Are you trying to reduce the shipping cost using cheap shipping supplies? Then this could be a perfect guide for you. Here we explain all about how to get the cheapest shipping supplies for your everyday shipping needs.
Shipping is indeed an inevitable part when in eCommerce. Getting enough and good quality shipping supplies is important when you are sending packages to your customers. Luckily you can find cheap shipping supplies readily and it does help you save on the shipping costs. If you are looking for cheap packaging supplies then here is a quick look at where you can get them.
Where to get Cheap Shipping supplies?
You get a variety of shipping supplies in a variety of shapes, sizes and even different types of materials. It is all up to you to choose the right one for your business. But again, you need to choose the right shipping supplies, otherwise, there are chances that your package might get damaged due to inefficient packaging. Inefficient packing can cause loss or damage to the item, which does impact your customer satisfaction. Thankfully there are pretty many ways to find out cheap shipping supplies that are ideally good for your shipping. Here are some of the places where you can find them.
Amazon – a perfect online space to find supplies that suit your needs
Amazon is a perfect marketplace, where you can find so many small to big vendors selling various shipping supplies. All you need to do is check for reviews and then identify the one that suits your needs. You get all kinds of cheap shipping supplies like boxes, poly mailers and tapes. Amazon is a storehouse for all such cheap shipping supplies and you can skim through the lists and find the best one that suits your needs. If you are a Prime user, you can easily get these cheap shipping supplies delivered at no extra cost within a day or two.
Uline- Hub for all Cheap Shipping Supplies
Uline is a website that sells standalone shipping labels and supplies for your shipping needs. This is ideal for eCommerce vendors, as they are primarily looking for cheap mailing supplies and it is found in abundance here. They also have the fastest delivery option within the US because they have 10 warehouses at perfect places in the US. If you order the item within 6 PM then the item shall be shipped on the very same day or will be delivered at the most by the next day morning.
Online Labels -Get your shipping labels done right
Online Labels is yet another online source that you can rely on for purchasing shipping supplies at a reasonable rate. On this website, you can even customize the shipping labels as per your preferences and exact specification. Another great option the website allows is that if you find another website that is offering the same item at a lower price, they will cut down 10% of the existing price to ensure you get the best deal.
How to Get Free Shipping Supplies
If you are looking for free shipping supplies, then you can also get the same from the following:
Shipping companies
If you are looking for free shipping supplies, then popular shipping companies like USPS, UPS and FedEx do offer a few of them. Most of the supplies, free envelopes, boxes and shipping labels match your requirement. You can always choose the right packaging to send items to your customers easily.
USPS
USPS does offer several shipping boxes, envelopes, flat-rate boxes etc which are available free of cost.
The boxes that are popularly available with USPS include :
- Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Express Legal Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Box
- Priority Mail Express Padded Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Flat Rate Medium Box
- Priority Mail Flat Rate Large Box
- Priority Mail Flat Rate Small Box
- Priority Mail Padded Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Gift Card Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Window Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Legal Flat Rate Envelope
You can choose several options from these boxes as per your need and then get the same from any of the USPS centres.
If you want to make use of these boxes in your packaging option in the store, you can easily make them available using these shipping plugins, where you can offer additional Flat rate boxes through extensions in the WooCommerce store. The popular plugins that come in handy for the same are :
- ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label
- ELEX EasyPost Shipping Method Plugin for WooCommerce
- ELEX Stamps.com Shipping Plugin with USPS Postage for WooCommerce
Here you can choose for the Flat Rate boxes as shown in the image below in the USPS shipping plugin:
In the case of the EasyPost plugin you can choose the flat rate boxes as shown in the image below:
And in the Stamps.com plugin, you can choose the flat rate boxes as shown in the image below:
Once these are chosen while generating packages for your shipments, the boxes are automatically chosen with respect to the dimensions and weight provided.
UPS
UPS does offer several options for shipping including shipping boxes. Again to decide upon which box you need, you need to understand your packaging needs.
Here some of them:
- UPS Letter: Mainly meant for urgent document deliveries.
- UPS 10kg Box: For International delivery using UPS Worldwide Express option.
- UPS 25kg Box: Used for Flat-rate international delivery via UPS Worldwide Express.
- UPS Express Box: It is available in three different sizes – very handy and is used mostly to ship via UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS Next Day Air, as well as other international services.
All the UPS free boxes can be obtained from the UPS Store or any customer centers to purchase. You can get express envelopes, pouches and other shipping boxes.
FedEx
FedEx offers several self-sealing packaging and ready-to-use boxes for shipping in various sizes and shapes. You get all these packs, absolutely free when the shipment is given at the FedEx offices. Some of the popular boxes are:
- FedEx Envelope (window)
- FedEx Pak
- FedEx Padded Pak
- FedEx XL Poly Pak
- FedEx Small Box
- FedEx Tube
- FedEx 10kg Box and FedEx 25kg Box
You can easily order the free FedEx packing boxes from the FedEx website.
Get to know about the packing algorithms to make sure you pack the items rightly while shipping.
Local Businesses
If you are looking for shipping supplies from a local business then there are many stores that receive a lot of packages every day. So most of them will have many boxes and other shipping supplies to spare. For example, the grocery store nearby will receive plenty of boxes every day with items, which are not used again. So if you are looking for boxes to ship, you can make use of them.
How to find the right packing solution for your eCommerce store?
If you are running a WooCommerce store, then you can always try using some of the shipping plugins that will help you find the right kind of packing options based on the weight, dimension and other factors. With the right mechanism and methods applied for your packaging, you can simply calculate the shipping charges for your products easily.
Several algorithms work in the backend of a shipping plugin to help decide what packaging suits the items to be shipped. If you are using ELEX Stamps.com Shipping Plugin with USPS Postage for WooCommerce then you can make use of these packing algorithms and decide what packaging is best for your shipping. Moreover, you can also get the shipping labels printed right away using the plugin.
The plugin lets you use three packing options :
As shown in the image above, either you can pack items individually, or pack into various boxes with certain dimensions and weight or do a weight-based packaging.
Know more about the same using the comprehensive list of Bin Packing Algorithms for better packing.
Cut down your shipping cost with the cheap shipping supplies
If you are focussing on customer satisfaction it is ideal to cut down certain costs in shipping especially when it comes to shipping supplies. Other than getting cheap shipping supplies there are several other options where you can cut down the shipping cost variably. Each one of these will add up to make great savings for you. Finding ways to reduce shipping cost will keep your customers happy and augment customer satisfaction.
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