Shipping, it’s a topic that is prevalent in all our lives as we do more and more online shopping. It’s also a topic that I don’t think many shoppers understand unless they’ve shipped items themselves. Throw in the fact that you can pay for a prime membership and get everything shipped “for free” and there is a huge misunderstanding about how shipping works.

I’ve been running Tea Thoughts since 2016/2017 and while I don’t claim to know everything, I have learned a lot about shipping in the process. Before opening my shop, I also had a lot of experience shipping because I frequently sent packages to friends and my partner when he was deployed.

I wanted to break down a few things about how the cost of shipping works and also some information about shipping in general that may help you understand why the shipping prices you see are different from different shops.

What affects shipping cost?

Weight: Most shipping services whether it’s USPS or UPS/FEDEX/DHL is based on weight. This means, the lighter something is, the less it costs to ship and the price increases as the weight increases. Some items in my shop that are heavier than you might imagine are notebooks for example. The current notebooks and notebooks I’ve had in the past are often 1lb without any shipping material.
Distance: The other factor is distance from ship point. In the US for example the map is split into different regions or zones. I am located in Maryland so If I’m shipping the same weight item to people all over the country, the cost will be less for someone who lives in Connecticut or North Carolina vs someone who lives in Texas, Colorado, California etc. You can check the chart below for more details
Size of Business: This one is a little more complicated but I think it’s important to understand. If a shop uses a shipping service or a marketplace like Etsy they will likely have some small discount on shipping through those companies. I use shopify for example and depending on the plan I pay for I can get more of discount for shipping. In addition to this, some companies are able to negotiate a lower price if they have a large enough volume of shipments. Usually I notice that these deals are made with fedex and ups.

Why USPS over Fedex or UPS?
I only use USPS for a few reasons. USPS is by no means perfect but for a tiny business like mine, it makes the most sense. In all my shipping, USPS has been the cheapest option. It is only beaten by UPS a couple times for an item that is heavier and being shipped far away. Even still, it isn’t much cheaper. USPS is also the only service that picks up my packages from my apartment for free. When I’ve shipped with UPS or Fedex, I’ve have to pay for a pickup and it isn’t always the same day. Having packages picked up instead of having to lug a bunch of boxes to a post office on my own is really helpful and convenient. For the size of my business and being a one person show, USPS has been the best option for me.

What about Free Shipping?
To my knowledge, there is no company who doesn’t pay shipping fees. If a company is offering you free shipping they are either eating the cost or more likely, the shipping is hidden in some other way. For example, if a company sells clothing and offers free shipping on their orders, the cost of shipping is likely built into the price of the clothes so you are paying for it that way.

Why don’t I do this? To me, this is a much simpler solution if I offered one product or products that were all similar weight. For me, I would have to estimate shipping and add a different amount to each item. I also think that while “free shipping” sounds nice, it isn’t exactly fair. For example, If I added one flat fee to my items to cover an estimate of shipping, people who live closer to me would be paying more since their shipping would cost less. I decided that it is simpler and fairer to just have shipping determined by USPS standards of weight and location.

I do offer free shipping over $75 in my shop for US orders. For example, at an order value of $75 or more, I usually will pay $10-$17 in shipping which is essentially a loss on that order. I do this mainly because it’s a standard to offer this but it isn’t exactly beneficial to me. As USPS prices have increased each year so has this minimum and it may continue to rise as costs rise.

Order Volume Discount
I mentioned this earlier as a way that some larger companies can get order volume discounts. Usually I see this with companies like Fedex or UPS. I’ve looked into these and I do not ship anywhere near the amount needed for this. I recently saw an ad on Instagram to talk to a USPS specialist about volume discounts and am waiting to hear back. The problem is that I do not ship that much. Aside from shop updates, I get an order here and there. I am always hoping to increase that but the past few months have been especially slow too. Perhaps if I continue to grow and keep running Tea Thoughts I will be able to get more discounted shipping!

International Shipping
While I mostly ship to the US, I do have some customers in Canada and the EU. Everything I’ve mentioned above applies to international shipping as well. However, even though shipping costs have risen within the US, they have become even worse internationally. Every country’s shipping methods are different and I don’t think the US has the best international shipping methods. This is why many small businesses in the US only ship domestically. There are some places I have had to stop shipping (like the UK) because they’ve put in place processes that are too difficult for a one person shop like me. It’s difficult enough to keep up with US changes in things like shipping, sales tax etc as one person.

How does shipping work in my shop?
When I create a product listing, I weigh the product and note that on the product listing. When you go to check out, the website takes the weight of the product and your shipping address and calculates the price based on that. I am not setting shipping prices, they are based off the parameters I’ve outlined above. First class mail which was usually items under 1lb is now called “Ground Advantage.” The difference is that items that are over 1lb can be sent with Ground Advantage and they will usually cost a little less than Priority Mail but will take slightly longer to get to you. Shipping estimates are also listed for domestic orders. The shipping time listed means dates in transit, not days since you’ve ordered it. So if the estimate says 3-5 days, that 3-5 days starts once you get an email saying I’ve shipped your order. Something that is very important to note - once I ship the package, I have no control over it. I have the same access to information via tracking number that the customer has. Once I ship an order, it is in the hands of USPS and they are the best people to contact with an issue either on their main customer service line or your local post office.

Other things to know
Once an order comes through, I log into my shipping app (shipstation) and go through each package and weigh it with all the packaging. Sometimes I pay more than what you’ve paid for shipping especially on international orders because shipstation and shopify which I use aren’t always 100% in sync. I also thought you should know that for heavier items, I often mark them as weighing less to help you all with shipping costs. Over the years I have considered slowing the amount of products I put in the shop, especially heavy items to lessen the shipping burden on everyone!

To Conclude
I hope this information has been helpful and to show a little more behind the scenes of shipping. I’m always happy to chat and answer questions so if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email - hello@teathoughts.com