I avoid shipping by UPS from the states like the plague. If they don't ship USPS, I don't need it that badly. Expect for Fabric.com. I'm not sure why, but I've never had brokerage fees on shipments from them and they are using UPS.
My sister sent my daughter's Christmas gift from Vegas one year. I told her to not send it via UPS and she ignored me because the concierge at her hotel said it would be fine. Well, when the brokerage bill showed up at over $100, I made sure I sent her a copy. We spilt on the fee, and she promised to start trusting me over strangers. When she went the next year, she saw the same guy working and made sure he now knows too (in a nice way). He actually upgraded their rooms for the week and threw in free breakfast to apologize for his error.