I just went there to ship gifts for my parents. I couldn't find a box anywhere so I knew they would have them of course so I would ship with them instead of USPS. Here are the charges:
Ground Residential: $8.65 -fair price for 8 pounds that I was billed for.
Fuel Surcharge: .57 -I wonder if that isn't already added in the base price?
Rural surchage: $2.20 -Now this is ridicuous. They don't live in the middle of nowhere.
The box: $7.30! -OMG! It wasn't even a big box! A freakin box!
With tax and all, it was $19.30 to send a package that's only going 3 1/2 hours away by car.
UPS is a rip-off! I went there last spring to send a package to someone - it was a fairly light box, maybe 2 pounds, and it cost me almost $15! They also charge way too much for their boxes.
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I had a baby present to ship to England so keep in mind it was a teeny very light peice of newborn clothing UPS wanted to charge me $75. !!! Can you believe well I went with the regular post office and shipped it for $10- hmmm... sounds like somethings not right
Now if I was able to find a box, it would have only cost $7.35 to ship priority mail by USPS. That is just a nickle over what UPS charged me just for a BOX! That is seriously the last time I will ship a package by UPS. The rural charge is unfair, you know it's definintly not a stop out of their way this time of year since they would make multiple stops in the area.
For items that don't require a huge box, I use USPS Priority. They will actually send you Priority boxes (they have all sorts of sizes to choose from) and those Tyvek envelopes for free. Plus all sorts of forms and such too. This is particularly great if you sell lots of stuff on ebay. And they will pick up your packages for free when you arrange it, no freezing your ass off and wasting gas and time making a trip to the post office.
I actually love to ship UPS when I sell things on eBay because if you do it a certain way, it can turn out to be much cheaper. If DH and I don't have a box, we do what we call "dumpster diving" where go to the cardboard recycling dumpster and find a box. If that doesn't work, we go to the local grocery store, which is right by the UPS and ask for a box and they usually give them to us with no problem. Then we package up the box and pre pay for it online. It's so simple to do this! You just put in the box dimensions, the weight (which I use my bathroom scale for) and it costs SOOOO much less this way. I print out the shipping label, put it on the box, take it to UPS, they scan it, and that's it. It's paid for no problem and they don't get you for all those silly charges. I think the reason actually going to UPS to begin with is so expensive is because their online service is so cheap and convenient that they have to make up for it somehow. That's what I've heard anyway.