Nobody Beats My Shipping Rates

“I have got the best UPS rates in Manhattan.”

“My FedEx rates are better than anyone in my industry.”

“Nobody can get better DHL international rates than I can.”

“The Vice President of FedEx came to our warehouse and said he couldn’t compete with the rates we are getting from UPS.”

“I saw General Motor’s rates and ours were better.”

“I hired a professional parcel negotiator and he couldn’t do any better. In fact, he asked me if I would negotiate rates for his customers.”

“My UPS rates are better than the Federal Government.”

The above statements are ones that I have heard. The people stating them honestly believe them. Do you?

I don’t.

Over the past 30+ years in this industry, I have made friends with many former FedEx and UPS sales people, pricing managers, and executives.

Here is a secret.

The carrier sales people are trained in negotiation strategies and one tactic is to get you to believe that you already have the best rates.

I found an interesting site where I learned about various negotiation tactics, one of them is called Flattery.

This tactic involves making you look good by telling you how clever and intelligent you are. For example, what a great negotiator you are. It makes you feel good about yourself and puts you in a position where you will want to be a friend with them.

I have heard those lines too.

“My UPS rep is my friend; I couldn’t possibly ask him for more.”

“My FedEx rep is the greatest and really went to bat for me.”

You may indeed be friends with your carrier representatives but are you really getting the best rates possible?

How do you know?

Are you 100% confident that you couldn’t do any better?

And, if you could, let’s say even reduce your shipping costs by 10%, what impact would that have on your organization?

Could you compete more effectively?

Increase profits?

UPS did last quarter; they tripled to their profits and reported a fourth-quarter net income of $757 million dollars.

How did you do in comparison?

Save 38% on USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes

The last several posts about Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes have stirred up some great observations by readers. The comments below are from Jay Eichler of The Ultimate Thomas Store. Jay is a big seller of licensed Thomas & Friends products on his website, eBay, and Amazon, so he is very knowledgeable about best practices for shipping. As you will read below, his suggestion can save you 38% on shipping USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes. Thank you Jay!

I invite any of you with best practices to share them with our community by emailing me at mark.taylor@myshippingcoach.com. Together, we can help one another save on shipping and boost our economy.

Here is Jay’s email:

USPS has spent a lot of advertising dollars on getting people to use the flat-rate boxes. In my opinion, for 90% of what is shipped in them (including many of the widgets they use in the commercial), it would be much more economical for the shipper to use the non-flat rate boxes to get a better deal. For example, this past week I won a Yankees thermal jacket on eBay. The seller lived about 100 miles from me, charged me $16.00 for shipping, and shipped in a USPS Medium Flat rate box which cost them $10.70. Had they shipped in a regular Priority Mail box (Box 1095), it would have only cost them $6.67 for the same package. For a seller on eBay, who should be especially conscious of shipping charges with their DSR ratings at stake, this is a huge waste of shipping dollars.

I don’t know if this is something you would want to publish in your blog, but with the latest change in USPS Priority Mail pricing, the Priority Mail Envelope is now cheaper than the Small Flat Rate Box. The one thing I don’t think USPS thought about is that you can fit the box inside of a Flat Rate Envelope. You could actually use two USPS shipping containers, place one inside the other and ship for the lower rate. Using this, why anyone would pay for a Small Flat Rate Box is insane!

Keep up the Good work!

Jay Eichler
The Ultimate Thomas Store

What is the Cheapest Way to Ship a Package?

What is the cheapest way to ship a package? It all depends.

I received the following email from one of my readers. Thank you, you have raised some very good questions. Read my response below in blue:

I invite any of you with questions to email me at mark.taylor@myshippingcoach.com. I may not be able to get back to you for a few days, but I read all my emails and respond.

I stumbled upon your blog and I’ve got to say, it is very helpful.  I am a new Ebay seller and am new to this whole shipping business.  I was wondering if you could answer a question for me.  I use USPS for my shipping; I’ve found it to be cheaper than FedEx and UPS. Priity Mail Flat Rate Options

 

 

	Price	Size
Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope	$4.90	12-1/2″ x 9-1/2″
Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box	$4.95	8-5/8″ x 5-3/8″ x 1-5/8″
Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box (FRB1)	$10.70	11″ x 8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″
Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box (FRB2)	$10.70	13-5/8″ x 11-7/8″ x 3-3/8″
Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box (Domestic Addresses)	$14.50	12″ x 12″ x 5-1/2″
Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box (APO/FPO Destinations)	$12.50	12″ x 12″ x 5-1/2″

Here is the priority mail flat rate prices.  What if I want to use my own packaging or some of their other boxes not on the list, such as their shoe box?  How will I know how much it is going to cost?  It is based on weight?  Basically, I just want to know how USPS determines shipping costs.   And, do you have any tips to get the lowest shipping price possible? I ship mostly clothing and shoes, not anything that would be too heavy.  I would like to get them shipped at the lowest possible price.  How can I do that with USPS? Thank you so much!!!

The cost to ship a package depends on the weight, zip code, and dimensions, among other factors. For USPS you can ship in your own box, or in a Priority Mail box that you can get for free. Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes can be the best way, but not necessarily. It all depends. Let’s look at a few examples:

• You have a 2-pound package that is shipping to a zone 2 (someplace close). If it fits into the Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box, you can ship it for $4.95. BUT, if you put it in another box, it would only be $4.90. If you used the bigger Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box, you could pay $14.50—way more money!
  
• If you have a 5-pound box, the rating becomes more complex. For a Zone 5, you would pay $11.76. It would be cheaper not to use the Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box. But the same package going to Zone 8 (cross country) would be $16.37, so it would be cheaper to the Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box. Now, I could ship that same box with FedEx Home Delivery for $10.59 and save $5.78 with the rates I get from FedEx (email me and I will tell you how).
  

The bottom line is this: no carrier is the cheapest carrier for every kind of package. The USPS does a great job and is the cheapest for package shipping to residences that weigh less than 2 pounds. My advice is to compare carriers and services.