UPS Shipping Costs Lately?

MarkF48 · Mar 4, 2015

I haven't shipped anything UPS for a while, but had a package to send out to my son and his wife in California from Massachusetts. Not a particularly large box (24"x17"x5") and weighed in at only 4 pounds. The cost for UPS Ground tallied up to just about $32 which I though was kinda steep. Like I said it's been a while since I've used UPS, but I can sort of recall a package like this might have been in the $20-$22 range not that long ago. Anyone else used UPS lately and had sticker shock?

oldballs · Mar 4, 2015

An acquaintance told me the same thing; and that a fuel sur-charge was added as well, even with the extended drop in fuel prices. Go figure.

kennyd · Mar 4, 2015

If you used one of the franchise "UPS Stores" then it is very expensive since they add on extra fees.

MarkF48 · Mar 4, 2015

kennyd said:
If you used one of the franchise "UPS Stores" then it is very expensive since they add on extra fees.

Nope, I have a UPS account and this was print my own label and take it to a UPS pickup facilities.

Wife ended up taking the package to the local post office. The estimate from USPS online was less than $15 without adding on insurance.

Walkin Horse · Mar 4, 2015

It makes you wonder how some places offer free shipping. The merchandise is somewhat comparable in price to what you can buy local. Or obviously we wouldn't be ordering it.

MarkF48 · Mar 4, 2015

Walkin Horse said:
It makes you wonder how some places offer free shipping. The merchandise is somewhat comparable in price to what you can buy local. Or obviously we wouldn't be ordering it.

Retailers likely get a discount for shipping. I get somewhat of a discount on ebay (last I checked, could have changed), but since this item wasn't an ebay sale I couldn't use that means of shipping.

Country Geek · Mar 4, 2015

Walkin Horse said:
It makes you wonder how some places offer free shipping. The merchandise is somewhat comparable in price to what you can buy local. Or obviously we wouldn't be ordering it.

Amazon is losing their shirt on free shipping. They are also losing their shirt on Amazon Prime because of shipping costs.

charlz · Mar 4, 2015

I try to ship everything via USPS flat rate these days. Nothing like paying more in shipping than something is worth.

MoKelly · Mar 4, 2015

Country Geek said:
Amazon is losing their shirt on free shipping. They are also losing their shirt on Amazon Prime because of shipping costs.

And yet their company has a market value worth $180 billion and UPS is worth $90 billion. Go figure.

MoKelly

truckdiagnostics · Mar 4, 2015

MarkF48 said:
Nope, I have a UPS account and this was print my own label and take it to a UPS pickup facilities.

Wife ended up taking the package to the local post office. The estimate from USPS online was less than $15 without adding on insurance.

We too have ups account. You will notice a change in pricing when shipping business to business or business to residence.