speaker:You just click a few buttons and you're automatically enrolled.
Speaker:No having a right or go through the whole legal contract process.
Speaker:It's just a couple clicks of button.
Speaker:Okay, that is so easy.
Speaker:Literally no one has an excuse to not go do that.
Speaker:It is a win-win for every EasyPost customer.
Speaker:Go in there, get it done.
Speaker:Take five seconds, click the thing, and you're good to go.
Speaker:This is super exciting.
Speaker:I'm really thrilled for EasyPost customers.
Speaker:Hopefully they're gonna be getting, you know, a little bit
Speaker:more money back in their pocket.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And, and it's probably a lot of bit more money.
Speaker:A lot of bit.
Speaker:That's, I love it.
Speaker:I hope you're getting a lot of bit more money in your pocket.
Speaker:So anything else you wanna tell us about it, Tyler?
Speaker:Anything we've missed?
Speaker:Anything you're, or even to close out, anything you're excited
Speaker:about moving forward into 2026?
Speaker:I would say moving into 2026, we are going to be having even more information
Speaker:on the EasyPost dashboards to give more insights into the claims that
Speaker:you have filed and the claims that are currently going through the process.
Speaker:So definitely stay tuned and watch out for that in your EasyPost dashboards.
Speaker:Other than that, again, extremely excited about expanding this feature over to
Speaker:FedEx because just like USPS, FedEx is an amazing carrier, and they also offer
Speaker:this amazing insurance that just so many people don't even know is included
Speaker:in the price of your label purchase.
Speaker:So being able to again, help out shippers is the main thing why we're here.
Speaker:So I think once we roll out FedEx Claims we will be making even more people happy.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:That's perfect.
Speaker:In terms of general product updates, Tyler, is there a place people can go to,
Speaker:you know, receive updates on the product?
Speaker:EasyPost in general?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I, I would say the number one spot is on our blog.
Speaker:Our blog is one of the best spots where we have updates on several
Speaker:of our brand new product releases.
Speaker:We also not only provide new product releases, but when there
Speaker:are smaller updates, we will also issue out blog posts there.
Speaker:So even if something's not touted all over social media you can at
Speaker:least check our blog and there'll be updates listed out there.
Speaker:I love that the blog has the ability to just hop in and subscribe, so
Speaker:it'll just shoot you an email.
Speaker:You don't have to remember to go there, and it comes as a
Speaker:catalog, so it's not like you're receiving an email every second.
Speaker:So go to the blog.
Speaker:I'll include that little link to the blog here in our, our show
Speaker:notes, description and everything so that you can just click over there,
Speaker:subscribe, stay up to date with all the latest happenings at EasyPost.
Speaker:But thank you again, Tyler, for being here.
Speaker:Really exciting.
Speaker:It's been wonderful having you.
Speaker:Thank you very much, Lori.
Speaker:Okay, we'll see you all on the next EasyPost Insider.
Speaker:Bye-bye.
