Nice Comms: A Few Shipping Updates You Might Actually Like

Trying to cut shipping costs? Read this!

The State of Shipping in 2026

Howdy Nice Partners,

Shipping has been a big topic around Nice and across the eCommerce world this year. It's not hard to see why. Carriers keep finding new ways to one-up their pricing, new delivery services are gaming for your attention, and many brands are taking a step back to rethink how shipping actually affects their margins (and not cost a gazillion dollars.)

The squeeze is real, which is why our team has been busy the past few months negotiating better carrier rates, testing new delivery options, and putting together resources to help you make smarter shipping decisions.

Below, we’re sharing a few of the updates and resources our team has been working on, including:

📦 A New Carrier Option

👀 Good News for USPS Rates

📬 2026 Shipping Tier Recommendations

👋 Introducing our New W.A.M.

💰 Fresh Strategies to Protect Margins

Let's get into it!

New Cost-Saving Carrier Worth Testing: UniUni

A new carrier option has officially entered the mix: UniUni.

UniUni is a fast-growing delivery network that offers meaningful cost savings compared to traditional carriers. They operate using an on-demand driver model (similar to Uber or DoorDash) to complete last-mile deliveries from regional hubs.

The cost savings are pretty remarkable (think USPS Ground Advantage circa 2023), but it does come with some big tradeoffs, most notably, longer transit times compared to major carriers.

Even so, if deployed strategically, we see this as a great opportunity for brands to reduce shipping costs for economy/free shipping tiers.

UniUni Ins-and-Outs

Nice Advice: Since UniUni can be turned on or off for your account at any time, use Q2 to test out use cases while shipping volumes and risks are lower. Your Account Manager can help monitor and refine to get the most out of your shipping strategy.

Holding the Line on USPS Increases

The Bad News: USPS implemented rate increases of roughly 6–8% across several services at the start of 2026. 👎

The Good News: During our Q4 carrier negotiations, our team secured pricing that waived these increases for our partners through 2026. 🎉

The Even Better News: After recent side-by-side comparisons, we found that our current USPS pricing is actually lower than what partners were paying this time last year, despite broader industry increases. 🎉🎉🎉

As carrier pricing continue to shift this year, our team will keep going back to the table to negotiate the most competitive rates possible!

A Case for Revisiting
Your Shipping Tiers

One of the biggest opportunities we’re seeing right now is brands revisiting how shipping is structured at checkout.

Carrier pricing has changed significantly over the past few years, but many checkout shipping tiers haven’t been updated to reflect those changes. As a result, some brands are unintentionally absorbing more shipping costs than they expect.

We recently published a help article outlining our recommendations, including:

New AOV benchmarks (spoiler alert: they’ve grown)
Giving customers options
Ideal pricing ranges, carrier picks, and transit expectations

2026 Recommendations

Sophie has been part of the Nice team since 2023, most recently serving as a fulfillment team lead, which has given her a deep, hands-on experience with our warehouse operations.

In her new role, Sophie will act as a bridge between operations and account teams, jumping in to troubleshoot partner questions and ensure requests and special projects get actioned efficiently by our warehouse team. We're thrilled to have her join Accounts!

Lessons from Brands Rethinking Their Shipping Strategy

Over the past few years, we’ve worked with many of our partners to analyze and restructure parts of their shipping strategy as carrier pricing has shifted.

Based on their successes, plus new industry recommendations, we’ve written an new breakdown on margin-protecting strategies we believe are worth exploring in 2026, like:

Giving customers multiple shipping options at checkout
Re-evaluating AOV targets and free shipping thresholds
Introducing slow-logistics discount tiers
Testing alternative carrier services for specific use cases
And more!

Protect Those Margins

Additional Shipping Resources

If you're actively working to reduce shipping costs or better understand carrier pricing, these additional resources in our Knowledgebase may be helpful:

Understanding Label Costs
& Carrier Surcharges

A breakdown of the many fees that go into the true cost of shipping, including DIM adjustments, fuel surcharges, address corrections, and more.

Why We Don't Connect to
Third-Party Label Platforms

We have a long history with third-party label services. We share our personal experience that led us to a direct
carrier model.

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