Shipping pens... What service do you prefer?

[jrista]

I am now officially selling products to customers, and I have had to ship a couple of orders. I have used USPS directly so far, and their flat rate boxes are handy...but, I am wondering if I can get better rates by using a shipping service? PayPal, which i've been invoicing through, integrates with ShipStation. I am not sure if ShipStation offers any kind of general discounts for the packages you ship, though...

There is also stamps.com, as well as shippingeasy.com. Both of these appear to offer some discounts on the cost of shipping.

I'm curious if anyone uses any of these services, and if they are worth it?

 

[JohnU]

I use PayPal shipping station, mostly because it's convenient and I can have everything done at home and not stand in line at or drive to the post office. I like the priority boxes and my delivery person picks them up at the hose. I believe there used to be a little saving through PayPal but I dont know anymore since they recently changed the process with shipping labels. I can say it saves me time and gas money.

 

[MRDucks2]

The basic answer is yes, you can get discounts through a shipping service or co-op.

I set up our current website through Shopify and their services include discounted shipping through USPS, FedEx and UPS as well as, I believe, DHL or the like for freight. The system picks the best rate for what you are shipping.

In some cases the discount is small, but I typically get a minimum of 40% off regular postal rates, which makes it great for both our customers and sales, as it makes smaller purchases more worthwhile.

 

[Woodchipper]

The post office used to pick up. Tried to compete with FE and UPS. Can one order supplies from the USPS and get them delivered to your home or business? Been out of the loop for a long time.

 

[wrjones224]

I use shipstation and it works for me. I believe there is some discount to it but use it more for the ease of use and how it connects to my website. You can also add insurance at a discounted rate.

 

[WriteON]

The post office used to pick up. Tried to compete with FE and UPS. Can one order supplies from the USPS and get them delivered to your home or business? Been out of the loop for a long time.

Getting supplies mailed to you should work. Having packages picked up at house seemed to be discontinued. Order and see what happens.

 

[Amanap]

I can't use FedEx and won't use UPS so I am stuck with USPS. Using Pirate Ship gives me OK rates.

 

[jrista]

USPS still does pickup:

Schedule a Pickup | USPS

https://usps.force.com/faq/s/article/What-is-Package-Pickup

You are still going to pay the standard rates for each package, though, as far as I gather. And you have to pre-pay, I guess. It looks like stamps.com and shippingeasy.com offer some pretty good discounts on standard rates, though. I just can't figure out how much stamps.com costs...they don't seem to list it anywhere. Shippingeasy.com starts at $5/mo with the first month free.

 

[JohnU]

I don't schedule pickups… I just put the package in my mail box and lift the flag. When they drop off the days mail the take what's in it. I bought the larger mailbox I could find so I can fit up to a medium flat rate inside. So far so good.

 

[penicillin]

I don't ship often, but I recently had a good experience with Pirate Ship. All I did was buy and print two UPS labels. It was easy to create an account and purchase the labels. Here is a link:
https://www.pirateship.com

In the past I used PayPal, but no longer recommend them. PayPal does not provides shipping services directly. Since last July, PayPal shipping business has been redirected to a separate partner company called ShipStation. PayPal users link their PayPal account to a new ShipStation account. For security reasons, I am unwilling to cede direct PayPal account access to a separate company (ShipStation) to maintain shipping privileges. The only entity that should have access to my PayPal account is me.

(Note: I know of no specific security issues regarding the link between PayPal and ShipStation. In my opinion, it is a sensible precaution to minimize the number of ways that money can be taken from my accounts.)

 

[rixstix]

FWIW, ShipStation is owned by Stamps.com. Stamps.com login is used interchangeably between Stamps & SS. Stamps.com also includes discounted UPS rates that can be married to a ShipStation account. Shipstation insurance is about $1/$100 and can be used on any service. Claims are paid very quickly. Tracking is no charge, even for USPS 1st Class padded envelopes.

 

[sorcerertd]

I also use Pirate Ship (or buy labels through Etsy for the same cost). USPS is just the easy option for me. Like John, I have a larger mailbox and put packages (almost always SFR boxes) right out there like I would a letter. Purchasing USPS labels directly from the USPS site is still a little cheaper than going to the post office to buy them and you can still schedule pickups if stuff won't fit in the mailbox.

 

[jrista]

I don't have a mailbox I can ship stuff out of. My neighborhood uses those communal cellular mailboxes where each home gets a small cubby, and there is one cubby for outgoing standard mail. There are larger cubbies for package delivery, but they cannot be used for package pickups.

 

[WriteON]

Have been using USPS aka PayPal ShipStation …. No issues other than my last package took 2 weeks in the same state. Pick Up at my front door has not been working so I simply take to a drop off box or PO.

 

[jrista]

Well, thank you all for your responses. Sounds like I need to check out Pirate Ship for one. ShippingEasy looks pretty nice too.

I will probably be starting with Etsy for an online store, and it looks like ShippingEasy integrates right into Etsy as well, so that might be a nice combination. Based just on the home page, PirateShip might have the best discounts around, though, so I have to do a bit more research on them.

Anyway, I appreciate all your insights! Thanks!

 

[mmayo]

Thanks for the Pirate Ship idea. Ahoy!

 

[derekdd]

I know this thread is over a year old but thought I'd ask here rather than starting a new thread.

What boxes do you guys use to ship just one or two pens? Wrap the pen in bubble wrap, etc? A padded mailing envelop seems like a broken pen looking for a place to happen.

Thanks for any suggestions.