The Cost of a Good Joke (or Rather I need to be better educated about shipping cost)

[myrdale]

My sister has taken up collecting Pyrex dishes. Recently there was a glass show in a town near me so I stopped in to take a look. I found a copy of a book for sale "Unofficial Collectors Guide to Pyrex". I took some photos of some dishes and bought the book, $30.

I texted her the photo, and later that day she called thrilled about the show. I told her "I bought you something". She was ecstatic, assuming it was a dish she gave me the strictest instructions on bubble wrap and marking the package fragile, etc.

While my intention was to drop the book in one of those USPS envelopes, which I think should have been on the order of $5 or so, I decided I'd play into her assumptions.

I stopped at the UPS store, and picked up a box, about the size of a casserole dish, some bubble wrap, and requested Fragile tape on the outside of the box. Then the clerk rang me up. $45! for 5 day delivery!

At this point i was already committed but oh my gosh! I don't ship stuff regularly, in fact this is probably the third box I've shipped in my life. I was expecting the cost to be like $15 max. How would you eBayer's shipped a casserole dish and how much would you expected it to cost?

[EasyMoney00]

If it's through eBay I use eBay. You get a big discount vs walking up to a counter at ups or USPS and mailing from there

I've also used pirateship. Also, a big discount vs counter service. You just need to know dimensions of box and weight. It's idiot proof.

I personally never ship anything via UPS. They always seem to be more than USPS, especially for a smaller item like a casserole dish. USPS prices have gone up though.

[disneysteve]

I stopped at the UPS store, and picked up a box, about the size of a casserole dish, some bubble wrap, and requested Fragile tape on the outside of the box. Then the clerk rang me up. $45! for 5 day delivery!

At this point i was already committed but oh my gosh! I don't ship stuff regularly, in fact this is probably the third box I've shipped in my life. I was expecting the cost to be like $15 max. How would you eBayer's shipped a casserole dish and how much would you expected it to cost?

Was that $45 for the box and the bubble wrap and the shipping?

I never buy boxes like that so not sure what they cost. I'll guess you paid $5 for that. A few bucks more for bubble wrap. Then full retail price for the actual shipping.

What would I do? I source my boxes for free from our own purchases and Facebook. I'll guess a casserole dish would have been maybe 3 or 4 pounds. Is that about right? I'd ship USPS Ground Advantage which would run about $11-12 depending on destination. For a personal package like that, I'd buy the label on Pirate Ship where I get the corporate discount which is 40% or so cheaper than retail. Anyone can use that service. I'd also use bubble wrap (which I buy 750 feet at a time for about 5 cents/ft so maybe 20 or 30 cents worth for the casserole) and some packing paper (which I get for free).

All in for supplies and postage, I'd definitely be under $15.

[myrdale]

Was that $45 for the box and the bubble wrap and the shipping?

Yes.

I grabbed the receipt from my truck. I misquoted the price by a hair, it was $38, no $45, but still.

Roughly speaking:

Ground Residential $28
Decorative Box Medium $3.50
Small Bubble Wrap Roll $6
Tax $0.50

Total $38

The bubble wrap and box were convenience purchases. It was the ground residential price that blew my mind.

I haven't heard of Pirate Ship before, I'll have to look into that.

[disneysteve]

Yes.

I grabbed the receipt from my truck. I misquoted the price by a hair, it was $38, no $45, but still.

Roughly speaking:

Ground Residential $28
Decorative Box Medium $3.50
Small Bubble Wrap Roll $6
Tax $0.50

Total $38

The bubble wrap and box were convenience purchases. It was the ground residential price that blew my mind.

I haven't heard of Pirate Ship before, I'll have to look into that.

So $10 was packaging and $28 was shipping. That sounds about right. USPS Ground Advantage would be cheaper than UPS for something like that but you'd still need to provide the box and packing.

PirateShip.com is the site. Anyone can open a free account and get discounted shipping rates. I use it for all personal shipments and some ebay shipments, too.

Shipping is expensive. Many people don't realize that so you're certainly not alone. A lot of ebay buyers will complain about the "high" postage because they simply have no concept of how much shipping costs.

[Fishindude77]

I'm not too surprised.
Think I paid around $115 to ship a couple pounds of mushrooms overnight from the midwest to my Dad in Florida.

[disneysteve]

I'm not too surprised.
Think I paid around $115 to ship a couple pounds of mushrooms overnight from the midwest to my Dad in Florida.

Overnight shipping is nuts. And the worst part is they don’t even guarantee overnight delivery. If it’s late, oh well.

[bjl584]

Not surprising. Shipping costs have gone up dramatically in the past few years.
Steve gave some good advice on mitigating the costs, but the reality is that it is expensive to move freight these days

[QuarterMillionMan]

Shipping takes years of practice and not something that you'll be good at on day 1. It remains to be seen if that casserole dish is delivered in one piece. There are so many things come into play when shipping. At FedEx one time I intended to send a new box of Churchill fins. The guy quoted me $125 because it was branded. I had to return home and cover the box with packaging material and returned to FedEx and shipping was now $18.

[ua_guy]

Shipping takes years of practice.

It does? lol

$28 retail to ship a bowl before packing materials doesn't seem like a big deal to me considered the frequency of OP's shipments.

[myrdale]

Thank you all!

I knew going in there were less expensive options, but I was really surprised by the ground residential price.

Definitely good to know for the future!

[QuarterMillionMan]

It does? lol

$28 retail to ship a bowl before packing materials doesn't seem like a big deal to me considered the frequency of OP's shipments.

We shall see if the item arrives in one piece or 10,000 pieces. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[disneysteve]

Shipping takes years of practice.

Yep. It’s probably the part of online selling that is the hardest to learn and master. It’s tremendously easier than it was when I started in 1997 but there’s still a steep learning curve.

[myrdale]

We shall see if the item arrives in one piece or 10,000 pieces. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

I am sorry for the confusion I may have made.

In this case I am shipping a book, under the guise of a casserole dish.

I did ask how much shipping a casserole dish would cost for comparison.

I've got full faith the book will make it one piece (assuming their dog doesn't get to the box before they do).

[QuarterMillionMan]

Media mail (books) shipped via USPS is usually about $5 depending on the weight. Next time use just use a wrapping paper such as a brown paper grocery bag and wrap it up nicely, address the to and from, pay the $5 and save $33 for all the extra unnecessary packing materials.