I have been selling on Amazon for many years now and have always enjoyed the incredibly low rates they offer for UPS. I'm probably a bit too obsessed about tracking details but I have kept track of my shipping costs for every item I've ever shipped to the FCs. I even break the costs down per item so I know what all of my costs are on each order. I know exactly what everything should cost and which carrier is the best for each item I sell. Today is the first day I have ever seen the costs this high. Amazon obviously gets much better rates than a tiny company like mine so they are clearly trying to pocket the extra. And we're not talking small amounts. We're talking about a 5 pound box that is less than a cubic foot and Amazon's rate is 150% more than the rates I get. Wow! They're not even trying to hide it. And I'm obviously not including Amazon's lame placement fees. I have no choice but to choose the lowest shipping rate to make the sale worthwhile. And I have more news about shipping. If you fulfill orders yourself, always ship the item yourself and don't use Amazon's contracted rates. The reason why is that if the package is lost or damaged, you'll never be able to make a claim because the carrier will say you are not the shipper and you need Amazon to file the claim on your behalf. Good luck with that. Any company trying to squeeze every dime for things like placement fees, storage fees, low stock fees, and overcharging for shipping is clearly not doing well. Instead of doing the right thing, these lame money grabs will only hasten their demise.