Cheap shipping?

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B

branchburner

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Sep 27, 2008
2,758
southern NH
We have been sending stuff to my daughter at college, as well as other small parcels occasionally. The PO is half a mile away, so that's the easiest. But I find myself spending $6-8 to ship a care package worth $5! Choosing something slower than Priority seems to save about twenty cents (not sure what happened to good old third class) and I believe the cut off for first class is around three bucks for 13 oz.

Anybody found a good cheap way to ship a few pounds when there is no urgency for second-day delivery? I know the big shippers like Amazon get massive discounts from UPS and FedEx, but what do low-volume nickel-and-dime shippers use for sending inexpensive products? It's usually cheaper to buy a second copy of a used book online, for example, and ship it for free, then to send the copy you already own and pay retail shipping at the PO.
 
A letter with a $5 bill costs much less to mail. If you share a bank, you could save the cost of the stamp by putting it in her account. It lacks the personal touch, but there are grocery stores where she goes to school.

Matt
 
I'd suggest you search ebay seller discussion groups. I'm sure they face this sort of problem.
 
If you use PayPal to print off your shipping label, you'll get a slight discount I believe compared to the in-person Post Office rates. You get free tracking too, including things sent first class.
 
Little better price if you just go to usps.com and generate a label. Comes with free Delivery Confirmation and you just print it, tape it on the box and put the box in your mailbox for pickup. We shipped thousands from my small business that way. And bought nice presents for our letter carrier every year. ;lol Had to give her monthly gifts because regs won't let them accept one over twenty-bucks in value.
 
Send less often, and more in each care package.
 
When my daughter was in college, I just transferred $$$ to her from my PayPal account to her PayPal account whenever. If my PayPal balance was 0, it just came right out of my checking account. Didn't cost a dime. She could use the $$$ to buy whatever she wanted. We did that routinely for 4 years. Worked like a charm. She knew better than I did what she wanted or needed, anyway. Rick
 
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May attract the ire of parents and their "not-yet-adult" adult children, but I 2nd sending cash or equivalent if you think that's necessary, but forget the care package. Better yet, give the child a budget and let the child manage the finances. Running out of money and living on Ramen noodles is a good education. Time to grow up. Life is not very forgiving, and college is a time for life as well as book education.
 
I try not to ship gifts myself. I usually buy the item on Amazon and have them ship it directly to the recipient.

You could put together the care package that way and save a bundle on the shipping.

-SF
 
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