I saw a Fedex truck down at the big South Postal facility in Boston one day and I commented to the guy at the counter that isn't funny that Fedex drops off their packages to the US Post Office to ship. He said it is actually the other way around, US Postal Service sends their pakages to Fedex to use their planes.
I always try to shop around, I have found sometimes it is cheaper at he post office and sometimes not, depends on what you are shipping. I was trying to ship a rod one time and like TD the USPS wanted $65, I went to UPS main office in South Boston and they wanted $65. You have to get someone behind the counter that is not stupid or not trying to screw you. Finally I went to Willship (has multiple carriers) in Weymouth on 53, the owner Gary was very knowlegable and I shipped my rod for $20 via UPS (I packaged it myself in 5" PVC tube). Didn't pay for next day service but I dropped it off at 2:00 PM and it was delivered next day by 8:00 AM to New Jersey and I could follow the package online the whole way.
FYI - Rod builders will snip an inch or two off a 9 foot rod because it is sometimes cheaper to ship, once you go over 9 feet some places jack up the delivery price.
