Equaship, a US-based parcel carrier backed by Newell Rubbermaid, suspended its service in February, after launching in the fourth quarter of last year.
Ron Wiener, chief executive of EquaShip, said: "Our customers clearly loved that fact that our prices beat FedEx and UPS by up to 80%, our real insurance coverage bundled with every parcel, and our outstanding customer service. However, in today’s ecommerce environment it’s not good enough for small and medium-sized merchants to offer Free Shipping. Shipping also has to be fast enough to compete with larger competitors like Amazon who ship from multiple distribution centers. What we heard loud and clear from our customers was that they needed faster transit times than we could deliver through our existing network of transportation partners."
Wiener added: "Rather than limit our market only to shippers who could tolerate slower transit times we felt it would be better to stop now, switch out our transportation network providers, and come back with a service that is as fast as today’s online consumer has come to expect, but still priced far below the egregiously high rates that FedEx and UPS charge smaller shippers,"
Equaship raised $1.5m in December with Newell Rubbermaid, the US-based consumer goods conglomerate which owns shipping brand DYMO Endicia, among the backers.