USPS Flat Rate vs. UPS Flat Rate: Which Should You Choose?

Flat rate shipping is an economical shipping option for any eCommerce store owner. If you are looking for reasonable flat rate shipping options, both USPS flat rate and UPS flat rate shipping are ideal options. Let’s get a quick overview of USPS Flat Rate vs. UPS Flat Rate and find which is best suited for your business.

Table of Contents

What is Flat Rate Shipping?

Flat rate shipping refers to a shipping option that uses uniform pricing for shipping products across locations. With flat-rate shipping, the packages have to meet the prescribed package weight limit to be shipped at a flat rate price. If your item does not exceed that limit, you need not weigh your package for shipping. Many online merchants find this option more practical than any other ones available.

Why Use Flat Rate Shipping?

Most of the vendors are looking out for a competitive edge while dealing with shipping. Here are a few reasons to consider flat rate shipping.

You need not weigh your packages as long as the weight of the shipment is below or equal to 70 lbs for both UPS and USPS. If the weight does not exceed, the item is shipped at a flat rate.
Since you are shipping at a flat rate, you save a lot, as there is no unpredictable cost incurred. The cost is always static.
It is easy to drop off the package at designated UPS and USPS drop-off locations.
Few or no surcharges.
Delivery options to more addresses.

USPS Flat Rate vs. UPS Flat Rate

Let’s take a deeper look at these shipping carriers.

USPS Flat Rate Shipping

USPS flat rate shipping is the most agile option for shipping as far as small to big scale companies are concerned. Here are some factors that make it an ideal choice for shipping:

Pricing: The size and weight of the shipment decide the pricing for flat rate shipping services. For example, if you see, the pricing for flat rate envelopes starts at $6.95, small flat rate boxes start at $7.50, medium flat rate boxes at $12.80, and large flat rate boxes at $17.60. This way, the pricing is kept uniform.

Here are some features of USPS flat rate shipping that make it an affordable option available.

USPS does not offer any shipping insurance.
Best suited for the US market for shipping.
They use volumetric weight calculation for shipping.
Most of the delivery happens within the estimated date of 2-3 business days to any locations within the US.
The maximum volume allowed is 70 lbs.
The receiver pays the import duty or taxes for USPS shipping.

UPS Flat Rate

UPS flat rate is yet another flat rate shipping option that is affordable in every way. They let you ship your package at a flat rate to anywhere in the US. They offer five different pricing options based on the packaging available. Here are some features of UPS flat rate shipping:

The pricing is competitively higher than that of the USPS flat-rate options, even though they are affordable.
You get insurance up to $100 for UPS flat rate shipping.
Mostly ideal for cross-border shipping.
Volumetric weight is used to calculate the price.
Most of the shipment delivery happens within 2-3 business days.
The maximum volume allowed is 70 lbs.
For USPS flat rate shipping, both sender and receiver can pay the import taxes.

How to include USPS Flat rate and UPS flat rate shipping options in your store?

If you want to include the UPS flat rate services or USPS flat rate services in your WooCommerce store, you can make use of the ELEX EasyPost (FedEx, UPS, Canada Post & USPS) Shipping & Label Printing Plugin for WooCommerce.

It includes most of the UPS shipping services and USPS flat rate shipping services in the plugin. If you do not find any specific UPS or USPS shipping services, you can always contact ELEX support to get them included.

Here are some UPS services included in the plugin.

The below-shown shipping services are some of the USPS flat-rate boxes available , which you can access on the plugin settings page.

You can make use of these plugins to include the USPS shipping services.

USPS Flat Rate vs. UPS Flat Rate: Choose the best one for you

Save money with flat rate shipping as it gives a competitive edge to your business. It is important to know when to choose USPS Flat rate and when to choose UPS flat rate shipping option in your business.USPS flat-rate shipping is ideal when you are shipping something domestically as it is low cost and perfect for domestic shipping. UPS flat rate is ideal for cross-border shipping, especially when you are shipping larger and expensive items.

Further Reading:

Sreepriya

Content Writer Writing on Various ELEX WooCommerce Plugins.

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