Reducing Shipping Costs at Christmas

Reducing costs at Christmas is always a good thing.  Let’s explore four ways to reduce the cost of mailing packages during the season.

The first way to help reduce shipping costs is to choose small, lightweight gifts.  This will allow you to utilize cheaper flat rate shipping envelopes and keep your costs down.  Be careful, though, and make sure you take the package into the post office and have the thickness measured, so your recipient does not get a surprise of postage due when your gift arrives!

The second way to help reduce costs is to mail gifts to a central location that people will be visiting during the Christmas season.  For instance, I give fudge to 25 people at my grandmother’s house.  They do not live with her, but they come and visit during the Christmas season and pick up their gifts when they come.  Yes, ½ pound of fudge for 25 people is a larger box, but I use a flat rate box that is around $20 and since I am mailing it to one location that comes out to less than $1 a person for mailing which is a significant savings over mailing to individual family homes.

A third way to save on shipping is to purchase gifts and have them sent directly from where you bought the gifts, especially if you get free shipping.  Usually, even if you have it gift-wrapped for a fee, it is cheaper than you mailing it yourself.  This is especially helpful when you are sending family gifts or just one larger item to one or two people.  Sometimes gift wrap is not available, so I just let them know NOT to open the box up when it comes.

The last tip on saving money on mailing packages is to mail early!  The closer to Christmas you mail packages, the more money it will cost.  Mark on your calendars now the last date you need to send your packages at the regular rate for it to arrive on the date you want.  This date may or may not be Christmas Day,  but an event or other special occasion during the Christmas season.  You may want to allow a couple of extra days shipping time, just in case there are delays beyond your control.

Photo by Norbert Kundrak on Unsplash