Shipping Calcs, what is the best stateside shipping calculator? Options

[forrestkhaag]

What is the best stateside shipping calculator that covers most of the normal ways used to ship parcels in this country?

thanks

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[burton73]

Hard to say. UPS is the best price on some items at certain sizes and weight. US Post Office is best for other items. There is the hassle factor for sure for the Post Office.
Greyhound? FedEx when it needs to be there fast and not broken.
I have used Freight Quote to move machines or pallet size weight. Been in biz for 43 years. Everything is different now.

I went to an old friends house and he had several yellow pages. He is a contractor, I said what! I used to love the yellow pages. Ask a young guy and they will say what!


Bob B

[Tom_T]

Forrest,

Each company has their own calculator, so you have to go to UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc. to calc their relative rates, or just call each with the box dimensions & weight for a quote, then pick the best. If you have a business, then they may give you a business rate, & you can save some $ by dropping it off, rather than having it picked up by them.

I'm not aware of any general or universal calculator which actually gets their rates correctly calculated, without "surprises" when you take it in.

PS - Minus several for FedEx Bob & forrest, as I've had them damage items many times - worse with their ground than air transport, but that may be due to it being mostly lighter packages bashing into stuff with FedEx Air/2nd & Next Day.

Not quite 42 with my own biz - 37 + 13 working for other biz - & yes, I still have Yellow Pages! ;-D

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Tom
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[rhodyguy]

Dependent on what you're shipping. Palletized? Picked up at and delivered to an address? Freight terminal to freight terminal? Lots of variables. For palletized, figure the weight and let the buyer choose what ever method and company that works best for them.

[90quattrocoupe]

If I am shipping small heavy stuff, such as brake calipers, flywheels, pressure plates, etc. I ship USPS flat rate boxes. It does not matter what it weighs, if it fits in the box, it ships for one price.

I don't ship FedEx or UPS if I can avoid it. One of the things I ordered recently from a company, came FedEx recently. So 2254 miles from Twinsburg, OH to Barstow, CA. 52 hours. So for the 126 miles from Barstow, CA. to Long Beach, CA it took 83 hours and when the package arrived, it was beat up and item had to be returned. It went from Barstow, to Rialto, to Chino and then to Long Beach.

For really large items, I use Grayhound. They don't have a dimensional weight limit.

Greg W

[euro911]

Like has been said ... it depends on what are you shipping, Forrest. I currently have accounts with FedEx, UPS and USPS, so I check all of them for the best rate.

For example, USPS had the best rate for shipping 4 calipers up to Eric (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool_shades.gif)

[Mikey914]

Exactly,
This is what we have run into on our website. We often refund customers when we get overcharged.Generally speaking USPS.com can easily give you some pricing. Really depends on what size, weight and distance it's going. We even use LTL for larger shipments.

[rhodyguy]

My FedEx account was/is free. It's tied to a credit card, no monthly fee and the savings are substacial. It's there when I need it. my distribution center doesn't accept cash, the transaction goes smoother and faster. The customers are more biz oriented as opposed to retail. Customers show up with paperwork filled out. A premium is paid if you use a FedEx store or the like.

[Krieger]

I don't know if any of them are that precise. To get an exact shipping amount on an item I sold I went to the USPO with a boxed and taped item. They gave me a price to the penny. The next day I returned to ship the same exact box to the same exact location and it was five and change more. Same weight in same box...

[partwerks]

It's a hassle but, I just take the sold item in to the shipper, and get an estimate. Seems like there is no rhyme or reason. Must be how their weight, size are structured, but seems like UPS is usually the highest, and then Fed Up, and then USPS, but sometimes not, but nobody beats Speedeedelivery, but they only cover about 5 states is the problem.

[rhodyguy]

Just use the online quote, reminding the buyer it's a 'quote'. Big dif at time of shipment? Work it out with the buyer. If it's chump change I just eat the dif. If the dif is in my favor I offer to refund. Even if it's chump change. People usually don't sweat a couple of bucks. Transparency is the key.

[76-914]

Be glad you don't live in Australia. I just shipped a 12.9 lb parcel. 2 weeks and $98.00. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)