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Surface mail, also known as sea mail, is mail that is transported by land and sea (along the ''surface'' of the earth), rather than by air, as in
ePacket mailings can never be sent directly through the USPS; senders must always use a wholesaler.
Royal Mail: Surface Mail
{{Postal system Postal systems Philatelic terminology
Surface mail, also known as sea mail, is mail that is transported by land and sea (along the ''surface'' of the earth), rather than by air, as in airmail
Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be t ...
. Surface mail is significantly less expensive but slower than airmail, and thus is preferred for large or heavy, non-urgent items and is primarily used for sending packages, not letters.
History
The term "surface mail" arose as aretronym
A retronym is a newer name for an existing thing that helps differentiate the original form/version from a more recent one. It is thus a word or phrase created to avoid confusion between older and newer types, whereas previously (before there were ...
(retrospective term), following the development of airmail – a term was needed to describe traditional mail, for which purpose "surface mail" was coined. A more recent example of the same process is the term snail mail
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...
(to refer to physical mail, be it transported by surface or air), following the development of email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...
.
By country
Israel
The Israel Postal Company ( he, דואר ישראל, Do'ar Yisra'el) offers international surface mail (known as "sea and land mail," ( he, דואר ים ויבשה, Do'ar Yam v'Yabasha).United States
In 2007, the US Postal Service discontinued its outbound international surface mail ("sea mail") service, mainly because of increased costs. Returned undeliverable surface parcels had become an expensive problem for the USPS, since it was often required to take such parcels back. Domestic surface mail (now "Retail Ground" or "Commercial Parcel Select") remains available. Alternatives to international surface mail include: * International Surface Air Lift (ISAL). The service includes neither tracking nor insurance; but it may be possible to purchase shipping insurance from a third-party company. * USPS Commercial ePacket. The service is trackable. * Ordinary first-class internationalairmail
Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be t ...
.
Senders can access the International Surface Air Lift and ePacket services through postal wholesalers. Some examples of such wholesalers include:
* Asendia USA (accessible through the Shippo website to users who have an Asendia account),
* Globegistics (now owned by Asendia), and
* APC Postal Logistics.
If a sender sends an ISAL mailing directly through the USPS (without a wholesaler as an intermediary), the minimum weight is 50 pounds per mailing.See also
*Parcel post
Parcel post is a postal service for mail that is too heavy for normal letter post. It is usually slower than letter post. The development of the parcel post is closely connected with the development of the railway network which enabled parcels to ...
* Surface transport
References
External links
Royal Mail: Surface Mail
{{Postal system Postal systems Philatelic terminology