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Remember furniture stores? If you can’t recall the last time you stepped foot in one, you’re far from alone. Thanks to companies like Wayfair, West Elm, Etsy and more, online furniture sales have boomed during the time of COVID-19. Now, like nearly all of eCommerce, data shows that the growing trend towards online furniture shopping is here to stay. That means more shipments at the end of the day, and ultimately, more shippers scratching their heads. If you’ve sold a piece of furniture and need to figure out how to ship it, you may be wondering which carrier to choose…and whether or not you can use USPS to get the job done.
Furniture is Typically too Large to Ship with USPS
While USPS doesn’t restrict you from shipping furniture, you may run into problems with size and weight restrictions that require you to use another carrier. Simply put, USPS specializes in delivering smaller, handheld packages, and out of all the different carriers, they impose the lowest maximum weight and package size thresholds. This explains why you never see any huge shipments being rolled out of those white delivery vans.
If your items are small enough to fit into the maximum package sizes that USPS restricts you to, there’s no reason why you can’t use USPS. That said, 99% of furniture is simply too big to be shipped with the Postal Service.
Learn more about the maximum package sizes USPS allows for.
Consider UPS, FedEx, or DHL (for Ultra-Heavy Shipments)
Since USPS is likely out of the picture, you’ll need to go with a different carrier, namely UPS or FedEx. Compared to USPS, UPS and FedEx both have a higher weight limit of 150 pounds per single package. That said, if you have to choose between one or the other, our suggestion is UPS.
UPS specializes in delivering bulky shipments and heavier items (products like bed frames, couches that require assembly, etc). Just think about those massive brown trucks! UPS has the most space on their delivery vehicles out of all the shipping carriers. As a result, they will often offer you cheaper rates than FedEx for larger packages, simply because they have more room to spare on their vans.
What About Even Heavier Pieces?
While an 150 lb weight limit covers most furniture items, some pieces may still weigh more. If your furniture items weigh over 150 pounds, you’ll either need to enlist a freight service, or another private carrier such as DHL to send it out (DHL’s weight limit is much higher, coming in at 660 pounds per shipment). However, keep in mind that no matter which carrier you go with, the heavier your package is, the more it will cost to ship it!
Here are some specialty furniture shipping services to check out:
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