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- šø Bye USPS
šø Bye USPS
USPS chaos incoming, Shopifyās CRM play, and Amazonās latest death.

Good morning, eComm legend.
Heck. The USPS saga continues, like a long-running TV show nobody asked for, yet weāre all still watching (I prefer Severance). This time, itās not just about slower shipping or missing packagesāthereās talk of a government shake-up that could send your shipping costs spiking harder than your caffeine intake after an all-nighter spent fixing a broken checkout page.
If youāre selling online in 2025, itās adapt-or-die season. Grab your coffee (or your radioactive-green energy drinkāno judgment), because things are getting real.
In todayās agenda:
1) USPS overhaul: who pays? (hint: you š«µ)
2) Soā¦ Klaviyo is now a CRM?
3) Buy with Prime: Adidas is leading the way š§āāļø
4) TikTok: 1, Amazon Inspire: 0. Game over.
ā Written by Alex Secanove

1) USPS overhaul: who pays? (hint: you š«µ)

The USPS drama is back. But this time, itās not just slower delivery times making your customers rage-tweet at you. President Trumpās looking at shifting the USPS into the Commerce Department, and if you run an ecommerce business, youāre about to feel it in your margins.
Whatās actually happening: Trumpās floating an executive order that would wipe out the USPS Board of Governors and move the whole operation under Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnickāyes, the same guy who runs Cantor Fitzgerald. The USPS already bleeds $10 billion a year, and the move could be a stepping stone toward privatization (TL;DRāyou paying even more to ship your stuff). The current board is lawyering up to block it, arguing the Constitution says Congressānot the presidentācontrols the Postal Service. That means lawsuits, delays, and a whole lot of uncertainty.
How it could wreck your shipping game: If this move leads to USPS rate hikes or service cuts, youāll be the one eating those costsāor passing them to customers (and watching them abandon carts). Potential nightmares include:
USPS dropping six-day delivery (because who needs weekend sales, right?)
10,000 rural post offices shutting down (bye-bye, affordable last-mile delivery)
Shipping rates jumping 15-20% (hello, profit margin erosion)
Private carriers like UPS and FedEx charging even more (because monopoly)
What you should do now: You donāt have to wait for the chaos to hit. You need a Plan B.
Test alternate carriers: Get quotes from UPS, FedEx, and regional couriers now. Rates might change fast. Try GoShippo.
Negotiate discounts: USPS hikes arenāt immediate, so lock in commercial rates with an NSA while you can.
Optimize fulfillment: Consider 3PLs (like ShipBob, Flexport) that might buffer you from sudden cost spikes.
Warn your customers: If shipping gets pricier, bake it into pricing early instead of blindsiding buyers.
Long-term reality check: If this USPS shuffle moves toward privatization, itās not just about your shipping ratesāitās about control. Right now, USPS is required to serve every address in the country. Private carriers will drop unprofitable routes in a heartbeat. That means if you ship to rural customers, you might see entire zones become shipping no-goās.
Sources: washingtonpost.com, cnn.com, freightwaves.com


X-Ray of the Week: JB Hi-Fiās $9.59B Growth Engine
š Platform: Shopify
āļø Email Marketing: Klaviyo
š§± Page Builder: PageFly
š° Upsells: LimeSpot
š£ Marketing: Vitals
š Subscription: Recharge
š Product Customization: Infinite Product Options + Inkybay
š” Product Recommendations: Wiser
š¢ Ads: Meta Ads
š Loyalty: Growave Wishlist
š¦ Inventory: Back in Stock + PreOrder Globo
š Post-Purchase: TrackingMore Order Tracking
āļø User-Generated Content: AliReviews + Loox + Opinew + Rivyo
šµļøāāļø Fraud Prevention: Riskified
š Customer Service: Zendesk + PushOwl + POWR
š Search & Navigation: Algolia
š Analytics: Google Analytics
You can also X-ray the growth engine behind ANY 8-figure Shopify store's success with our Free Chrome extension, revealing their growth apps and tech stack.

2) Soā¦ Klaviyo is now a CRM?

The super popular email-and-SMS marketing platform that everyone (and their dog) relies on now claims to be a CRM. Shopify owns 44.36% of Klaviyo now, which means tighter integrations, fewer third-party hacks, and hopefully, fewer broken Zapier connections (RIP to the hours you spent setting those up).
Why this matters: If youāre drowning in a mess of marketing tools and customer data scattered across five platforms, Klaviyoās CRM is trying to be your new best friend. Happy Wax and Dollar Shave Club have already jumped in, claiming they slashed support tickets by 75% and doubled ROAS (casually flexing their newfound efficiency). If youāre still downloading CSVs like itās 2013, itās time to rethink your life choices.
Whatās actually useful: Forget the buzzwords; hereās what you can do right now:
CRM stuff ā Klaviyo combines customer profiles, order history, and email engagement in one place (meaning, no more detective work before answering a support ticket).
Funnel forensic analysis: Visualizes drop-off points across touchpoints and prescribes corrective actions (e.g., "Add exit-intent popup on checkout step 3")
Use AI that actually does something ā It suggests email segments, predicts churn, and tells you which customers are about to ghost you (so you can hit them with a last-minute discount like a desperate ex).
Automate customer service ā Self-service options now handle almost 50% of returns/refunds, which means fewer angry āwhereās my orderā emails ruining your day.
The Shopify angle: If Shopify were a '90s reality TV villain, this would be its āIām not here to make friendsā moment. By integrating Klaviyo deeper into their ecosystem, theyāre making it harder for merchants to justify using other CRMs. The Shopify-Klaviyo stack now talks in real-time, so your storeās data is synced instantly. The downside: if youāre not on Shopify, this might feel like an exclusive club you canāt get into.
Sources: klaviyo.com

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3) Buy with Prime: Adidas is leading the way š§āāļø

Adidas announcing they're rolling out Buy with Prime this spring, is kindaaa big deal. The sportswear titan isn't aloneāSteve Madden, Belkin, and even MrBeast have jumped on Amazon's latest checkout solution that's boosting conversion rates by a cool 25% for merchants brave enough to try it.
Fulfillment fantasy: The secret superpower of Buy with Prime: Amazon handles all the boring stuff while you focus on posting aesthetic product photos and crafting those perfect email subject lines. The Prime logistics network manages storage, packing, and shipping with delivery times as fast as one to two days. Great Circle Machinery reported 70% of their orders now use Buy with Prime.
Tech talk: Getting started is surprisingly straightforward for something made by tech giants. You'll need a few basics:
US-based store selling in USD
At least a Basic Shopify plan with Shopify Payments
Amazon Pay enabled on your store
Access to Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment network
The Buy with Prime app from Shopify App Store
The real magic happens after installation when orders, promotions, and catalog data sync automatically within your Shopify admin. No more manually updating two systems like it's 2008 and you're maintaining both a MySpace and Facebook profile.
Cost considerations: Buy with Prime operates on a pay-as-you-go model covering payment processing, fulfillment, and storage. Sure, for high-volume sellers these costs add up faster than streaming subscriptions you forgot to cancel, but the ROI potential makes number-crunching worthwhile. With access to 200 million Prime membersā75% of whom are U.S.-basedāyou're tapping into a customer base that values fast shipping more than they value having a sensible bedtime.
Sources: amazon.com

4) TikTok: 1, Amazon Inspire: 0. Game over.

Amazon just threw in the towel on Inspire, its attempt to make you shop like you scroll TikTok. Launched in 2022, Inspire was supposed to blend social media engagement with e-commerce, but letās be realāit was like trying to make a book club happen in a Walmart checkout line. Now that itās gone, hereās what this means for your store and what you should be doing instead.
Why Inspire failed: Amazon forgot that people donāt go to its app to hang outāthey go to buy toilet paper and accidentally order 50 AA batteries instead of 5. Inspire banked on influencers making fun, engaging content, but it didnāt pay them enough (seriously, $25 per video? Even exposure bucks are worth more). Plus, its algorithm prioritized sales over discovery, so users kept seeing the same 10 products over and over. Surprise, they got bored and left.
What this means for social commerce: Amazonās loss is TikTok Shopās gain. While Inspire crumbled, TikTok figured out that people will buy things impulsively while watching a 10-second video about ālife-changingā kitchen gadgets. Pinterest and YouTube Shorts are also getting in on the action, and Amazon is now cozying up to these platforms instead of competing. Translation: if you relied on Inspire, itās time to pivot.
What you should do now:
Double down on TikTok and Pinterest. TikTok Shop is exploding, and Pinterest is finally nailing the ādiscover something, then buy itā experience.
Repurpose your Inspire content. If you made videos for Inspire (RIP), upload them to TikTok, Instagram, or Pinterest.
Lean into short-form video. If youāre not making product demos, behind-the-scenes clips, or customer testimonials in video form, youāre missing out.
Keep an eye on Amazonās next move. Theyāre shifting focus to AI shopping assistants like Rufus, which could mean new opportunities for sellers.
The lesson: meet customers where they actually want to shop sociallyāon platforms designed for it. Now, go make some TikToks.
Sources: techcrunch.com

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* Executive Cheat Sheet
Privatization ā The process of transferring a government-owned entity, such as the USPS, to private ownership, which can lead to increased costs for consumers and businesses.
Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) ā A logistics service by Amazon that allows sellers to store inventory in Amazon warehouses and fulfill orders across various sales channels, not just Amazon.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) ā A technology platform that helps businesses manage interactions with customers, track sales, and optimize marketing efforts for better retention and conversion.
Exit-Intent Popup ā A website feature that detects when a user is about to leave the page and triggers a pop-up message, often offering a discount or incentive to retain the visitor.