The short answer
- Buy discounted labels, not counter postage. A 2 lb USPS Ground Advantage package to a mid-distance zone costs $8.91 as a label bought online and $13.50 at the post office counter, in USPS’s own tables.
- You can get that price for free. Pirate Ship and Veeqo charge no subscription, and Shippo and Easyship have free plans for low volumes. See discounted shipping labels.
- Home deliveries cost more with UPS and FedEx. Their published list prices add a residential fee for homes, on top of a weekly fuel surcharge on every package. USPS publishes neither.
- Check the box size. All three carriers bill large, light boxes by size instead of weight. Our dimensional weight calculator shows what you’ll be billed for.
Where to buy discounted labels, and what it costs
We may earn a fee if you sign up with some providers in this table. It never changes the prices we show or what we recommend.
| Platform | 50 labels/mo | 500 labels/mo | 2,000 labels/mo | Carriers | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pirate Ship ↗Visit Pirate Ship | Free | Free | Free | USPS, UPS | Visit Pirate Ship |
| Veeqo ↗Visit Veeqo | Free | Free | Free | Amazon Shipping, UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, OnTrac | Visit Veeqo |
| Shippo ↗Visit Shippo | $19.00 | $29.00 | $79.00 | USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL Express | Visit Shippo |
| Easyship ↗Visit Easyship | Free | $29.00 | $69.00 | 550+ courier services (not enumerated on the plans page) | Visit Easyship |
| ShipStation ↗Each plan publishes set shipment tiers (Starter: 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 a month). We show a cost only where a published tier matches the volume.Visit ShipStation | $14.99 | $39.99 | $119.99 | USPS, UPS, FedEx | Visit ShipStation |
| ShippingEasy ↗Tiers above 200 shipments are not published in the page text.Visit ShippingEasy | Not published for these volumes | USPS, UPS | Visit ShippingEasy | ||
| Stamps.com ↗Only the Basic plan states a label count (10); Professional and Multi-Location limits are not published.Visit Stamps.com | Not published for these volumes | USPS, UPS, FedEx | Visit Stamps.com | ||
| PitneyShip (Pitney Bowes) ↗Free plan adds 5% to every label (per their page); paid plan label limits not published.Visit PitneyShip (Pitney Bowes) | Not published for these volumes | USPS, FedEx, UPS, DHL (bring your own account) | Visit PitneyShip (Pitney Bowes) | ||
Prices checked Oct 22 to 29, 2026 on each platform's own page (↗ opens it). Subscription cost only, using the cheapest published plan that covers the volume. Postage is extra and depends on the carrier, weight and distance. "Not published" means the platform's page text gives no price for that volume (some show one only in a slider or through sales), so we don't show a number we can't source.
We may earn a fee if you sign up with some providers in this table. It never changes the prices we show or what we recommend.
Pirate Ship has no referral program, so it never pays us. We list it because it’s free and often the cheapest way to buy USPS labels. More on choosing a platform in shipping software for small business. Using ShipStation? See every ShipStation plan and fee, or ShipStation vs Shippo vs Pirate Ship. Selling on a marketplace too? See what eBay, Etsy, Amazon and PayPal take from each sale in our seller fee calculator. The label is only one fee on an order: what it really costs to ship one online order adds the platform’s cut, card processing and pick and pack.
What it costs to discount a 2 lb package
| Weight | Counter price | Discounted label | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb | $11.10 | $8.55 | $2.55 (23%) |
| 2 lb | $13.50 | $8.91 | $4.59 (34%) |
| 5 lb | $16.60 | $11.67 | $4.93 (30%) |
| 10 lb | $20.20 | $15.09 | $5.11 (25%) |
| 20 lb | $28.55 | $20.71 | $7.84 (27%) |
The saving grows with weight and distance. Across USPS Ground Advantage and Priority Mail at 1 to 20 lb in our sample, the discounted label was 9% to 42% below the counter price. Platforms advertise savings “up to 89%” or “up to 90%”: those are their claims, measured against different starting prices, and they’re not what a typical package saves against USPS’s own counter price.
How much should a small business charge for shipping?
At least what the label costs you, plus the box. A 2 lb package by USPS Ground Advantage costs $8.91 to a mid-distance zone as a discounted label. A 1 lb package runs from $8.01 sent locally to $11.22 cross-country, in USPS’s own tables. That spread is why one shipping price rarely matches your cost on every order.
Three common ways to charge:
- The real rate at checkout. Each customer pays what the label costs to their address. Nothing comes out of your margin, but far-away customers see a higher total.
- A flat rate. One price for every order, set near your average label cost. You lose a little on far orders and make it back on near ones.
- Free shipping. You pay for the label and build it into your prices. Simple for customers, but the cost is yours on every order.
For every cost on one order, label included, see what it really costs to ship one online order.
Published postage by weight
| Weight | USPS Ground Advantagepost office counter | USPS Ground Advantagediscounted label | USPS Priority Mailpost office counter | USPS Priority Maildiscounted label | UPS Groundlist price | FedEx Ground / FedEx Home Deliverylist price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 oz | $8.80 | $7.86 | $12.40 | $10.80 | $13.51 | $13.26 |
| 8 oz | $8.80 | $7.86 | $12.40 | $10.80 | $13.51 | $13.26 |
| 12 oz | $11.10 | $7.86 | $12.40 | $10.80 | $13.51 | $13.26 |
| 1 lb | $11.10 | $8.55 | $12.40 | $10.80 | $13.51 | $13.26 |
| 2 lb | $13.50 | $8.91 | $14.85 | $11.19 | $15.46 | $15.33 |
| 5 lb | $16.60 | $11.67 | $18.30 | $16.37 | $17.15 | $17.06 |
| 10 lb | $20.20 | $15.09 | $22.55 | $20.27 | $18.75 | $18.56 |
| 20 lb | $28.55 | $20.71 | $32.35 | $29.34 | $21.88 | $22.32 |
Under 1 lb: UPS Ground and FedEx Ground / FedEx Home Delivery round up to a full pound, so 4 to 12 oz pay the 1 lb price ("Any fraction of a pound is rounded up to the next-higher pound.", FedEx's list; UPS's guide says the same). USPS Ground Advantage prices by the ounce.
UPS and FedEx prices here are their published list (daily) rates. Platforms negotiate lower UPS and FedEx prices, but don’t publish them as tables, so we can’t show them as numbers. Find the cheapest option for your own package in the cheapest way to ship.
Get told when these prices change
Providers change fees with little notice. Alerts start soon, and we'll send nothing else.
Common questions
What is the cheapest way for a small business to ship packages?
For most small packages in USPS's own published tables, USPS Ground Advantage bought as a discounted (commercial) label is the cheapest option we compare. A 2 lb package to a mid-distance zone costs $8.91 as a discounted label versus $13.50 at the post office counter. Heavier, cross-country packages can be close between carriers, so check your weight and distance in the calculator.
How do small businesses get discounted shipping rates?
You don't need volume to get them. USPS commercial prices are available through shipping platforms, several of which have free plans: Pirate Ship and Veeqo are free, Shippo's free plan covers up to 30 labels a month and Easyship's up to 50. You pay the discounted postage and print the label yourself.
Are UPS and FedEx cheaper than USPS for small packages?
Not at their published list prices for the packages we compared. UPS Ground and FedEx Ground list prices start higher than USPS Ground Advantage's discounted price, and they add a weekly fuel surcharge (29.25% at UPS and 28.75% at FedEx the week we checked) plus, for deliveries to a home, a residential fee ($6.50 at UPS, $6.45 at FedEx). Platforms advertise discounts on UPS too, so compare inside the platform before you buy.
Do I need shipping software?
Not to get cheaper labels: free platforms give you discounted USPS prices. Paid plans add things like order imports from several sales channels, automation rules and more users. If you ship under about 50 orders a month from one store, a free plan usually covers it.
Does USPS give small businesses a discount?
Yes, through its Commercial prices for labels bought online. USPS's small business page says: "Ship online with Click-N-Ship® and get lower Commercial Rates." A 2 lb Ground Advantage package to a mid-distance zone is $8.91 at the Commercial price and $13.50 at the post office counter. Shipping platforms sell the same Commercial prices, several on free plans.