I just sold a couple posters to members on here.
Last week I got an estimate from a P.O. worker for $6-7
I did not have the package ready but gave him the size & weight & Zip
Go in today and the woman wants $12 to ship it!
She tells me because it is a round tube & not a rectangle box is the reason.

So I go to Fed Ex store and they want $21..No thank you please!
Stop at a UPS store and this nut quotes me $69 US dollars!

Go to a different P.O. in a less affluent area and it comes up $8.65
Sold
Thank you!

Post Office can get weird about round tubes I have heard. I've sold stuff on eBay using pvc tubes to ship, and I just fill it out like it's a box and they take it. I have also gotten shipping quotes from the Post Office to go to a specific zip code, and came back later to find that wasn't right and it was several dollars more. It's never less and always more.

Oversize upcharge is also a hit these days no matter where it goes. Try shipping something bigger like a bike frame, and be prepared to be stunned.

No Fedex within many miles of here so I don't use them. UPS is also expensive and have mangled things I have purchased in the past so I avoid using them to ship things out.

All the shipping companies charge more for round now. When we ship parts like cat whiskers in a round tube, we have to put the round tube in a long rectangular box.

All the shipping companies charge extra for 1) over 1 cubic foot (not just a cube but by volume) 2) over 22" is like an extra $7 3) over 48" is like an extra $15

I only charge actual shipping. Many complain about shipping cost. I agree. I buy stuff too. I have to chuckle when people return stuff that cost me like $18 to ship (which is what I charge) and they wind up paying $30. My shipping cost doesnt look so bad then.

I've been quite happy with Pirate Ship. LINKY

What I do t get is why a common repop part that is available from several sellers has wildly different shipping costs. At least on eBay where you can see them head to head.

I don’t mind sending a few more bucks if you want, it’ll still be worth it.

Dennis

Public service warning - DONT USE USPS (MAIL, POST OFFICE). The mail has become WILDLY unreliable. I have considered NOT offering mail anymore.

UPS is the most reliable but rough on packages. The top pay of drivers is over FIFTY DOLLARS AN HOUR so that their incentive to do their job (what other invcentive is there?) FedEx is more expensive than UPS, especial to residential, and all deliveries are sub contracted out., They aren't "employees". I've had theft problems because of this.

For example. Recent shipment of package trays and trunk dividers in a 58" x 24" x 2" box. Shipped Priority Mail from Michigan to North Carolina. Should have been "2-3 days" right. Thats what Priority Mail claims. Luckily this customer is an adult and has been incredibly patient and din't blame mE for the failure of the USPS. They should shut that organization DOWN and let the people do whatever it is they want to to do but it isn't to deliver the mail. They lose 1% of our shipments and we ship 30,000 packages a year. UPS loses 1-3/year.


Out for Delivery, Expected Delivery by 6:45pm
GASTONIA, NC 28054
March 11, 2025, 7:09 am

Arrived at Post Office
GASTONIA, NC 28054
March 11, 2025, 6:58 am


CRICKETS. NOTHING. NO TRACKING INFO FOR OVER 2 WEEKS..............


Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
WARREN, MI 48089
February 24, 2025, 2:11 pm

Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item
WARREN, MI 48089
February 24, 2025, 10:25 am

Shipping costs are crazy ! a few years ago I was selling a fiberglass bumper for a Dart , I was asking $50 I had a buyer in the mid west and it was $85 to ship it because of the size it only weighed 8 lbs. Before my " forced retirement " I would ship items via UPS from the company I worked for and just pay them it was a lot cheaper I guess because they shipped everyday. I do find the the UPS rate chart is pretty accurate as I weigh an item and get the price and when I take it to the UPS Store 1/2 mile from my house its is usually right on the estimate. I have quite a few items I would like to sell but with shipping being so expensive it isn't worth the hassle. The post office is very unpredictable last year a friend of my wife's send her a package ( she only lives about 20 miles away ) it was small and only weighted a few pounds and it took a month to arrive at our house.

Round tubes and conveyor belts (especially sloped ones) don't mix well.

We ship quite a few small parts from our business.

The costs have gone up significantly in the last few years, especially to rural areas! A very small box with a circuit board can easily be $40 for UPS ground just 80 miles from here in the Flint Hills.

I've given up on the post office.

For years I have been getting my shipping rates online for ALL carriers. I have never had a quote that varied more than a dollar at the counter.

Have you guys heard of "Flat rate" boxes ?!?!?

Post office has been reliable and cheap for me. I hate to see the cost if it goes private.

Thats Terrible man
I sent a registered letter from Mobile AL to Atlanta GA $8.00
It took 10 days to get there....................................




quote=71TA]For example. Recent shipment of package trays and trunk dividers in a 58" x 24" x 2" box. Shipped Priority Mail from Michigan to North Carolina. Should have been "2-3 days" right. Thats what Priority Mail claims. Luckily this customer is an adult and has been incredibly patient and din't blame mE for the failure of the USPS. They should shut that organization DOWN and let the people do whatever it is they want to to do but it isn't to deliver the mail. They lose 1% of our shipments and we ship 30,000 packages a year. UPS loses 1-3/year.


Out for Delivery, Expected Delivery by 6:45pm
GASTONIA, NC 28054
March 11, 2025, 7:09 am

Arrived at Post Office
GASTONIA, NC 28054
March 11, 2025, 6:58 am


CRICKETS. NOTHING. NO TRACKING INFO FOR OVER 2 WEEKS..............


Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
WARREN, MI 48089
February 24, 2025, 2:11 pm

Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item
WARREN, MI 48089
February 24, 2025, 10:25 am [/quote]

I'd pay $20 an egg for a reliable postal system (sending 3 bills a month is not the same as sending 30,000 packages a year). The ONLY WAY the USPS will get reliable is to automate the people out of the picture. Automated trucks. A big PO box system/building instead of home delivery.

They did yours for $6.95 so I am good with that.

Thanks again!

Round tubes and conveyor belts (especially sloped ones) don't mix well. [/quote]

Ok that would be a logical reason.
So they might have to hand carry it thru the distribution center?
The person at the P.O.did not offer that reason.

i have been using pirate shipping for the last several years, and they compare rates between the shipping companies as well as the estimated delivery rates.
several times the pirate rates and delivery times are the best, several times USPS rates are only a few cents more [sometimes less], but the delivery is faster[sometimes by several days].
gives a person many options to see what works best for any particular situation.

Private or SHUT IT DOWN. All documents are emailed anymore. Junk mail has GOT to stop. Packages can be handled by UPS, FedEX, DHL or one of the new small local carriers that I hear about. Hell even Amazon (the DEVIL) does a great job. If the USPS goes private it should be something Amazon looks at. PS I someone picks mail and I can ship UPS and it cost ME another dollar or 2 I ship UOS. In 15 years I have had one bat [censored] crazy guy leave nsty messages and post bad reviews all over the internet because I tried helping by shipping UPS so the package would actually ARRIVE. Even in his review he said he didnt have a problem with the product but the UPS driver would drive over his lawn or something and he wanted USPS not UPS. So he trashes another mans lively hood because I tried to help. in 62 years I've learned no good deed goes unpunished. SO GLAD I'm near the end.

The world is changing fast, right before our eyes. Businesses have to be come more efficient. Jobs are going away fast. Perople need to do their effing job or they will be steam rolled by automation, cheap labor or cheap labor countries. I programmed industrial robots all my life (before making gaskets), I used to go into auto plants and automotive supplier plants with hundreds or thousands of workers. The last plant I was in, a company that made Chevy (and some Ford) truck grilles in Morehead, Kentucky (was funny seeing college girls there wearing those shirts), used to have HUNDREDS of workers deburing, adding clips, attaching wiring harnesses. The last trip there, the plant was mostly dark, felt eriely abandoned and had hundreds of robots where workers used to be. Sorry, that was MY job and I was damn good at it. I was updating a machine that assembled Raptor grilles. Adding and testing parking lights, frt mounted camera and camera squirter. It was hard finding a HUMAN to ask a question about the process. THIS IS THE NEW REALITY! Jobs are not charity. I work 18/7. I was at work 12 hours yesterday, Saturday, and am leaving in a few minutes, installing new ceiling mounted furnaces. Local HVAC companies wanted $20k to install 2 furnaces. I bought 2 new high efficency REZNOR 150k btu furnaces for $4500 and will have them installed and functioning with Ecobee thermostats in a weekend. My time is valuable but its not FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS a weekend valuable. Thats saved me a ton of $$,$$$. I stopped by my 34yo sons house and he was PAYING FOR ANOTHER ADULT MALE TO INSTALL A POST AND A MAILBOX. HE DID NOT LEARN THAT FROM ME. WTH has our world come to?!?!?!