Shipping Costs UPS VS USPS

A

angelfj1

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Hello guys.

Recently I needed some pieces of alum. angle. This was a very small order, but no one locally had what I needed. I went on line to one of the usual sources and as I expected the shipping cost was higher than the parts total. For two small lengths of 3x3x1/4 alum angle the price was $7 + change and shipping the cheapist way (UPS) was almost $15. Total weight was well under 1 lb!

I called the store and asked if they would ship USPS. I was surprised by their answer, "yes, but you wont save anything compaired to UPS - USPS has special minimum charges for shipping metal which are about the same as UPS". I thanked the guy, but thought this sounded crazy. Has anyone else encountered this?

Thanks, Frank:banghead:
 
I called the store and asked if they would ship USPS. I was surprised by their answer, "yes, but you wont save anything compaired to UPS - USPS has special minimum charges for shipping metal which are about the same as UPS". I thanked the guy, but thought this sounded crazy. Has anyone else encountered this?
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Complete hogwash. Just got a box of brass from florida weighing 47 lbs It was shipped in a mediun flat rate box that costs around $15.00 to ship(he only charged me $10.00).
Look on ebay and you can probably find your aluminum and a seller who will ship economicaly.
Many buisnesses are just to lazy to ship usps when the brown truck stops by everyday and they can just hand the box to them.
 
No there are no special rates for shipping metal, there may be for irregular packages. There is an online postage calculator available at http://postcalc.usps.com/ Since you didn't say how long, just for fun I plugged in 1 lb 48" x 4" x 4" from Maine to California and it came up less than $7 for "Standard Post" (when it first brings up the prices click on "other options" to show "Standard Post" prices, they are really pushing Priority Mail which does work real well for small heavy items but not long packages like this example).
 
Guys, don't forget those shipping materials are not cheap. Have you ever boxed something up and shipped it across the country? Sure you can re-use old boxes if you have the correct size. But, it you do not have materials laying around and need to buy them they add up in a hurry. Not to mention the time to box or crate. None of that is free and it is all taken into account to get you that "shipping cost".
 
I had that same situation come up yesterday as a matter of fact. I needed to return the QCTP (body only) to Tools4Cheap for replacement. I put it in a box measuring 6x4x4 weighing 6lbs. To ship UPS on my commercial account was $13.81 which I thought was pretty steep so I took it to the Post Office. To ship the box like it was they wanted $28.32! I almost melted down. The lady helping me suggested a Priority Ship package that would/should arrive in 2-3 days (vs 5-6 for UPS) for $12.35. This is for shipping/mailing from 77619 to 01451 TX to MA. So I saved $2.56 after riding to the PO, waiting in the only open line:angry:, fudgeting with filling out labels, again!, and finally getting my parcel outbound.

In retrospect it cost me a lot more to save a couple of bucks than if I'd just sent it on Brown and been done with it. Plus I didn't get to see sweet Diane at UPS who's really sweet and friendly and always smells so nice.

YMMV
 
Check this guy out on ebay exact_metals the last thing I got from him was 2 pieces 3/4" X 3" X 12" and the postage was $5.70.

He has Steel,Brass,PVC and others Aluminum. Hes is pretty fast getting things out and he keeps the shipping low.

My mail lady hates to see the package from him..:biggrin:

Paul
 
My guys make minimum $25.00 per hour. If you want to pay that on top of the USPS shipping fee I will send someone to the Post Office, ends up being cheaper to UPS. You're right, shipping is expensive.
 
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I sell a few things online from time to time. I never make money on shipping and always charge the exact shipping cost. I get so frustrated on how many complaints I get about my shipping charges and delivery times and it's not my fault. Most of the time prices can be all over the place and the same package can go much cheaper via UPS verses USPS just one zip code over. I tend to use USPS first because of convenience, but here lately the delivery times have been very undependable. Just this past Saturday my mail carrier didn't even show up so it was Tuesday before I could get a package out. Watch out for some of those shipping stores too. I was in a hurry this past summer so I took a package to one of those UPS franchise stores and they wanted to charge me over 2 times the online retail cost. If you pay and print your label online you can drop off the package there for free or give it to any UPS driver.
 
rgray said:
Complete hogwash. Just got a box of brass from florida weighing 47 lbs It was shipped in a mediun flat rate box that costs around $15.00 to ship(he only charged me $10.00).
Look on ebay and you can probably find your aluminum and a seller who will ship economicaly.
Many buisnesses are just to lazy to ship usps when the brown truck stops by everyday and they can just hand the box to them.
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The reason why your 47lbs was was cheaper than his two pieces of aluminum was that it fit in a med. flat rate box that costs $10.75 for up to 70lbs to any zip code in the US.. If his aluminum was say over 16" than it wont fit and it will have to go via normal rates which would be much more.
 
The reason why your 47lbs was was cheaper than his two pieces of aluminum was that it fit in a med. flat rate box that costs $10.75 for up to 70lbs to any zip code in the US.. If his aluminum was say over 16" than it wont fit and it will have to go via normal rates which would be much more.
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Yes I have run into that. I was building boring bars that are 12" long....they wouldn't fit in the flat rate boxes so they were expensive to ship.
Then I bought some steel rounds in 12" lenghts on ebay and they came shipped in the flate rate padded envelope. With bubble wrap and some tape they came through the mail just fine and I think shipping on those is $5.35.
He didn't state the lenght of his aluminum order but did say $7.00 and some change. 3x3x1/4 aluminum on speedy metals is $7.71 for 12" and that would fit in one of those padded envelopes.
 
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