I have an online account with the three major shippers ... USPS, UPS & FedEx. I enter the measurements of the box, weight and address at all three shippers' sites and choose the best rate, pay and print the online label. I have a local "shipping store" 5 minutes from my office and they accept packages for all three shippers. Pretty easy for me at least.

If I am Ebaying, I do the same to calculate the shipping cost or, if the item is small enough to go in a "flat rate" box from USPS, I will typically up the reserve price accordingly and offer free shipping. I typically place reasonable reserves and let the "market" price the items I sell by auction. It works good for me since I try not to get too attached to the parts. Some money is better than no money to me in most instances.

 

I have online accounts with all three as well, but UPS is outrageous on pricing. USPS for small stuff can't be beat. Fedex gets my larger boxes. I also have a local box company make custom boxes for some things I ship, they are cheap and only take a few minutes to make while I wait. That comes in handy for oddball stuff or larger items.

 

Shipping has gone up but I have the best luck with the post office. They don't need to make the stock holders happy.

 

Which is why they have lost over 13 billion dollars per year for the past several years yet still stay in business.....propped up by mine and your tax dollars.

 

I get discounted UPS rates, got this discount by signing up for the account through Ebay.
Not sure if the still offer this service, but the discount is pretty decent, something like 20-30%.

Just checked, they still offer the discount rates.

http://pages.ebay.com/upssavings/index.html

This chart shows the discounts.

http://pages.ebay.com/upssavings/upsrates.html

 

after you get it boxed up, check on the usps website and do a comparison of services. i shipped a front fender from louisiana to new jersey to get painted and it was about $16 cheaper to use the 'expedited' service vs regular priority mail.

 

The majority of that is due to congressional mandates to fund their retirement system decades in advance, not so much from operational costs.

 

They have to fund their retirement fund for 75 YEARS. No other business in the world has been forced to do that.

 

Thanks for the useful info Guys, I knew there had to be a way around this!

 

They have to pay those 32 buck an hour delivery guys. Cut em some slack. Hee hee.