Are Shopify USPS shipping rates no longer competitive?

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment
1

I noticed my Shopify USPS shipping rates have gone way up. I also use Pirate Ship, mostly for one-offs, exchanges, warranty, etc.

So I just checked rates for a 12 oz, 15"x12" polybag First Class USPS shipment (my most common). Shopify charged me $5.49, where Pirate Ship is $4.34. HUGE difference.

They used to be about the same. What gives? The all-in-one workflow is Shopify is nice, but not worth paying more than a few cents extra per shipment. Anyone find anything similar? I’m on the Basic Shopify plan, I’m not big enough to make upgrading worth it.

I guess I’ll have to figure out a workflow to make Pirate Ship efficient to fulfill. This really bugs me that we’re now getting squeezed by Shopify.

2

Hi AbitGear,

Do you have your own USPS account and have you checked the real time shipping rates in it?

3

I’ll look into that. Thanks for the suggestion.

I’ve now got Pirate Ship working OK, it’s a few more clicks, but worth it for the much better rates. Shipping confirmations to customers aren’t quite as slick as native Shopify. If I can streamline workflow by staying native Shopify and still get competitive rates, that would be ideal.