#logistics-operations

No direct experience, but I’d say there’s a high likelihood that the rates are almost identical. The UPS rates you see in ship station, and Shopify and other reselling platforms are typically from their digital access program. They don’t feviste much from one to the next.

What’s the gross volume on a daily and monthly basis?

about 300 packages per month give or take

I’d say the juice isn’t worth the squeeze to be honest

Pirate ship rates are pretty close to the floor at that volume

Thanks for the guidance, at what stage should I reconsider and hunt for better rates?

If you’re sub 3-5lbs, you’re a ways away from anything meaningful.

The landscape has changed in recent years. Used to be volume got discounts and low volume was outrageous.

UPS and USPS then rolled out programs like the one you’re shipping on in order to get small shippers moving volume. Those programs aren’t available to larger companies though, they’re locked to generally less scalable software — Shiphero is our WMS and it has all the bells and whistles we’d ever need to ship 10,000 packages a day, but no built-in carrier rate discounts.

In effect, the barrier to decent rates is now lower than ever, but the gap between those rates and any meaningful additional discount is much wider.

To answer your question, probably 300/day and you’d see some meaningful discount options by going direct to the carrier. At that point you’re probably using a 3PL whose negotiated rates are comparable or slightly better.

All that said, I’d love someone to chime in and tell me I’m wrong 😅