MrConsumer recently had to ship a package from Boston to California and was shocked at how much it would cost.

He had gotten what he was told was a Priority Mail flat-rate envelope from a local post office branch and stuffed it full believing it would cost about $10 to ship. When he went to mail it, he was told that was not a flat-rate envelope and it would cost about $23 to send the package. Yikes! The clerk pointed out some medium flat-rate boxes that I should try (they’re free), but the postage would run $17.10. Still yikes, but he took one of them anyway.

MrConsumer poked around online looking for discount shipping services and came across one called “Pirate Ship.” There, you enter the box size, weight, mailing location and destination, and it gives you a variety of prices for different shipping companies and services. You are not charged a membership fee or a label fee — the service is free. Just pay for the postage and print a prepaid label for the box.

They would charge $14.75 to ship the package via USPS Priority Mail in the flat rate box. That is the same price that the PayPal shipping label printing service charges, and even the same as what the post office charges online if using their Enhanced Click ‘n Ship service.

While that is a good savings for many people, it was still too high for MrConsumer. He adjusted the parameters at Pirate Ship to plain packaging in a box using the same Priority Mail box by simply wrapping it in brown paper. (As it turns out, any similar box whose contents weighed less than five pounds could have been used.) Now when checking on rates, he got the cheapest price from UPS.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Sold at $12.08 – a $5 savings — nearly 30% off the original post office price. Of course, the package won’t arrive in three days like the Priority Mail package would, but I was in no rush. Incidentally, the USPS had a rate only five cents higher called Ground Advantage Cubic.

The rate was also lower because UPS takes the package only part of the way then hands it off to the post office for final delivery. As it turns out, the package arrived early — three days after mailing — and UPS decided to take it all the way to its destination.

So as you plan to ship your holiday gifts, Google the term “discount shipping” to find any number of services that will charge less by comparing special rates offered by the post office, UPS, or FedEx. Just read the details so you know in advance if there are any extra fees involved.