Aprisa Express

Over the past 30 years, Leslie has played an integral role in the development of last mile innovation in logistics for private companies and postal administrations. Leslie has served as the postal chairman for the Air Courier Conference of America and is the co-founder of the Latin America Courier Association (CLADEC). She is also a member of the International Mailers Advisory Group (IMAG), and founded and leads a coalition of regional postal administrations and private parcel carriers with the purpose of sharing best practices to promote more trade amongst the public and private sectors. Through her humanitarian organization, ALPHA, she brings together logistics partners to support aid efforts.

The other side of the world isn’t that far away.

The story of Aprisa Express and the United States Postal Service began almost twenty years ago. It all started with a simple idea...

1987
THE STORY BEGINS
A veteran in the international mail and parcel industry, Leslie Guidry-Foxhoven began designing and implementing mail and parcel solutions with postal administrations throughout the Americas region.

1990
RELATIONSHIPS ARE FORMED
Through various private companies and start-up operations, Leslie establishes relationships with more than 25 postal entities throughout the region of Latin America and South America

1996
JOINT VENTURES WITH POSTAL ADMINISTRATIONS
As Country Manager in Mexico, Leslie establishes partnerships with postal entities throughout the Americas. Together they implement processes that in some instances increased on-time delivery to 98% while increasing revenues.

1996
MAIL LATIN AMERICA IS FOUNDED
Based on the established network throughout the region, Leslie founds a wholesale logistics provider offering mail and parcels solutions throughout the Americas. This company experiences continued growth for several years before eventually merging with a worldwide entity

2007
APRISA EXPRESS IS FOUNDED
Based on the success of prior endeavors and the expertise in the region, Leslie and her business partner David M. Smith established Aprisa Express, a woman owned business, as a premier ecommerce and international mail and publications provider servicing the Americas

2008-2009
APRISA DEVELOPS FINANCIAL MAIL & MARKETING SOLUTIONS IN THE AMERICAS
THE PROBLEM WAS that mail sent from U.S. companies to the Americas was inefficient once it arrived at the destination post office. Unless companies paid a high premium, there were no options to make mail trackable, or even to know if addresses they were sending mail to existed at all! This prevented many companies in the U.S. from marketing or developing relationships with financial customers in these regions.

THE APRISA SOLUTION was to work with postal administrations and private partners throughout the Americas to implement trackable financial mail deliveries, customs brokerage and clearance and final mile deliveries. Core services included delivery confirmation, track and trace, and address hygiene, and return mail management programs. This allowed U.S. businesses to go global and engage customers in the Americas with confidence.

2009-2010
APRISA DEVELOPS P.O. BOX SOLUTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL E-COMMERCE CUSTOMERS
THE PROBLEM WAS when international customers purchased products from U.S. companies, they only had two shipping options: expensive but guaranteed or cheap but non-trackable. This problem stifled international e-commerce because some consumers couldn’t pay the high shipping costs.

THE APRISA SOLUTION was to offer a third option. Via a partnership with Kardel Enterprises, Aprisa operated domestic addresses that allowed customers to receive purchased goods even if the retailer did not ship internationally. The orders are received via the USPS domestically and shipped to the destination as required. In the end, this created a surge in U.S based e-commerce sales with increased buyer confidence.

2013-2014
APRISA BECOMES AN OFFICIAL GDE® PARTNER OF THE USPS AND HELPS U.S. SHOPPERS MAKE PURCHASES ABROAD
THE PROBLEM WAS that U.S. consumers faced high shipping costs when buying products from companies overseas. Most consumers were forced to pay high premiums for reliable shipping, or be faced with a much slower, unreliable shipping option that could take weeks.

THE APRISA SOLUTION was to partner with the USPS under their Global Direct Entry program to offer consumers an inexpensive shipping option that could still be fast. Under this program, all shipping is handled by Aprisa until it passes through U.S. Customs. Once cleared, it is delivered to the USPS and then delivered reliably to its final destination. This model of international shipping reduces costs to U.S. consumers and is faster than anything else at a comparable price

2015 & BEYOND
APRISA CONTINUES TO IMPROVE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING FOR U.S. COMPANIES & CITIZENS
APRISA EXPRESS is always tackling new challenges in international shipping. Our most recent service, Parcelmax® has proven to be a truly innovative solution to one of the industry’s biggest challenges to date: customs, duties and taxes. When products ship from the U.S. to international customers, they go through customs and are usually subject to import duties and taxes. In the old model, customers would sometimes not be aware of these costs and couldn’t pay. Hundreds and thousands of products were abandoned in customs over the years. Aprisa has changed that with Parcelmax®, which allows international customers to pay all duties and taxes in their local currency when they checkout online. This means products sail right through customs, making for a faster delivery and offering full visibility to the shopper and e-tailer. And we’re only getting started!

That’s all for now, but we hope you follow the story as we partner with the USPS to write the next chapter.