Shipping can be really confusing, with lots of variables you have to consider when deciding which service to buy, such as:
Choosing a Carrier: Which carrier is providing the service?
Delivery Time: How quickly will the package be delivered?
Reliability: How reliable are the delivery estimates?
Extra Features: Are there any additional features included with the service, like insurance?
Total Costs: What's the price? Are there any surcharges?
Whenever you get a Quick Rate Quote or Buy a Label, Pirate Ship will always provide you with a list of every service that's available for your shipment, but it will also "tag" certain services with labels that are meant to help you quickly understand your options: CHEAPEST, FASTEST, and BEST.
💵 Pirate Ship tags some shipments with CHEAPEST
The Cheapest Tag: Seeing the CHEAPEST tag on a service simply means it's the most economical service to ship your package—it's got the lowest price.
Cheapest Means Slowest: The cheapest service is a great way to go if you're trying to save the most money, but it's usually slower or more unreliable than other options, meaning it may not be delivered by the time you need it to be. In some cases, it means your package will literally be on the slow boat!
Lack of Features: The cheapest service may also not include certain features that other services have, such as included insurance.
⚡️ Some shipments are labeled FASTEST
The Fastest Tag: The FASTEST tag is applied to the service with both the quickest delivery speed estimate and the highest delivery reliability score.
Speediest Delivery: If you need to get a package delivered ASAP, this service is most likely to give you the fastest possible shipment time.
⭐️ So what does this BEST label mean?
The Best Tag: For most shipments, there are a lot of services to choose from in between the cheapest option and the fastest option. If you're looking for the "just right" service in the middle, it can be hard to know which one to pick.
Mixing Affordability and Cost: Pirate Ship helps by simply labeling the service most likely to give you the BEST experience at the most reasonable cost.
What goes into a service being labeled as the BEST?
Breaking Down the Best Service: There's a combination of factors that go into a label being labeled as the BEST, such as:
Delivery speed
Reliability of the service
Extra features that are included (like insurance)
Price is the Biggest Factor: Since Pirate Ship was founded with the belief that every business deserves the cheapest shipping rates, the total price of the shipment is the biggest consideration here!
This is why there are some cases where the price difference between the service with the BEST tag and an alternative service may only be a few cents.
You can always choose whether you prefer a certain carrier
Depending on all the variables of your shipment, sometimes you may see a USPS service marked as BEST, while other times you may see a UPS service instead.
How to choose a specific shipping carrier
If you prefer to ship with a certain carrier, you've got 3 options:
1. Click the "Switch to" button below the rate, which compares the other carrier's BEST option:
2. Open the Service dropdown menu and select the service you prefer:
3. Or choose the carrier you prefer from the Sort by menu, which will become your default carrier:
Contact ARRrrrr Support Crew if you need help
Do you have any questions about choosing your shipping service, Matey? Just hit the blue chat button on the bottom of your screen to get in touch with our crew—we ARRrrr always here to lend a hook 😉