Switched my 200 orders a week from flat rate boxes to my own boxes, cut $2.10 a package and now I'm kicking myself
Six months ago I was paying $8.30 a pop for flat rate boxes on every order out of my garage in Boise. I finally sat down and priced out plain brown boxes plus weight based labels, and the same order now ships for $6.20. That is $2.10 saved per package, about $420 a week, and the only thing that changed was me not being lazy about buying boxes in bulk. Getting a cheap kitchen scale and printing labels at home sealed it, my post office trips went from daily to twice a week. If you are still defaulting to flat rate for everything, why? What made you switch or what is holding you back?
Watched my buddy run his whole sticker shop out of a spare room for two years, flat rate on every single order because it was easy and he never wanted to mess with it. He finally did the same math you did and found out he was eating almost three bucks a package on the small stuff, which added up to more than his rent back then. What really got him was the weight based labels, since most of his orders were under a pound and flat rate was just burning money. He grabbed a $15 scale off Amazon, bought boxes in packs of 50, and his post office runs dropped from every day to once or twice a week like yours. Took him maybe a weekend to get the hang of printing labels at home, and he was mad he waited so long. The only real hold up for most people is just not knowing their average package weight, and once you know that number the switch is a no brainer.