Shipping a package comes down to five steps: pack your item securely, measure and weigh it, choose a carrier and service, buy and print a label, and drop it off or schedule a pickup. The whole process can take under 15 minutes once you know what you’re doing, and picking the right carrier for your specific package can save you $5 to $50 or more.
Pack Your Item the Right Way
Start with a box or padded mailer that fits your item snugly. You want about two inches of cushioning on every side. Crumpled packing paper, bubble wrap, or air pillows all work. The goal is to prevent the item from shifting during transit. If you shake the sealed box and hear movement, add more fill.
For fragile items, wrap each piece individually and use dividers if you’re shipping more than one. Double-boxing (placing a smaller box inside a larger one with cushioning between them) is worth the effort for anything breakable. Seal the box with packing tape along every seam, not just the center flap. Duct tape and masking tape aren’t strong enough and can cause the box to pop open on a conveyor belt.
A few items need special handling. Liquids should be sealed in leak-proof containers, placed inside a zip-lock bag, and surrounded by absorbent material. Electronics with lithium batteries have carrier-specific rules: batteries must be protected against short circuits, and devices should be powered off with some kind of mechanism preventing accidental activation. Standalone lithium batteries shipped outside a device face stricter requirements and may need to be at 30% charge or below. When in doubt, check your carrier’s restricted items list before packing.
Measure, Weigh, and Calculate
You need two numbers: the actual weight and the package dimensions. Use a bathroom scale if you don’t have a postal scale (weigh yourself holding the box, then subtract your weight). For dimensions, measure the length, width, and height in inches at the longest point of each side.
Carriers also care about something called dimensional weight, which prevents people from shipping huge, lightweight boxes at rock-bottom prices. The formula is simple: multiply length by width by height, then divide by a carrier-specific number. UPS and FedEx divide by 139. USPS divides by 166. If the dimensional weight is higher than the actual weight, the carrier charges based on the dimensional weight instead. For example, a 20 x 16 x 14 inch box has a dimensional weight of about 32 pounds at UPS and FedEx, even if it only weighs 10 pounds on the scale.
One detail worth knowing: UPS and FedEx round any fractional dimension up to the next whole inch, so a box measuring 11.2 inches on one side gets billed as 12 inches.
If your package is oddly shaped (a tube, for instance), you’ll also need the girth, which is the distance around the thickest part perpendicular to the longest side. For a rectangular box, that’s two times the width plus two times the height. Most carriers cap combined length plus girth at 108 inches, with oversized surcharges kicking in beyond that.
Choose the Right Carrier and Service
USPS, UPS, and FedEx each have sweet spots depending on your package’s size, weight, and how fast it needs to arrive. Here’s how they compare for common scenarios in 2026.
Small, lightweight packages (under a pound or two) are cheapest through USPS. A 12-ounce package shipped across most of the country costs about $5.89 via USPS Ground Advantage, compared to roughly $7.27 at FedEx and $7.36 at UPS. USPS also charges no residential delivery surcharge, while UPS and FedEx add $6.45 to $6.50 per package for home deliveries.
Mid-weight packages needing speed favor USPS Priority Mail. An 8-pound package shipped a moderate distance runs about $10.85 with Priority Mail and arrives in roughly three days. The equivalent UPS and FedEx services cost $16 to $18 for the same timeline.
Heavy packages over 20 pounds are where UPS and FedEx win. A 65-pound box costs around $90 to $91 via UPS Ground or FedEx Ground Economy, while USPS Ground Advantage charges nearly $145 for the same shipment.
Flat-rate boxes are a USPS specialty. If your item fits inside a USPS Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box, you pay $9.80 regardless of weight, with delivery in one to three days. That’s hard to beat for dense, heavy items that fit in a small box.
Buy and Print Your Label
You have two main options for getting a shipping label: go to a carrier location and pay the retail counter price, or print your own label at home for a discount.
Printing at home is almost always cheaper. You can buy labels directly through each carrier’s website (usps.com, ups.com, fedex.com) and typically save 10% to 20% off the counter price. But the biggest savings come from third-party platforms like Pirate Ship, which offer pre-negotiated commercial rates on USPS and UPS shipments. These platforms are free to use with no monthly fees, no hidden costs, and no minimum volume. You enter your package details, compare rates across services, and print a label on any standard printer (even a regular inkjet, though a thermal label printer is more convenient if you ship often).
The discount can be substantial. USPS commercial pricing through these platforms often runs 20% to 40% below retail window rates, and the savings on UPS shipments can be even steeper.
Tape the printed label flat on the largest side of the box. Cover it with clear packing tape to protect it from moisture, but don’t tape over the barcode so thickly that it becomes unreadable. Remove or black out any old tracking labels or barcodes on a reused box.
Drop Off or Schedule a Pickup
Once your label is on the box, you need to get it to the carrier. You have several options.
Drop-off locations: USPS packages can go in any blue collection box (if they fit), at any post office, or at many grocery and retail stores that serve as USPS drop-off points. UPS packages go to UPS Stores, UPS Access Point locations, or UPS customer centers. FedEx packages go to FedEx Office locations, FedEx Drop Boxes, or participating retail locations like certain pharmacies and office supply stores. All three carriers have location finders on their websites.
Carrier pickup: USPS offers free package pickup during your regular mail delivery, Monday through Saturday, as long as at least one of the packages uses a premium service like Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express. You schedule it online the day before. If you need a specific pickup time, USPS charges $26.50 per pickup. UPS and FedEx also offer residential pickups, though they typically charge a per-package or weekly pickup fee that varies by your account terms.
Tips That Save Money
Reuse boxes and packing materials when they’re still in good shape. A box that’s been used once is fine as long as it’s structurally sound and you remove old labels.
Use the smallest box that safely fits your item with cushioning. Because of dimensional weight pricing, downsizing from a 16-inch box to a 12-inch box can cut your shipping cost significantly even if the actual weight stays the same.
Compare rates every time. The cheapest carrier for a 2-pound package is not the cheapest for a 30-pound package. Platforms that let you compare USPS, UPS, and FedEx side by side take the guesswork out of this.
Ship earlier in the week when possible. Packages dropped off Monday or Tuesday have more transit days before the weekend, which can help ground services hit their delivery estimates. And if you’re shipping during the holiday season, add two to three extra days to any delivery estimate to account for volume surges.