Cheapest Domestic Shipping?

Hey all,

I was just wondering what my options were for domestic shipping.

I’m planning to giveaway some server power supplies rated at 500W (12V x 40A), but shipping costs can easily kill the deal.

They’re about 5-6lbs each and the cheapest CONUS options I’ve seen via USPS is around $17.50 (regular mail, not even Priority), and even eBay has similar models for $13-15 shipped so I don’t think it’ll be worth it.

If anyone has ideas on how I can ship items cheaper, please let me know! :slight_smile:

USPS is the cheapest. Pretty sure commercial shippers can set up an account and get better rates from UPS and Fedex. Not sure about USPS.

I don’t know about shipping… What I know is that you promised to explode batteries, and you left your country without fulfilling your promise!
(Trolling or just an UP, whatever you prefer to call this post)

They should be able to fit in one of the smaller flat rate priority boxes. I think my power supply fit in the medium $10 priority box, but it was tight.

USPS is generally cheapest for lightweight and flat rate, but ups and FedEx are cheaper for heavier stuff in my experience, soI would double check them too.

Yeah, I’m really amazed by how Amazon manages to do free 2-day shipping with Amazon Prime or orders above $35.

Haha, the batteries arrived two weeks after I left! I’ve never seen anything take that long. (They did clearly mark them as li-ion batteries with a nice bright orange warning sticker so I’m not too surprised.) I did bring them with me back to school, but I’m not sure if I can blow stuff up here, haha.

They’re pretty long like this, so I don’t think they’ll fit in a medium flat rate box though, unfortunately.

Best I could do with my fedex account was a “fedex home delivery (4 days)” for just under $15. (CA>PA)

If they’re nicer than the ebay ones, then I’d do the giveaway with the winner paying freight. (People understand that you’re a student and that you need to spend money on vices.) If they’re the same, then local re-use is probably the way to go.

Looks like a nice switching power supply that could power some ham gear.

You almost need a flow chart to determine what is the least expensive. For weights below 4 pounds, it is almost always going to be USPS.
When you get above about 5 pounds, Fedex Ground/Home will usually be the least expensive subject to several caveats:
1). Not going a rural area and subject to a Delivery Area Surcharge
2). Delivery within the lower 48
3). Weighs less than 150 pounds.
4). Parcel does not ‘dim’ out (charged a dimensional weight as opposed to actual weight).

If you need to send it to Alaska, Hawaii, USVI or Puerto Rico, there are very few circumstances where Fedex will be less expensive than USPS.

Fedex gives anyone with a Fedex Account a discount off the ‘rack rates’, UPS tends to be more complicated, but to get good UPS rates you need to be a commercial shipper with a scheduled pickup (which you pay for as a weekly service charge).

If you need to ship outside the USA, USPS will always be less expensive, often by a large margin, and it is often less expensive for the recipient as well. Fedex, UPS and DHL do their own customs clearance, you generally get to pay fees for customs broker services, plus any duty or taxes (which they are legally obligated to collect). If you use the Post Office, the customs clearance is generally less expensive (often free), and the customs service is not legally required to collect anything in most countries. The result is many relatively low value parcels are never subject to duty or taxes because the cost to collect them may exceed the revenue generated.

Thanks for all your replies.

Here are the power supplies I plan to give out (I think I’ll keep one 500W though), and they’re Dell DPS-500CB 500W and Dell NPS-700AB 700W models outputting 12V.

So they’re great for power hobby chargers and as Jubeldum said, good for ham radio too.