How to Get Better UPS Discounts for Your Business

Your relationship with UPS is a critical business partnership, but it needs to be a two-way street. When shipping costs continually rise without a corresponding increase in value, it’s a sign that the partnership is unbalanced. Reclaiming control over your shipping spend starts with understanding your own value as a customer and leveraging it effectively. This guide will show you how to do just that. We will explore the different types of UPS discounts available and explain how to use your unique shipping data to negotiate an agreement that truly benefits your bottom line, turning a simple vendor transaction into a strategic financial advantage.

Shipping is a big cost for companies. Many companies turn to United Parcel Service (UPS) for their shipping needs, as a shipping carrier that offers wide coverage and high service levels. This heavy reliance on the carrier, along with their continuous rate and surcharge increases, can lead companies to wonder how to get shipping discounts with UPS to mitigate their business spending and take full advantage of their shipping budget. There are shipping discounts available if you know where to look. This guide will explore these opportunities, as well as some of the benefits gained through available services like shipping consulting for your UPS contract.

Benefits of a Free UPS Account

Access Business Rates and Management Tools

If you’re shipping with UPS without an account, you’re likely leaving money on the table. The most straightforward way to start saving is by opening a free UPS business account. This immediately gives you access to their business rates, which can mean significant savings on both Air and Ground services. Beyond the initial price cuts, an account also comes with a suite of management tools that help you schedule pickups, print labels, and track packages in one place. While these built-in discounts are a great starting point, they are just that—a start. For high-volume shippers, the standard business rates are often not the best deal possible. True cost reduction comes from a professionally negotiated agreement, which is where services like carrier contract optimization can make a massive difference by securing terms tailored to your specific shipping profile.

Get Free Shipping Supplies

Another great perk that comes with a UPS account is access to free shipping supplies. It might seem like a small thing, but the cost of boxes, envelopes, and labels can really add up over time, especially when you’re shipping in volume. Having UPS provide these essentials at no cost directly impacts your bottom line and simplifies your inventory management for packing materials. You can easily order what you need directly through your account, ensuring you always have the right packaging on hand to get your products out the door safely. This is a simple, practical way to reduce your fulfillment costs. When you combine these smaller savings with larger strategies like rate optimization and invoice auditing, you start to see a significant improvement in your overall shipping spend.

Types of shipping discounts for businesses

If you search online for a UPS discounted rates, you’ll find a lot of sites, and may spend ample time going down a rabbit hole, clicking to find legitimate savings on UPS shipping rates. Here are some places you may find a good UPS discount plan. Associations: Some business associations offer a discounted carrier shipping rates. This may be exclusive to one carrier like UPS, but some associations also offer discounts with multiple carriers, like  DHL or FedEx discounts. For example members of the American Bar Association or Outdoor Industry Association might receive discounts. Non-business associations like AAA and AARP offer smaller discounts like 5% off domestic and international shipping at The UPS Store. That includes 15% off eligible products that may be helpful for another UPS service. Shipping software companies: Shipping software programs and platforms like Shopify shipping also offer discounted UPS shipping, meaning that you can take full advantage of their discounts without having to negotiate your own. Some programs even give the discounts without you needing to lock in a minimum volume. — in In the eyes of UPS, your packages make up a larger volume when added to those from other ecommerce companies, with the software company acting as the large shipper. Discounts with shipping software companies can range anywhere from 62% on UPS 2nd Day Air to 48% off UPS Ground, with some services also waiving various surcharges. The UPS shipping discounts are similar on the various shipping software sites, but it’s helpful to compare the UPS rates when choosing a company, as one of the deciding factors. The Shopify plan can save users up to 73% off UPS rates and up to 90% on carriers including USPS and DHL. You can also get your shipping labels easily on the platform.### Discounts for Association Members You might be surprised to learn that memberships you already have could be a source of shipping savings. Many professional and personal associations partner with carriers like UPS to offer discounts as a member perk. While these savings are generally modest, they can add up over time, especially for smaller or infrequent shipments. It’s always a good idea to review the benefits list for any organization you belong to, whether it’s a trade group or a consumer club. You could be leaving money on the table without even realizing it. These programs are typically easy to use, often just requiring you to show proof of membership to get the discount.

AARP, AAA, and American Bar Association (ABA)

Professional organizations, like the American Bar Association (ABA), frequently negotiate shipping discounts for their members as part of their benefits package. On the consumer side, groups like AAA and AARP offer similar perks. For example, AAA members can save 5% on UPS shipping and 15% on other eligible products and services. AARP members get a nearly identical deal. While these discounts are a nice bonus for a one-off shipment, a 5% savings won’t make a meaningful impact on the budget for a high-volume shipper. Businesses that ship frequently need more substantial cost reductions that can only be achieved through direct carrier contract negotiations. ### Discounts at The UPS Store It’s important to note that many of these membership-based discounts, especially those from consumer groups, are only redeemable at The UPS Store locations. When you visit a store, you can present your membership information for a group like AAA or AARP to receive 5% off your shipping costs. This is convenient for sending personal packages, important documents, or handling the occasional return. However, this model is not practical or cost-effective for businesses shipping hundreds or thousands of packages a month. The real savings for a growing business come from a well-negotiated carrier agreement tailored to its unique shipping profile, which is where a contract optimization service becomes invaluable.

Other UPS savings programs

Small business promotions: UPS runs small business promotions through their UPS Small Business Program. These UPS volume discounts for small enterprises allow ecommerce stores to save 40% on all their shipping for the first eight weeks, and then retain a certain discount level after that. The discounted shipping fee ultimately depends on your weekly volume. With the UPS Small Business program, your company can also get a UPS promo code or coupon code for 30% off offline print products, 15% off packaging services, and offering three months of free mailbox services at The UPS Store. Of course the discounted rate offering associated with each promo code or coupon can change at any time. When signing up for a UPS account as a new customer, they ask you a few questions:

• On average, how many packages do you ship each week?
• Do you ship mostly to homes or businesses?
• What matters most when shipping: speed or cost?

Let’s run two scenarios that help breakdown the differences they will offer different types of shippers.

Let’s Talk Numbers: A Business Shipping Example

Let’s say you ship more than 50 parcels a week, mostly to businesses, where 3+ days in transit is fine, as long as the price is the best. Here are some discounts currently available.

  As the number of shipments decreases, you will notice your discounts do decrease however. Here is a look at only 31-50 parcels per week:

What About Residential Shipping? Here’s a Scenario

Now let’s say instead you only ship maybe 31-50 packages per week, but mostly to residential, and speed is of most concern, looking at overnight to 2-day delivery. Here is what UPS discounts they are currently providing.

  For business shippers (Scenario 1), the focus should be on Domestic Ground for cost-effectiveness, with the option of Domestic Air for urgent deliveries. International shipping discounts are also significant. As the number of shipments decreases, you will notice your discounts do decrease however. For residential and most cases where urgent shipments are the concern (Scenario 2), Domestic Air becomes more relevant due to the need for speed. The 100% discounts on Residential and Delivery Area Surcharge and Fuel Surcharge are particularly advantageous for residential deliveries. For lighter packages, the discounts are better. However, for heavier packages, the discount drops, which is important to consider for cost management. In both scenarios, UPS offers a range of discounts that cater to different needs, whether it’s cost-effectiveness for business shipments or speed for residential deliveries. The choice of service should align with the specific requirements of shipment volume, destination, and urgency. Shipware offers small business shipping services that provide significant discounts for small and medium-sized businesses. These SMB Rate Programs allow small shippers to attain big business discounts without the need for extensive negotiations or spending millions on shipping. Shipware’s programs can reduce small parcel costs by up to 30%. Additionally, Shipware ensures that once special rates are in place, conduct invoice audits and collect all eligible refunds, crediting them directly to your account. This approach not only saves money but also streamlines the shipping process for small businesses, making it an ideal solution for those looking to optimize their shipping strategy and costs.

Fine-Tuning Your Service Levels to Save More

Another way to get UPS discounts is by determining what service levels you are willing to pay for. The following are great areas to assess when looking at ways to reduce your overall shipping rates:

• Pick-up — Getting packages picked up at your location may cost more than dropping them off at one of UPS’s 85,000 drop-off locations. You may be able to negotiate with the shipping carrier for free pick-up as part of your contract negotiations.
• Volume — If you spread your volume among carriers like USPS, FedEx, DHL and UPS, you may not be able to take advantage of the greatest discounts for any of them individually. Particularly for high-volume shippers, negotiating custom carrier rates directly like UPS can lead to a substantial volume discount. UPS has a rate chart showing savings based on volume. On the other hand, smaller businesses can benefit from pre-negotiated discounts offered by third-party platforms or through carrier-specific programs.
• Packaging — Carriers like UPS offer free packaging, and you can save on packaging costs by taking advantage of it. They also offer flat rate pricing services, called UPS Simple Rate, which may be a more cost-effective way to send your parcels. You don’t need to use a branded flat rate box to get flat rate pricing from UPS, unlike other carriers.
• Delivery time — If you can change the delivery time for your packages, you can get discounted rates and save money on shipping. Moving from Next Day Air to Ground shipping is a big savings, for example, and may not add that much more delivery time for you or your customer. Moves like these make a huge difference if your ecommerce company offers free shipping.

Negotiate your contract

Using set discount programs like the ones previously mentioned helps a lot of shippers. But if you have enough volume to secure a carrier agreement with UPS, you can also optimize your shipping service contract. However, if you think you can negotiate your own contract successfully without professional advice, you may want to think again.

Crafting a Comprehensive Shipping Volume Discount and Strategy

At Shipware, we’ve seen that shippers often get subpar rates when negotiating themselves. Why? Data and experience. Shipware’s experts have access to extensive benchmarking information that helps us optimize contracted rates, terms, and clauses — whether you’re in search of a UPS, DHL or FedEx shipping discount. By understanding your company’s services, most-assessed accessorial charges, destinations, package sizes, shipping volume, and other factors that influence your unique shipping costs, we can craft a negotiation strategy with a much better discounted shipping rate for your company to carry out.

Get Additional Savings through Invoice Auditing

Customers are also able to save by using our invoice audit recovery services. Our proprietary software system identifies errors in carrier invoices, and automatically files claims for refunds. These audits often save customers 1% to 9% of invoiced amounts, with no out-of-pocket costs for the service. The recovery fees are a percentage of the amount recovered from these refunded amounts. With a quick set-up process, and a program that runs behind the scenes, the savings are like finding money and don’t require your employees’ active efforts. To learn more about how Shipware can help you lower your UPS rates and capture invoice audit savings, contact us today.

Frequently Asked Questions

I ship a lot. Is the standard UPS business account discount the best I can get? Think of the standard business account discount as a great starting point, but not the finish line. While it provides immediate savings over retail rates, it’s a one-size-fits-all solution. If your business ships in high volume, you have leverage. A custom, professionally negotiated contract will always secure deeper discounts because it’s tailored to your specific shipping profile, including package characteristics and common destinations.

My business is part of a trade association. Are those member discounts a good long-term strategy? Association discounts are a nice perk, especially for occasional shipments, but they aren’t a substitute for a real cost-reduction strategy. These discounts are typically modest, often around 5%, and won’t make a significant impact on the budget of a regular shipper. For meaningful, long-term savings, you need an agreement built around your company’s unique shipping needs.

How do I know if my shipping volume is high enough to negotiate a custom contract with UPS? There isn’t a single magic number of packages that qualifies you for a custom contract. It’s more about your overall shipping spend and consistency. If parcel shipping represents a significant line item in your company’s budget, it’s almost certain that you could benefit from a negotiated agreement. The key is having a predictable shipping pattern that is valuable to the carrier.

What’s the most common mistake businesses make when trying to lower their UPS costs? The biggest mistake is going into negotiations alone. Carriers negotiate these agreements every day; they have teams of experts and access to immense amounts of pricing data. A business trying to negotiate on its own often lacks the benchmark information needed to know what a truly competitive rate looks like. This information gap is where shippers leave the most money on the table.

I’ve already negotiated my rates. Are there other ways to find savings? Yes, absolutely. Even with a great contract, billing errors happen all the time. Carriers can make mistakes with surcharges, apply incorrect fees, or fail to meet their service guarantees. A consistent invoice auditing process automatically finds these errors and recovers the money you’re owed. It’s a simple way to add savings, often between 1% and 9%, without changing your shipping operations.

Key Takeaways

• Start with the easy wins: Open a free UPS business account to get instant access to business rates and free shipping supplies. It’s also worth checking if any professional or business associations you belong to offer partner discounts.
• Optimize your internal shipping strategy: You can lower costs without negotiating by making smarter operational choices. Review your data to see if you can switch to slower services, use free carrier packaging, or consolidate your volume to improve your discount potential.
• Negotiate from a position of strength: The most significant savings come from a professionally negotiated contract and consistent invoice audits. A shipping expert uses industry data to secure better rates and recovers money from carrier billing errors, creating savings you can’t achieve alone.