Got a question for you guys. How are you guys shipping out your metal signs to customers I am relatively new to the business and have found that shipping larger items is not very cost effective and tends to upset the customer when I give them a quote. For example today I went to the UPS store to ship out a 4 by 4’ sign and was quoted $253 to ship from Ohio to Florida. There has to be a more economical way to do this I am not shipping large volumes however when I do ship to customers I don’t want to give them sticker shock with ridiculous shipping prices.
Does anyone have any services that they have found to be more cost friendly than a traditional UPS, fedex, DHL services?
I rarely ship…and when someone want it I can get a quote online with mail…or courier…quckly befor I even price up the sign…
if people want it…they will pay for it…
and unless you can start doing bulk mass production…you may be out of luck…
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I agree, with the fact that people will pay if they are serious, however when I look at places like Etsy that sellers are shipping 28 x 28 painted signs for free and are only charging 75ish dollars for the piece…they must be working for peanuts or something!
Most of my work stays local and doesnt require shipping, however I have shipped a few smaller pieces at $20 flat rate which is fine and this is my first larger job that someone wants me to do from out of state…so that is why I am a little taken back on the quote today!
First thing is to learn how to do your own packing. Then set up a UPS, FEDEX or DHL account. Make sure you add insurance in your price. I use paypal invoicing a lot and get good shipping rates using paypal shipping.
Do you know it cost more to ship west then it does to ship east.
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the setting sun get’s in the drivers eyes…hahahahaha
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unless you are talking about moving trucks, they will give you one if you are coming to california
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No its not 
Its because most things even a lot of ground shipping is done by plane. It will use less fuel coming east because of the jet stream so I have been told. Also they use commercial planes that have room this also keeps cost down.
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I use online shipping sources like: pirate ship or Google shipping. They can save you money but compare the prices.
Thank you, I will check them out. For now I think I am going to stick to only mailing smaller projects as a standard practice until I explore all options for reasonable rates.