How to get lower shipping rates? FedEx & UPS

[Texas_Signmaker]

I'm starting to ship stuff all over the country so I'm curious now, how do you get lower shipping rates?? Ground is pretty cheap but overnighting say... a roll of graphics STARTS at $80-$100 for end of day. Is there a way to get that down?

 

[Gino]

Other than taking it yourself or your own private jet...... nope.

Do you have your own UPS shipping account ?? That will help, if you're just sending as just yourself, presently.

 

[Andy D]

You have an account and drop off? That's the only things I know of.

 

[2B]

the more you ship, the better your rate.
get an account and a rep, negotiate the rate.

UPS also posts "coupons" to use at checkout

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I have both FedEx and UPS accounts. I have a small discount rate from FedEx because Capital One had some "deal" that went along with the Spark credit card and made it a little cheaper... but only like a 10-15% discount. The FedEx rep called me and that's all they offered.

 

[GAC05]

What about USPS? We get as much as we can sent our way through the post office. It is the cheapest way to get stuff in by air. Some stuff comes in mangled but overall it is not bad.
Got in some rolls of 60"x 25yd 1080 all the way from Kansas for under $100.00 a roll - only took about 4-5 days.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

What about USPS? We get as much as we can sent our way through the post office. It is the cheapest way to get stuff in by air. Some stuff comes in mangled but overall it is not bad.
Got in some rolls of 60"x 25yd 1080 all the way from Kansas for under $100.00 a roll - only took about 4-5 days.

They are horrible. Tracking is not accurate and NO guarantee of delivery time.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

Get an account. Learn who your rep is and talk to them regularly. The only way you will get better rates with FedEx and UPS is to fight their rates against each other and have a rep who cares. If you ship 1 thing a day you can't expect to get better rates. You need to be shipping multiple packages above 5 per day to get them to really notice you.

 

[bannertime]

UPS called me the other day wanting to offer rates, so you might be able to just call and ask. We have negotiated rates through our ASI account. It appears to be up to half off posted rates. Next Day Saver to a 3 day ground ship location, a 60x4x4 box, is $118 posted but $66 negotiated.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

UPS called me the other day wanting to offer rates, so you might be able to just call and ask. We have negotiated rates through our ASI account. It appears to be up to half off posted rates. Next Day Saver to a 3 day ground ship location, a 60x4x4 box, is $118 posted but $66 negotiated.

ASI Account?

 

[netsol]

we have clients in the distribution business, who can use a 3rd party reseller of UPS or fedex services and save as much as 30%. this works the same way you can use a company like cooperative communications to save on verizon, comcast or altice. i don't know what your monthly minimum has to be to qualify. i will find out...

my sign business is not open full time yet, so i rarely ship. i do however know that fedex ground is considerably cheaper than ups

 

[GAC05]

They are horrible. Tracking is not accurate and NO guarantee of delivery time.

We're in an odd place but have had pretty good luck with them. We get stuff faster (& way cheaper) than either UPS or Fedex when we order out of the midwest. Have more issues if it is coming from the west coast (think prop 65 requires them to taste test our ink to make sure it will not cause cancer if swallowed).
I agree with the tracking - log in to see your package sitting in Alaska and the truck pulls up with it an hour later.
I order ink on a Friday and have it on Monday or Tuesday.
Priority international is a week or more away from the private carriers and is at premium cost.

 

[bannertime]

ASI Account?

Advertising Specialties Institute. It's a promo product membership that hooks you up with manufactures or dealers. We used to use it just to find specialty product manufactures, but they've since changed it so you can't see who makes a product in the back-end anymore. Kind of sucks these days.

edited to fix the name.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Advertising Specialties Inc. It's a promo product membership that hooks you up with manufactures or dealers. We used to use it just to find specialty product manufactures, but they've since changed it so you can't see who makes a product in the back-end anymore. Kind of sucks these days.

Hummmmm, thanks. I will investigate.

 

[CanuckSigns]

We signed up with a third party company, it gave us about 30-50% off the rates we were getting going directly with the shipping companies. It's pretty easy to use, the same couriers pick up and drop off your stuff, but because the third party company has negotiated a huge discount due to volume you get a way better price.

Not sure what companies like that exist in the USA, bit there must be a few of them.

 

[Christian @ Visual Graphx]

Sign up for xpsship.com they have group rates and the service is free. It beats our discounted rates all the time so I just show our reps the door since they can't compete anyway.

 

[RPM]

I have from time to time bartered with some very large distributors in my area to ship something we have made out of their warehouse using their account. Then just pay them for the shipping. They don't care as long as it is no disruption or expense to them.

 

[rjssigns]

You need to ship a ton of product. Company I used to work for made 38% profit on UPS packages. Can't remember FedEx, DHL etc... Four guys, two shifts and they had trouble keeping up.

 

[Reveal1]

We ship throughout US and use Pitney Bowes SendPro which is a great web-based program that costs $5/month and ties all your shipping into one app. Allows you to choose best rate among UPS/FedEx/USPS. They have their negotiated rates, or you can tie in your own account which we have for FedEx and USPS. We have used member discounts through SGIA (Specialty Graphics Institute) and NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) - not sure which we are using as I leave that to my Production Manager, which thanks to this thread reminds me I need to check.

 

[Jeremiah]

Ebay insisted to my wife that if she offered free shipping, she would sell more and her business would grow.! So just offer free shipping and you and the customer will win ... or...... do you think there is a ups ,/ fed ex forum that asks. How can I get signs cheaper ? I wonder...?