Are we really getting free boxes from the USPS?

I was out taking my walk this morning
and I got to thinking. Yesterday I shipped
an item I sold at auction. It was a small
item and I did not having USPS boxes, so
I used a small plain box. My cost was approx
4.53 to ship the item...Priority mail. Thats
when I noticed, why was it 8.95 with a priority
mail box? Than I got to thinking it's always that
way. So in reality the boxes that they send you
are not really FREE>>>>

Any thoughts on this? Just something to think
about.

John(bacpro)

$8.95 is for FLAT RATE boxes; you paid by weight. You can also pay by weight with USPS boxes. In fact, the only time I would ever consider the $8.95 price is if I had a heavy, but small, item.

You would have paid $4.53 if you used a USPS free box, too. Just would've paid by weight (and you have to use the boxes that aren't marked flat rate).

They are not a bad choice if you have heavy items that need to be shipped and they are small. I have found that they are great if you are selling alot of smaller heavy items like clothes you can pack into the boxes. But if your selling lightweight items its not a good choice.

For smaller items I always go priority mail.
USPS is alot cheaper than UPS or FedEx on small items. I never use UPS, only USPS or FedEx. UPS is way too high priced.

In my opinion USPS is by far the best choice until you get to oversize.

Yes USPS is great for non-heavy or large items, but once you get into the over 7 lb range, change to UPS as you will pay a cheaper rate and get free insurance and tracking up to $100 value.

I always use usps priorty since the customer pays shipping. I like the fact that you get free tracking/delivery confirmation. Plus, you can get several hundred dollars of insurance for about a dollar or so.

Flat rate priorty boxes, 108 inches in girth go for only $8.95 and maxium weight of 70 pounds. So if you have a fairly heavy item, that's definatly the way to go. Can you imagine what it would cost you to ship by ups for a 70 pound item?
You can order the free boxes at the usps website or if you have an ebay account you can order from the ebay shipping center also. I get the 2 day priorty boxes in lots of 25 about once a week. Another benefit of the boxes is that they are self sealing so you save on tape. Too, if you are using paypal, usps,or stamps website to print your shipping labels, it sure saves a ton of time rather than standing in line at the post office.
I often ship late at night too, so using the priority boxes and printed labels allows me to run to the post office any time I want and just put them in the priorty drop off bin..

I always wonder why we can't use the USPS Flat Rate Boxes for regular by-weight Priority Mail services by covering the Flat-Rate logo with USPS labels.

We still use them for Priority Mail services. So why not?

The reason I'm asking is because the USPS Flat Rate Box 1 (FRB1) dimensions are perfect for many items that I'm selling, but their weights are less than 2 lbs. So I sometimes use those FRB1 by turning them inside out. :)

Does anybody have particular answer/reason for this prohibition? Thank you.

I find that for domestic and international shipping, the USPS is always the cheapest way to go.

I keep a supply of flat rate boxes on hand at all times. They are free! Free is good.

Invest in a decent mail scale. You can find them on eBay for around $20.

Learn to work the system. Pack your item in the flat rate box and weigh it. Use the USPS website to estimate the shipping cost and compare it to the flat rate.

If the priority rate is less, I simply wrap the flat rate box in packing paper and ship it priority.

The boxes are free, but the cost is basically included in what USPS charges you for shipping.

You can even order free USPS/eBay branded priority mail boxes at Link hidden: Login to view - I've tried it before and it worked great! Still have boxes left over.

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I have been using USPS Priority mail for almost 4 years now and never had a problem. I rarely ever use UPS and I would say that every 1 out of 8 times I use them they loose a package. Just right now I have a package that was sent out by one of my dropshippers by UPS and the package is lost. I went online to look at the tracking. It shows the package being picked up but after that there is no other activity. I would suggest using USPS every chance I get and YES the boxes are FREE!