Shipping costs for small items

[Kevin1990]

For the most part for me shipping rates are what they are, but I'm finding shipping rates on small items are out of hand. I feel like these places have to be making a profit for what they are charging for shipping. I ordered a clamp on bolt knob for a howa mini. Total package weigh is probably less than 2oz and $17 to ship, haha!

 

[Rwfish]

Pretty hard to ship anything for less than $15 anymore unless using Priority mail envelope or small box…

 

[ShtrRdy]

It seems a lot of what the business charges for shipping is them marking up the shipping.

 

[butchlambert]

Fellers, A small flat box is $11 postage. A large company has to pay a salary and benefits and a little place like me that mails daily, how much is diesel for 40-50 miles to and from the post office. I don't wait for orders to build up, I ship daily even if it is an envelope with a couple of tension screws. I do think that my postal product supplier is too expensive and I don't think all of them may be fair.
Just remember that it cost more than just the shipping cost.

 

[Walt Krafft]

Small flat rate box I shipped today was $11.70. Half hour to package and label the box, 30 mile round trip to the post office, 2 hours I could have been in the shop actually being productive. How much should I charge??

 

[butchlambert]

Small flat rate box I shipped today was $11.70. Half hour to package and label the box, 30 mile round trip to the post office, 2 hours I could have been in the shop actually being productive. How much should I charge??

Just what I posted! The shipping cost is not A true picture.

 

[charlie b]

When we ran a small business we (wife and I) discussed how to do shipping costs. Do we include things like boxing and packaging as part of the item cost or shipping cost. If you charge it as part of the item cost then folks will complain that you are making too much profit, especially if we ship more than one item in the box. If we charge it as part of the shipping cost then folks complain that we are charging more than the post office rate and are ripping them off.

It became easier after a year of operation to figure out the average cost of shipping over and above the carrier rate. We just took that and figured an average cost increase across the board and never told anyone what we did. Seemed to solve the problem. The cost increase was kinda hidden in our annual cost adjustments as our raw materials increased in price.

And, yes, shipping cost included boxes, packaging, labels, tape and time. Most of the carriers will pick up from your door, but, it usually means an extra day or two on the ship time (which customers would also complain about ). So, we'd load up the stuff and take it to the PO ourselves almost every afternoon (before 4 so the boxes would get in the daily outgoing truck).

The kicker is when you ship large bulky items, even if they don't weigh much. We got bit on quite a few of those. And overseas shipping is another bag of worms.

 

[tmwinds]

I would venture to guess that when you calculate the cost of shipping materials, time involved and the cost of carrier charges. The shipper actually lost money on the shipping.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Shipping is pretty crazy any more and no matter the number they show you in the line on the invoice...trust me, you paid for it somewhere. As others have said, it costs more to ship than what the advertised price implies. UPS has a pretty fair program but it costs like $12 additional for them to pick up. Hidden costs would surprise a lot of people and that doesn't include time, boxes, tape, padding. etc.

USPS has rapidly gone up on flat rate stuff but mainly, ya can't count on them since about the first of this year. I could understand during covid but now....just poor management. No excuses after this long and they just can't seem to get it right. FWIW, I'd be quite a bit better off using usps for my business but they suck. Lol!

 

[dusterdave173]

Pirateship.com
Go on , set up and account--after that it is easy as Pie to go on and ship a pkg--you enter the address, the dims and weight and it will give you several options--USPS and UPS--or click Cheapest and it will give you that--hit buy label and print label, slap it on drop it off to post or UPS driver you see at lunch or UPS drop off points--those can be your local auto parts or drug store--it is not hard
You ship same way you would have anyway but you Save $$ and...It is EASY
Best deal out there.....
A nice digital scale can be had from Amazon cheaper than dirt--with big plate etc
Get your tape from Amazon cheap too
Or....
Just pay more
Use lots of padded envelopes---keep boxes small as possible--it helps
Padded envelopes can handle lots of items and nobody says you can't stuff them but you just list padded envelope and the width and length so it goes as a small item--helps a lot for things that can make it that way
UPS rounds up on weight to the next pound--Do NOT cheat on the box dims --if caught they Hammer you for additional charges stupid amounts just tell it like it is , same on weight.

 

[ogre1911]

Plus 1 on pirate ship. In fact it may be Duster Dave that first got me on it

 

[charlie b]

No one ever said it isn't 'easy'. Just takes time and materials. Which is a cost to the business. Especially when none of the stuff fit in USPS boxes. ULine bulk boxes were probably the cheapest unless you had really high volumes and could contract your own.

USPS Click and ship, UPS, FedEx all are easily done online. Never saw a reason to use a 3rd party. USPS kept a record of all our customers addresses so repeat shipments were simple.

We loved USPS back then, but, we were served by a small PO and we knew all the staff. They went overboard to help us with everything, including tracking down packages, even the overseas shipments. Great bunch of folks (all 4 of them ).

 

[geo.ulrich]

Small flat rate box I shipped today was $11.70. Half hour to package and label the box, 30 mile round trip to the post office, 2 hours I could have been in the shop actually being productive. How much should I charge??

have them pick it up you can pre pay and print a prepaid label. I just saved you an hour and a half.

 

[shortine]

USPS ClickandShip . My packages are 5x7 poly bubble envelopes weighing no more than 5 oz. I've never had one over $6, most under $5 and delivery has been 5-6 days. 21 packages sent...21 received. I hope that holds up. I print the label, and put it in my mailbox for pick-up. Bargain.

 

[Albany Mountain]

I used to send everything priority mail because that is the only option given to me at USPS. Now I see they offer USPS Ground Advantage for at least half the price. That is helpful and appreciated. I for one cannot see why a 6"x8"x1.5" costs 11 bucks to send. They can pack 1000 of those boxes on a delivery truck for $11,000? I can't see why it would cost $90 or more for sending a p
pillow when Walmart and Amazon can send a 4 inch square item in a 2 cubic foot box for next to nothing.
I bet that every delivery service still has Fuel surcharges on every package they handle, even when gas costs are at low levels.
Rant over!

 

[JaoeyP]

Some places do make profit on their shipping. Is it aggravating? Sure. But it almost never stops me from buying whatever it was.

 

[skeeljc]

I ship an item that I make that weighs 2 ounces for $4.35 to $5.06 in a 4" x 6" padded envelope via USPS Ground Advantage. I buy the shipping labels through eBay with their 20% discount. Actually I can ship two of these items for the same price. The USPS is your best bet for shipping small items.

I charge my customers $8.95 shipping to cover the packaging and to help offset the eBay fee. I sell the item for $24.95 on eBay.

 

[Kevin1990]

I completely understand everyone's perspective. I just thought 17 bucks was awfully high though. I've sent things 4 times heavier than that, longer distances and paid 1/4 the price through USPS. Its coming through FedEX, so who knows, maybe it's actually FedEx charging those rates, I get wouldn't expect a company to eat shipping costs.

Its funny though, I found the same bolt knob with free shipping, but the bolt knob was $30, haha.

 

[Explorer1]

It seems a lot of what the business charges for shipping is them marking up the shipping.

Then again there are packing material costs, time involvement, shipment tracking...

 

[Mr.Spradlin]

Shipping has gone crazy.
FedEx went to a minimal weight. So say one of my boxes is 24x12x12 and weighs 6 pounds I am getting charged for like 25 pounds. And all the surcharges are just insane