Shipping Costs

[Bad 31]

What do you find is the most economical way to ship a package that's too large for the USPS flat rate boxes?

[Papaw]

Depends on how quick you want it delivered. LTL truck freight is probably cheapest, but slow. LTL- Less Than Load. The trailer may sit somewhere until it has enough freight to pay, or the freight may cross several docks between shipping and receiving points.

[Bad 31]

I'm talking about something like a tool box, not a rolling cart. But too big for a flat rate box. Taking 5 to 7 days is not a big deal. Paying $50 per shipment is.

[international3414]

fedex,not ups

[Lewill2]

I've heard that some guys use Fastenal but I have never looked into it. I assume that you have to take it to your local store and then the receiver has to go to their local store for pickup.

The Post Office takes stuff bigger than their flat rate boxes but there is a size and weight limit. There again I don't know what those limits are.

[amecks]

Once you have the package size and weight you can use the shipper's website to calculate cost.  USPS, UPS and FedEx all have cost calculators.  If you don't know where it will ship (like when you sell on eBay)  you will have to estimate maximum cost (I use a zip code for Los Angeles).
If you don't have a scale, find a store that you frequent that ships packages.  They may even ship it for you.  If they're a regular shipper they'll even have a discount.
Al

[Bill Houghton]

I've used Fastenal's service once, and the price for the item was pretty decent.  And the stuff stays in Fastenal's hands the whole time, which may decrease the odds that some amped-up forklift driver will play whack-a-mole with it, as happened with one item I shipped back to Ohio from California (the forks went all the way through the pallet-sized box I'd built around the machine, which was bolted to the pallet on which I built the box; just barely caught air all the way through).