Shipping

[OdieWon]

OK, I'm at a point now where shipping is an issue. Who to use? The service down at the local UPS store is FABULOUS. But it's twice as much to ship my product there than it would be at the post office. The service at the post office is SH!TTY at an epic level.

FedEx is here, but they don't have a store or office, just a shipping terminal/distribution center.

What to do? Who do you use?

[Vigilant]

If you ship enough, start a UPS or fedex account where they come to you! Prices for UPS are pretty cheap with a pickup account, but the trade off is the monthly fee.

[OdieWon]

Well right now it's unpredictable. Because I'm in the very early stages here. But after shipping to a few customers across the nation, I've quickly learned that shipping is a large part of the business expenses. So I want to be wise.

[Vigilant]

USPS offers free shipping material that they will deliver to your door, you just have to put up with the time delay in actual shipping. My UPS account costs about $40/month for pick up service, but my rates as a whole are pretty cheap, UPS supplies the printer, Worldship(TM) Software, and paper at no cost, it takes about 30 seconds to create a shipment with label, then the big brown truck swings by to get it daily. I have not tried Fedex, but that's because UPS made it too easy.

[OdieWon]

Anywhere CONUS, and usually less than 2lbs.

[Chris Upchurch]

OST ships a mixture of USPS and UPS. If you are shipping regularly as a business, you should not be going to the post office or the UPS store, they should be coming and picking up stuff for you. Investigate their business programs, and setups that allow you to print your own postage/UPS labels.

[OdieWon]

Well I'm a new start up and for now it may be one ship per month or 20 ships per month for the next few months. But I am tirelessly working to increase that.

The other issue is that I have a day job that still pays the mortgage, so I'm not around to hand the product off to the mailman or the ups driver.

Perhaps I am out of options until I can get my volume up at a consistent level?

[Vigilant]

Well I'm a new start up and for now it may be one ship per month or 20 ships per month for the next few months. But I am tirelessly working to increase that.

The other issue is that I have a day job that still pays the mortgage, so I'm not around to hand the product off to the mailman or the ups driver.

Perhaps I am out of options until I can get my volume up at a consistent level?If you have an account, you can still drop the stuff off at a UPS location, hell, even a UPS store, but still get the cheaper rate that a business account gets!

[alistar]

Shipping up to 10-15 packages a month, I use USPS first class, priority and flat rate boxes. I print labels from my paypal account on Avery 8126 shipping labels.

[michael]

I've had excellent luck with USPS Priority Mail. My local PO has the materials there, so I pick up a bunch. I go by after hours and ship using the machine in the lobby. Shipping is always quick, I've yet to lose anything, it's cheap and efficient.

[BillyOblivion]

Well I'm a new start up and for now it may be one ship per month or 20 ships per month for the next few months. But I am tirelessly working to increase that.
The other issue is that I have a day job that still pays the mortgage, so I'm not around to hand the product off to the mailman or the ups driver.
Perhaps I am out of options until I can get my volume up at a consistent level?

I don't know what you're making, but it is possible to establish a relationship with your local UPS Store where you drop <x> number off packed and ready, and then when you need them shipped you just call with the address?