What is the Cheapest Way to Ship - UPS, Fedex, or USPS

In this post, I will discuses in details what is the best and cheapest way to ship anything include package, heavy item, oversized package, light item and many more with lowest price possible offered through shipping carrier such as USPS, UPS, Fedex, and others.

Not knowing the cheapest option of shipping and how much cost to ship will destroy your business quickly. Also, it determine which product to sell online and which product you can make profit out of. It is essential function of today business.

So in this post will know everything about shipping options for eCommerce seller as well as for individual who want to ship item for cheap.

Note: It is important to be note that USPS raise the price every years so i will update if anything need to changed in terms of cheapest shipping options.

It is very important to understand that shipping discount are only available to eCommerce seller but I found way to get same discount price for individual as well. In order get shipping discounted price for eCommerce seller as well as individual is get shipping label software solution.

Don’t worry it will not cost you anything.

I recommended ShippingEasy shipping software since it has starting plan of $0 dollars which can help you to print 50 shipping label at commercial discounted price for Individual as well as eCommerce seller.

If you are eCommerce seller and have more than 50 shipment per month then I suggest you take $29 dollars plan which is really great for your shipping label needs.

Lets get back to shipping option, So as there different price depending on many different criteria such as weight, dimension, and distance. So in order to give specific recommendation to get cheapest shipping price, we need to make certain assumption for package weight and dimension and locations.

Below, we will take each possible shipping weight, dimension, and location in order to understand the whats will give us lowest price for our shipping.

What is best and cheapest shipping option for weight under 1 lbs

So, in general if you want shipping anything that is under 1 lbs, then best and cheapest option is to ship USPS First Class package. It doesn’t matter what is the dimension of package or box. You get better deal than any shipping carrier.

Also, USPS first class package offer 2-3 day shipping which is better than UPS ground which is 5-7 business day.

Note: If you plan to ship from directly from USPS postage office or usps website then this discount price i am sharing will not apply so make sure sign up with shipping software solutions. I personally recommend shipping software that is low cost and have $0 dollars plan.

Recommendation: I recommend ShippingEasy which has 30 days free trials for unlimited shipping label and every month 50 shipping label with $0 dollars plan which really great if you are small seller or individual want to get commercial discount price.

Shipping options for item weight more than 1 pounds

So, you have already know that for weight under 1 pounds, best shipping option is USPS First Class Package.

Next, cheapest option you have is get fit in USPS Priority Flat Rate Envelope or Flat Rate Padded Envelope. This is best and cheapest price you can get when you can able to fit in Priority Mail.

The question is why????

Well, USPS Priority Flat Rate Envelope cost $7.15 with commercial discounted price or Padded Envelope, you can get $7.75 without weight restriction which is great. You can even send 10 pounds item on priority mail if it is fit on the Flat rate envelope or padded mail which will talk about later in the post.

Note: This Price you will not find in anywhere unless if you ship through ebay or amazon seller shipping fullfillment. So, Sign up with ShippingEasy with 30 days free trials as well as 50 shipping label free in each months. I am using ShippingEasy Data to find out cheapest options

And For UPS, lowest price you can get with just example box dimension 1x1x1 and weight is 1 lb and 1 oz will cost $7.80 and also to be noted that it will take up to 5 days with UPS ground shipment to arrive but it will take USPS priority 2 days arrival time.

And For Fedex, it will cost $11.19 with Fedex Express Saver with One Rate Envelope and delivery time is 3 days which still 1 days late then USPS Priority.

Overall all USPS will be the cheapest option when you can able fit in Priority Mail.

What is option for item over 1 pounds and it doesn’t fit in priority mails.

Now, this will get into mess because up to this point, we are only discussing price based on weight. so, now we need take into consideration of weight, dimension, and location.

It will get complicated so what i will do is make some sample size, weight and location (by zip code).

So lets say, weight is 2lb and dimension 18x7x5 and two location, one of them is 11432 to 11435 which is same area and 11432 to 90009 which in CA and this is i think far distance shipping for domestic other than US territory.

Here are the price for 2lb and 18x7x5 and zip code 11432 to 11435

USPS Priority Cubic = $7.64 with 1 days delivery time

UPS Ground = $7.80 with 3-5 days delivery time

Fedex Home Delivery = $17.68 with 3-7 days delivery time.

So, in this case with shorter distance USPS win for cheapest price and shorter delivery time

Here is the price for 2lb with 18x7x5 and zip code 11432 to 90009

USPS Priority Cubic = $11.19 with 2 days delivery time

UPS Ground = $10.86 with 3-5 days delivery time

Fedex Home Delivery = $13.10 with 3-7 days delivery time.

So with longer distance in this case, UPS Ground is the cheapest.

What happen when weight is 5lb and more

Now with same case with 5 pounds with 18x7x5 with zip code 11432-11435

USPS Priority Cubic = $8.04 with 1 days delivery time

UPS Ground = $8.25 with 3-5 days delivery time

Fedex Home Delivery = $13.10 with 3 days delivery time.

Now it got interesting, as you can see there is close call between USPS AND UPS for cheapest price although I recommend USPS because shorter delivery time .

Now with same case with 5 pounds with 18x7x5 with zip code 11432 to 90009

USPS Priority Cubic = $17.42 with 1 days delivery time

UPS Ground = $13.69 with 3-5 days delivery time

Fedex Home Delivery = $17.68 with 3-7 days delivery time.

So as you can clearly see that UPS is cheapest option .

Final Test with 21 lbs with 18x7x5 with 11432-11435 and 11432 -90009

This is final test to find out what happen when weight is high and at this point USPS will not be good option because USPS Priority Cubic is good for item weight under 20 pounds.

Here it is with 21 lbs with 18x7x5 with 11432 to 11435

USPS Priority Mail Package = $17.86 with 1 day shipping

UPS Ground = $ 13.14 with 3-5 days shipping

Fedex Home Delivery =$17.08 with 3-7 days shipping

Without a any hesitation UPS IS WINNER

Now with Long Distance with 21lb with 18x7x5 with 11432 to 90009

USPS Priority Mail Package =$ 66.36 with 2 days shipping

UPS Gound =$31.44 with 3-5 days shipping

Fedex Home Delivery = $34.96 with 3-7 days shipping

So winner is UPS.

Conclusion, it just sample in order to find out your specfic item and weight and location price could be different . For Example, if you fit your product in Fedex Express Saver Large box for 23 lb and 11432 to 90009 then it will cost you $21.00 with 3 days delivery.

So, if your product is heavy and product is small then you can able to maybe USPS Priority Large box which cost you $18.30 .