Cheapest way to ship boxes?

[anna08]

Short of driving around town with a big box of clothes to send to family, does anyone know which company is cheapest to send a big heavy box? FedEx Ground, UPS or USPS? I know there is no really cheap way as shipping postage is always pricey, but was hoping someone knows if there is one of those three that are consistently cheaper than the others. TIA

 

[pryncess527]

You should be able to enter the dimensions, weight, and shipping zip codes into calculators on the website for all three to get an estimate.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Does your employer allow you to ship personal packages through the corporate account? If so, this will likely be WAY cheaper than full rate at say the UPS Store.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I have found FedEx ground to be the cheapest.

 

[laurafergie]

I actually went through this a few months ag. I was sending DD22 lot of her things when she got an apartment. It has to do with the size of the box, the weight and zipcodes. For me, VA to OK 50lb book boxes, USPS Parcel Post won.
As PP said, they have rate calculators on their websites.

 

[anna08]

Thanks so much for the advice about the websites - never thought to look that up! For a 20 lb box of my dimensions, here's how it came out -

FedEx ground $15
UPS $19
USPS $ 22 but if you did it online only $11

So I was going to try the online postage for the first time, but can't remember my password, and not sure why it didn't like my answers to the security questions, so... I'm locked out. Sat with phone on hold on speaker and listened to pleasant music for 20 minutes and now have decided I'll give my money to FedEx.

Hopefully some others will find this thread useful given the upcoming holidays.

 

[Cheetie]

After having problems with USPS deliveries, I go with FedEx or UPS. the price difference isn't that great and I find them to be more reliable.

 

[kuhltiffany]

Here in Canada, often the cheapest shipping option is by Greyhound bus! We drop it off at the bus depot and the person at the other end can either pick it up or pay to have it delivered for an added fee. Is there anything like that in the US?

 

[anna08]

FedEx was actually one dollar less for having an account with them. Printed label at home and dropped the box off - couldn't have been easier. I do like that their tracking is so much better than USPS in my experience.

Last year's christmas gifts sent by USPS Priority mail took around 7 days to arrive, and there was no tracking info for several days.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Here in Canada, often the cheapest shipping option is by Greyhound bus! We drop it off at the bus depot and the person at the other end can either pick it up or pay to have it delivered for an added fee. Is there anything like that in the US?

Yes, they do. I used this many years ago; I forgot that they do this:

http://www.shipgreyhound.com/e/pages/Home.aspx

I shipped a 6 pound box FedEx Ground today from the east to the west coast. Priority mail was over $25, Parcel post was over $17 and FedEx Ground was $14.84. I went with FedEx.

 

[DVCTiff]

Flat rate USPS which is now traceable.