This year, my family of four is heading to Massachusetts for Christmas. After losing air fare roulette in August, and choosing a non-direct flight to a less convenient airport on Christmas Eve for about what we could pay today for our perfect flight, the airline we’re flying on added bag fees.

Besides wearing the same outfit for a week, which I am seriously considering, another way to avoid fees (and luggage hassles)  is to mail our single package of gifts.

The package isn’t much and it isn’t heavy– we’re toning down Christmas this year anyway. Like most families, unemployment and plummeting net worth is all too familiar for some in our extended family. But since it’s rare for the entire clan to get together, I wanted to buy Christmas pjs for all of the kids– a tradition in my immediate family that I’d like to pass on.

So today, I packed up nine pairs of fleece pajamas to send out east. Considering the trend of free shipping deals from online retailers, I did try to buy the pjs online first. But they were out of a few of the sizes I needed, so I resorted to shipping them on my own dime.

Question is, how should I send them?

Since I rarely send stuff, I have no idea if FedEx, UPS, or the good ol’ snail with the mail would be cheaper.

I expected more from an article full of shipping tips from Bankrate.com. The story suggests I estimate my package’s cost via the three services from my computer. But that requires me to weigh the package, and I don’t have a scale.

ConsumerReports compared shipping times and costs last month and found that the postal service is generally cheaper, unless you are shipping FedEx Ground.

Parenting magazine Cookie performed its own experiment too.

I need stamps and I also need to drop off a return at UPS (the Gap has free returns for maternity clothes– yes this is my subtle way of announcing that I’m expecting another rugrat in March). So here’s an idea. I’ll take my package to UPS, FedEx and the post office and will compare the cost. I will share my findings with you later this week.

Until then, any tips you have on holiday shipping are welcome here.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under spending. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.