USPS Postage Rate Cheat Sheet Comparison (2018)

This is a diagram of parcel postal rate charts to helps you learn how to price your shipping for eBay, or what the shipping costs will be if you pass them on to the consumer.

It helps you answer questions like:

  • If I offer free shipping, can my profit get wiped out?
  • Will passing on the cost of shipping help lower the total price?
  • At what weight does Priority Mail become cheaper than First Class or Parcel Select Ground?
  • How much will this Priority Mail Shoebox cost to mail?
  • What’s the zip code in a city far away?

The Diagrams Help You Learn the Rates

These diagrams, derived from USPS rate tables, will help you understand when USPS Priority Mail Fixed price packages are a big win, and when they are going to raise your prices so high that the prices are non-competitive.  You can use them to optimize product selection to fit into specific size or weight ranges.  The colored areas represent when a fixed-rate package has a better postal rate than the metered rate.  The blank area in the lower right is the area where the Large Box is cheaper than measured.

I’m not factoring in the price of a box when you ship without Priority Mail.  Boxes typically cost from $1 to $5.

Priority Mail, in all forms, includes up to $100 in insurance.  To insure other parcels costs from $1.50 to around $4.

So, the up front savings for using Priority Mail are around $2 per parcel.

The diagrams do not cover Priority Mail Regional Rate, which is a kind of hybrid between Flat Rate and the measured rate. PMRR has its own free boxes, a lower weight limit (15 pounds), and different prices based on distance.