Tried shipping anything lately? Prices are insane

[gsxrken]

Put together a box of stuff for a classifieds sale that came in at 65lbs. Not that’s not an overnight letter, but UPS wants over $140 and Fed Ex was nearly $160. That’s usually going to be a deal killer when you’re just selling used parts.
I recently sent my heads out for rebuilding... $100 there, $100 back. Cams and rockers were about half that. Lotta places want a standard $14.50 shipping fee to send something that could practically go in an envelope. Kills a lot of sales I’m sure... $5 part, $12+ to ship. Nope.
Anyone know if shipping has in fact grown faster than inflation in last 10 years or so? Sure seems like it.

[stomachmonkey]

It's COVID.

Even Amazon's shipping has gone to ****.

[rattlsnak]

I don’t know, but please use FedEx..

[LWJ]

Yes. Bought a bike in Florida. $4xx to ship! Yikes. Good thing I like the bike.

[jyl]

A lot of freight normally travels in the bellies of passenger planes. US airlines have cut flights by about 80%, so that’s a lot of cargo capacity gone - over 20% of total cargo capacity lost. So air freight prices are up.

[RWebb]

FedEx wanted $20 to send 1 lb. (their minimum) across the country (home delivery) - based on delivery times it must go by truck

[Bill Douglas]

USPS used to be as cheap as chips for sending stuff out here to the colonies. Now it's much the same as the other (expensive) guys.

[rwest]

I’m pretty sure that they make up lost money on the cheap rates they give Amazon and other big outfits on us regular guys.

I really like the USPS one rate boxes when it fits.

[ckelly78z]

Yeah, I just went to the UPS store yesterday..1 box @ 17# of caliper cores going back to ******** was $19.50. From my days of parting out old Datsun Zs, that box would have been less than half that amount a few years ago.

On a separate rant, the UPS store is almost militant about letting no one in the door without a mask, they yelled at me (mask in my pocket), and 2 other people in the 5 minutes I was there.

[fastfredracing]

I cannot get anything shipped out to me from my one big vendor for less than $20. Even a cotter pin, or one gasket.

[rfuerst911sc]

About three weeks ago I advertised a GHL aftermarket used muffler on the 986 forum for $150.00 . I preferred local pickup I am in Georgia . A guy from CA. sent me a PM that he was interested . I boxed it up and went to the local shipping depot to get a quote . UPS was the cheapest at $170.11 .......... Fed Ex was over 180.00 and USPS dragged up the rear at over $200.00 !!!

Got back to the potential buyer with the quotes , he agreed on UPS and off it went . Crazy prices for sure .

[gsxrken]

Really is nuts.
I need to return three hoses to pelican from a nearly $2k order for my rebuild. UPS wants $64!!! I might throw the hoses out!

[fastfredracing]

I end up eating a lot of cores, and parts that were purchased incorrectly because , by the time I box it up, and ship it , I am either out money, or it is just time wasted over a few dollars .

[MBAtarga]

I always thought shipping costs were astronomical back about 20 years ago - now they're outrageous.

[rfuerst911sc]

My wife just sold four Barbie dolls on eBay . Ebay assigned a shipping charge of 9.99 , how they came to that I have no clue . She just came back from shipping Depot and it was 30.00 !!!!!!! A box that weighed 5 lbs. and was small .

The shipping place did estimates for all carriers and this was the cheapest . Lost $$$ on that sale ☹️

[widebody911]

I recently bought 700+lbs of glass rock from a place in Utah; it was $140 to ship it to California LTL; I shudder to think what it would have been via UPS/FedEx

[gtc]

If you don't have access to a corporate shipping account with discounts, you can create your own UPS payment account through the ebay seller program. It's pretty easy and will save you a fair amount. You don't have to be shipping an ebay item to get the discount.

https://pages.ebay.com/carriers/ups.html

[RWebb]

does the UPS payment account allow you to print a label and drop the pkg off at any UPS store?

or do you still have to stand in line, like at the Post Office?

[gtc]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

My wife just sold four Barbie dolls on eBay . Ebay assigned a shipping charge of 9.99 , how they came to that I have no clue . She just came back from shipping Depot and it was 30.00 !!!!!!! A box that weighed 5 lbs. and was small .

The shipping place did estimates for all carriers and this was the cheapest . Lost $$$ on that sale ☹️

See above... if you use ebays label printing service it should work out better. (supposing your dimensions are correct)

[gtc]

Originally Posted by RWebb

does the UPS payment account allow you to print a label and drop the pkg off at any UPS store?

or do you still have to stand in line, like at the Post Office?

Yes, you print the label and just drop it off at a UPS store/facility/dropbox.

It bills you (as i recall weekly?) for your shipments... i have mine set up to autopay from a CC so i don't have to keep track of the bills.