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Tom BoblittLots of misinformation above.............UPS Store rates--if it is a UPS STORE, not Mailboxes ETC.......is typically about 5% higher than the UPS dropoff centers in your city. There are typically only 1-2 UPS dropoff centers and many more UPS Stores. They are franchised and UPS Stores themselves HAVE to charge the same rates.
Mailboxes ETC is still under the old system where they can charge whatever they want and it, in the past, ranged to about 65-75% above counter rates for UPS.
In my store, and many others, if you ship a lot of stuff you can get a slight discount to where you can have parity with the counter rates. You can also set up a house account and be billed monthly instead of when you drop off the package and charge to whatever credit card you want.
I have tons of ebay people that come in--especially as someone said earlier--when they have heavy items or need the $100 insurance included. I also have a lot of mailbox customers that do ebay business as we are open 8:30-8:00 and will sign for ANY packages from UPS, FedEx, DHL or whomever for our mailbox customers and hold till they pick them up. Try that at the post office.....nice benefit if you don't want anyone's drivers just dropping stuff at your front door.
The ebay calculator is not realistic as it will ALWAYS charge less than what a UPS Store will and most of the time be less than what a UPS customer counter is. Don't know why that is.
You'll find different rates for UPS if you process it online and just drop it off at a UPS Store--typically a little lower but many store owners will give you a discount equal to that if you're a frequent shipper and you get the monthly billing.
Packing is not a cheap endeavor, however.....brand new boxes, bubble and peanuts and labor/overhead is not cheap. If you want it packed right to UPS standards (where the teamsters won't damage it), it's somewhat costly. Price new boxes at U-Haul, Staples or pretty much anywhere else and UPS Stores are right in line with the retail costs for boxes, bubble and peanuts.
If you look at FedEx and DHL, you will also find varying rates by type of preparation. Its a cost of doing business that all carriers, for the most part, have........