I made an account with Pirate Ship, it's free. You just need a certified scale, tape measure, a way to pay them and a way to print the shipping labels. They do the rest....giving you the rates etc. Looks easy enough....I'll post back after I ship something. They use UPS and USPS.I believe the Pirate Ship (ping) is something that one downloads on a computer.And yes,the rates are substantially lower than if you'd go to the post office or elsewhere.You'd need a certified scales for that,which I believe are sold on feebay,or are a part of the package deal.If someone is doing a lot of shipping,that'd be the way to go.There's another entity out there that's likje Pirate Ship,but I can't recall the name right now.
Kevin