What happened to cheap USPS shipping?!?!

[colonel00]

Just returned from a fishing trip in Alaska several days ago. In the past, we would ship stuff home via USPS so we could bring fish/meat on the plane as checked baggage. With the ridiculous fees for extra bags ($150-200) on most airlines aside from Alaska Air ($75) it used to be quite affordable to send stuff home on the slow boat and we'd get stink gear in a week or two. So the last day of the trip, we roll into the post office with 4 boxes, rod case and our 8-man Alaskan Guide dome tent in its bag ready to ship. I go first with a 20lb box of fairly standard dimensions and the cheapest rate is $55 Yikes!!!

From now on, it will be cheaper to fly Alaska Air home, even with their typically higher fares when we can get everything home at a decent price.

Anyway, did I completely miss when this change happened? I guess it's been a few years since we've shipped a bunch of gear but it used to be close to $1-1.5/lb. $55 for a 20lb box is silly when we could have consolidated and paid for extra bags cheaper than USPS stuck it to us. But, at that time, everything was packed and ready so we paid the piper...lesson learned.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Interesting. I hadn't noticed but rarely ship large amounts.

 

[colonel00]

Yeah, if nothing else, just an FYI to anyone that is travelling to do a hunt. Even those that may fly out west from the east and want to mail gear home. Make sure you check the rates ahead of time so you don't piss a bunch of cash away.

 

[Corey Paulsen (teamkabob)]

That's crazy. Did you have fun fishing? 2013 I shipped fish for that price.



TK

 

[LASTINLINE]

yup as a person who buys and sells on ebay there ship rates are getting ridiculous. they get premium rates and ship time is horrible. for bigger items UPS can sometimes be a better option.

 

[5MilesBack]

They sky-rocketed in the past 5 years for sure. Definitely have to take that into account when selling stuff on here. I sold some stuff recently that cost me as much to ship as I got for the items. Then $10 to ship a single shirt is a little ridiculous. So $55 isn't that bad for 20lbs in comparison.

Bet that Alaskan Guide tent cost you. Mine weighed over 30lbs.

Also saw that UPS just raised their rates by 5%........seems like they've been raising their rates every year for the past 10. Also notice that the fuel surcharges sure haven't been dropped while gas has been cheap.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

I know it's ridiculous.
Not sure I understand how Amazon can offer free shipping... yet as individuals, we get bent over. It feels like taxes, lopsided and unportional.

Hopefully the USPS is no longer operating in the red.
Hunt'nFish

 

[VernAK]

For years I Express mailed frozen sockeye fillets to family in Lesser 48.........I quit several years ago when it got near $200 to ship a box with 48 hour delivery.....

 

[5shot]

It's been going up steadily over the last few years. Priority for an under 1lb package used to be $4.95 anywhere (just a few years ago)...it's now closer to $7 and goes up depending on where it's going.

 

[tipsntails7]

Just returned from a fishing trip in Alaska several days ago. In the past, we would ship stuff home via USPS so we could bring fish/meat on the plane as checked baggage. With the ridiculous fees for extra bags ($150-200) on most airlines aside from Alaska Air ($75) it used to be quite affordable to send stuff home on the slow boat and we'd get stink gear in a week or two. So the last day of the trip, we roll into the post office with 4 boxes, rod case and our 8-man Alaskan Guide dome tent in its bag ready to ship. I go first with a 20lb box of fairly standard dimensions and the cheapest rate is $55 Yikes!!!

From now on, it will be cheaper to fly Alaska Air home, even with their typically higher fares when we can get everything home at a decent price.

Anyway, did I completely miss when this change happened? I guess it's been a few years since we've shipped a bunch of gear but it used to be close to $1-1.5/lb. $55 for a 20lb box is silly when we could have consolidated and paid for extra bags cheaper than USPS stuck it to us. But, at that time, everything was packed and ready so we paid the piper...lesson learned.

Their rates have been going higher and higher the last couple of years. I noticed it about 2 years ago when I shipped a bow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Steve O]

Going bear hunting/fishing out of Homer next spring. Shipping my 50# of venison home from Kodiak a couple weeks ago cost $150 for the extra bag. We have a group of 6 that would like to take back a bunch of halibut, salmon, cod, whatever. I've been trying to find a cheaper way to get it home rather than extra baggage or express. You have GOT to be able, somewhere, somehow, to ship a pallet/container SLOWLY in a refrigerated truck...no???

 

[colonel00]

I did some digging and what I'm remembering was called Parcel Post or Standard Post. When we'd go to the PO, we'd just ask for the cheapest slow-boat option. Now I guess it's called Retail Ground but the rates are obviously much higher than before. I cannot seem to find an actual rate breakdown though as this option is only available at the post office and not online.

Anyway, as best as I can tell, cheap shipping options via USPS are dead so hopefully others will learn from this. As mentioned, we will try to fly Alaska Air on any return trips where we will have extra baggage. $75 for each additional checked bag after the first two isn't bad at all. That's $1.50/lb and worth paying the typically slightly higher fares for Alaska Air.

Steve O, there is a service called the Alaska Express that runs large quantities of meat like from moose and caribou do the lower 48 but it's a bit of work to coordinate it all as they only seem to do one run in September. So, you'd have to figure out a way to get your stuff to the pickup location or a holding location until the pickup. Alaska Express hauling moose and caribou to lower 48 from Alaska

The other option we will look more seriously into will be becoming a Known Shipper so we can use the airlines' shipping rates. It's still a bit of work and some hoops to jump through so flying Alaska will be the easiest solution unless we are shipping a large quantity home.

 

[colonel00]

They sky-rocketed in the past 5 years for sure. Definitely have to take that into account when selling stuff on here. I sold some stuff recently that cost me as much to ship as I got for the items. Then $10 to ship a single shirt is a little ridiculous. So $55 isn't that bad for 20lbs in comparison.

Bet that Alaskan Guide tent cost you. Mine weighed over 30lbs.

Also saw that UPS just raised their rates by 5%........seems like they've been raising their rates every year for the past 10. Also notice that the fuel surcharges sure haven't been dropped while gas has been cheap.

Yeah, we actually decided not to ship the tent and rod case once we started seeing what it was costing just to ship the boxed items. Since we had soft-sided coolers as our carry-ons, we just loaded them up with more fish so we could all only check 2 bags. It worked out this time but in years past, we've had more meat/fish to bring back and we wouldn't have been as lucky.

No doubt, $10 to ship a shirt is steep. Would it not fit in the small flat rate box? Anyway, $55 for 20lbs is alright until you consider we shipped 4 boxes so that's $220 for 80lbs. If we would have just split that into a 50lb extra bag it would have cost $150 and then we would have had 30lbs of stuff to divvy up amongst our carry-ons. With all the fish, it probably would have been a pain. Still, we cold have only shipped one 30lb box for maybe $60-70. I don't know, it just stung a bit when it's an unexpected cost that big. Hopefully others will see this thread a be a little more prepared.

 

[Poser]

Sold a book recently for $12 TYD and was shocked that the cheated shipping was $7.75, shipped in a large envelope.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

>1lb stuff its affordable, after that sometimes UPS is better. FYI if you can get your heavy gear into flat rate boxes is where USPS still can be affordable.

 

[5MilesBack]

FYI if you can get your heavy gear into flat rate boxes is where USPS still can be affordable.

Ya, used to have several pounds of lead inline sinkers sent in a flat rate box and that was very affordable for the weight.

 

[VernAK]

I seldom look at used firearms in the want ads as shipping and FFL handling to Alaska will push $100 at times......

 

[IdahoElk]

UPS is no better unless you have more than 50lbs to ship.The best option is to start an account with the USPS and print your own labels.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

UPS is no better unless you have more than 50lbs to ship.The best option is to start an account with the USPS and print your own labels.

FYI you get better rates through paypal for USPS than on the USPS site.

 

[akrdkill]

large flat rate box shipped from ak to fl was 18.75...............its certainly gone up