PSA: Please... Ship Smart. Save money, time, frustration!

[GreyMum]

Bumping so I can read later today!

Thanks for posting all of this great info!!

[SurprisinglyCrunchy]

This is all such wonderful information! There are so many options, it's difficult to know how to ship something. This really helps!

[Rdesonia]

Bump... How can we get this thread stickied??

[PoshPants]

sorry if it's been covered, how do you know where region a and b are? and they are FRB? you can get them online?

i had seen it on line but had NO idea what it meant, thanks for this

[expaik]

Originally Posted by PoshPants sorry if it's been covered, how do you know where region a and b are? and they are FRB? you can get them online? i had seen it on line but had NO idea what it meant, thanks for this

To clarify, there is no "region A" or "region B". There are postal "zones" (1 - 8) and higher the zone number, the more expensive it is for you to ship to that zone. To find out the zone chart from your zip code:

http://postcalc.usps.com/ZoneCharts/Default.aspx

The regional rate boxes are priced according to these zones. The farther you ship, the more expensive the price to ship a regional rate. However, the price does NOT depend on the weight of the box. So in that sense, they are still "flat rate". But not as flat rate as the regular flat rate boxes, since price does depend on distance travelled.

Hope that makes sense.

Regional Rate "A" is referring to the smallest regional rate box. The "B" box is bigger. And "C" is the biggest. So those letters refer to box sizes, not actual regions (as in distances).

You go to the USPS shipping calculator and input the source and destination zip code, and it will tell you what it costs to ship a RR-A and RR-B box between those two distances.

http://postcalc.usps.com/

[PoshPants]

still think it's confusing. so you have to ship via the USPS site vs paypal?

[expaik]

Originally Posted by PoshPants still think it's confusing. so you have to ship via the USPS site vs paypal?

Once you actually ship a couple of regional rate boxes, everything will become clear.

Simplistically put: think of them the same way as the flat rate boxes, except that you will save more money if you are shipping them to locations that are near you.

And yes, you need to use Click-n-ship on the USPS site in order to use these boxes. Paypal doesn't offer the option.

[Superblonde Mom]

I read the whole thing - and yes, it was very helpful. I already do most of these things, but the regional rate piece was news to me. Glad you took the time to write this, and that I took the time to read it! Thanks!

[Superblonde Mom]

I do splurge for the labels, though. I get them from the same place as my poly bag mailers - Express Shipping supply on Ebay. It's worth it to me to save the time trimming and taping paper. I'm also finding that, since I order most of our clothes online and companies have started shipping in poly bag mailers, I can turn them inside out and re-use those instead of buying them!

[*Peanut*]

Ellen... that's all.