Business Owner Says Shipping Cost Dropped After Adding Rocks to Package — ‘You Can’t Make This Stuff Up’

A business owner is questioning shipping rates after noticing something that didn't make much sense while sending a package to a customer. In a clip reshared on X by @financedystop, they show how the cost to ship a package actually dropped by nearly $2 after they added more weight to the box. They captioned the post, "You can't make this stuff up," before showing the price difference with and without the extra weight.

Business Owner Adds Rocks to Package After Shipping Price Drops

Typically, the heavier a package is, the more it costs to ship. But this business owner says they experienced the exact opposite.

In the clip, they show an open box filled with merchandise sitting on a scale. "This is a 13.1-ounce order going to Colorado. It costs $7.60 to ship," they explain, while showing the shipping information on their computer screen confirming both the weight and price.

They then tell viewers they're going to add some rocks to the box. They place a small Ziploc bag of rocks inside, bringing the total weight to 2 pounds, 3 ounces. After entering the new weight into the shipping calculator, the price drops to $5.97. They show their computer screen, which shows the updated shipping cost.

He then joked that if his customers get any free rocks from his store, "that's the reason." And it seems he actually does include a bag of rocks with his orders because later in the video, he shows the note he places inside the bag so customers know why they're getting rocks they didn't order.

The note reads: "USPS has made a recent change to their rates. In their infinite wisdom, they have decided to charge less for heavier parcels that weigh between 2-5 pounds than those weighing less than 2 pounds. Enjoy your free rocks."

While some people in the comments questioned how a heavier package could cost less than a lighter one, one person attempted to explain why that might be happening. "As someone who knows how shipping works in Back-End. Packages that are in the 2-5 pounds range are heavy enough that they can go through automated sorting machines and not get stuck. Packages that are less than a pound often are so lightweight that they can bounce out of where the machine would sort them (or worse get stuck somewhere) so it requires manual hand sorting."

While commenters offered different theories for the pricing difference, many said they had experienced similarly unexpected shipping rates.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the shipping rates shown in the video, which are based solely on the creator's demonstration shared on X.