The Thimble Nimble Quilters of Cabot, Arkansas mail out at least 16 quilts a month to our wounded warriors that come into Ramstein Air Force base. We use medium U-Haul boxes. Each box weighs about 22 pounds. It cost us approximately $46 to $50 each box to send eight 55 inch by 66 inch quilts in each box. All our fabric, thread, batting, boxes, tape and quilting is donated by patriotic Americans. We have been doing this for 3 years. We have explored all the other ways of getting these quilts to our warriors. This is the most reliable.

I have a scale, and I always find the best rates. I think no matter which way you go, it's still too much.

I mailed 3 in a flat rate box and it was a few cents over $10 plus
that included.90 for tracking it.

if you have the weight of the package you can go to the www.usps.com site or www.fedex.com or whatever ups is and enter zip code from and to, weight and some ask for package dimensions and help decide which is cheaper.

I no longer use ups for lots of reasons.

eeeegads..thanks for the information...you just never know... :mrgreen:

I send all my quilts "insured" though the po. It's amazing how much faster they get to their destinations and in such pristine conditions! The insurance costs a bit more but well worth it.

I'm a postmaster in a one person office. The flat rate boxes are only a good deal if the item is heavy for it's size. Get yourself a scale and weigh item with packaging, go to usps.com and you can figure your postage and compare the different services. You can use this service even if you aren't printing the postage yourself there. You can even send for the Priority packaging, free, to be delivered to your home. Though there are some unpleasant people in the P.O., most of us try to be helpful. Various studies done by Consumer Reports have given us higher scores for speed, cost and efficiency than our competition.

I worked at the Post Office in our town for 5 years. Whenever someone brought a package in to be shipped, we always checked various methods of shipment so our customers could decide how they wanted to ship the package. Once in a while you get a Postal Clerk with an attitude, but we would like to think that most of them are friendly and helpful.

I've always found our postal clerks to be very helpful.

I like to use the tough plastic mailers, but they are really hard to find. Sometimes I have one I can re-use.
Does anyone have a source for these mailers?