Shipping Alternatives USPS Flat Rate & Priority Mail

We have been using UPS for over thirty plus years with excellent results with almost no problems or damages and has included $100.00 automatic insurance on all shipments. Lately with the rising cost of fuel surcharges in shipping has just recently increased over 54% which has had a large impact on shipping costs. We usually do not like fixing something that has worked so very well for us for all these years, but the escalating cost on smaller items is exceeding half the cost of the item itself. We are going to start using USPS only on a limited basis when REQUESTED for Flat Rate and Priority shipping as they meet credit card issuers terms of providing tracking numbers. Media rate is the cheapest but we are not going to offer this as the shipping time can vary from 1-6 weeks which is unacceptable. With over  2000 listings at this time it is not economical to recalculate every item listing for this service with weight and size requirements. We feel that this option of shipping will benefit many especially on small heavy type items that can be shipped in a flat rate box . We may require insurance on some items as well a very small handling fee (typically $3.00 which does not even pay for labor costs) for the labor and extra packing materials, bubble wrap, shrink wrap, invoices, packing slips, tapes, foam, padding, sleeves and other materials associated to insure safe delivery. (We never assume an item will always be shipped and in order to keep the pricing as cheap as possible we do not calculate these costs in to the item price as some people do as they are availible for local pickup at same advertised pricing without shipping cost).  All shipments MUST be shipped to a CONFIRMED shipping address only. Shipping with postal requires an extra day shipping out for pickup as they will pickup when we open early in the day. Cleared payment orders received during normal business hours will be ready to be shipped the following shipping day vs UPS which usually ships out the same day unless they have picked up already. We find that there are a lot of small items or multiple lots that can be combined together for the same single shipping cost. If all works well with USPS shipping we will start offering limited exporting to different parts of the world but the rates will differ depending on destination.  International shipments do to the extra time and labor costs of quoting and preparing Customs forms will require an extra handling fee for the labor time costs, which is typically $3.00-$5.00. Rates and Insurance is totally different from US Domestic as weight, size and destinations vary. We can not ship anything that is prohibited or regulated at all. We will not falsify any documents, so please do not ask. There may be additional customs or duties taxes that are separate that vary from country to country. These fees if any, are to be paid separately to them as we have no idea of what these fees can be or cost.