UPS Ground vs. USPS Priority Shipping Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Stanton's understands that many of our customers need to know exact shipping costs before placing an order. While we can never say with exact certainty what will happen with shipping costs, we can predict that, like almost everything in today’s economy, that cost will always go up and never go down. We consider several factors when advising you about your shipping options.
UPS has two types of rates: commercial and residential. To assess the commercial rate, UPS counts on the business being close to major thoroughfares and having normal business hours. For packages going to a residential home address, UPS assumes that the driver may to travel farther away from the center of town and the possibility that you may not be home to sign for the package. The current difference is about $2.35 higher for a package to go to a residential address than sent to a commercial address. On top of that, there is a fuel surcharge added to every package and when the gas price goes up, so does the fuel surcharge. USPS Priority Mail has none of these extra charges: no fuel surcharge and no price difference in commercial or residential charges.
So is USPS Priority Mail better & cheaper? Not necessarily. USPS can be cheaper in some cases, but depending on the location, it may take longer to deliver and has different package tracking capabilities that a UPS package has. The real difference comes in the weight of the package. For example, a package weighing 4 pounds or less going to a residential address will likely be cheaper to ship by USPS Priority Mail, but the same package going to a commercial address would ship more cheaply by UPS Ground. Once a package gets above 5 pounds most likely UPS will have better rates both for commercial and residential packages than USPS Priority. (But, depending where you are located in relation to Stanton's, USPS Priority may get it there faster!)
Confused yet? Let Stanton’s help. We are keenly sensitive to the high cost of shipping and seek the best way for a package to be shipped, depending on the customers needs. Also, Stanton’s website has a “best way” shipping calculator to help you estimate shipping costs before your order is shipped. Please let us know at the time you place your order if speed or low cost is of greater importance to you—sometimes the cheapest way is also the fastest way!
