How are you handling shipping and mailing costs?

This is sort of a two-part but related question: how is your organization handling shipping and mailing costs? I have spent the last couple hours researching, and I do not have any great wisdom or clear understanding to show for it.

We would be using two facets: (1) shipping for eCommerce orders of items through our website and (2) mailing periodic update letters and donation solicitations to our patrons.

It looks like with the mail portion, one of the automatic postage machines would be the most economical...at face value. I'm not sure if there's a real saving opportunity if we don't have regular large mailings. (We currently have one a year, sometimes two.) It looks like the machines typically have to be rented for a monthly fee beyond the postal expenses, and I haven't found if they could be rented for short periods since ours would likely go unused for many months at a time.

Regarding shipping, we would be rolling out a new-to-us eCommerce option to be able to purchase logowear and branded items. With the potential variation in package weight and size based on what they order (e.g. 1 t-shirt vs. 3 hooded sweatshirts vs. a travel mug), I'm not sure the best way to configure our eStore without making anything too overcomplicated or that would overcharge our customers. I'm hoping some other organizations have found some good knowledge for this aspect of your eStores that you might share.

I came across this post from 2009, but with all that has changed in almost a decade, I thought it would be worth discussing anew.

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How are you handling shipping and mailing costs?

How are you handling shipping and mailing costs?

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