Here is a quick hack for online sellers using UPS and Fedex shipping instead of USPS shipping
The USPS has scheduled a pickup, so you can schedule it via Pirate Ship or the actual USPS. However, a lot of times, you may end up shipping with UPS and FedEx. While you can pay to have UPS and FedEx picked up at your house (for UPS, see my article on scheduling this via Pirate Ship for a cheaper cost), I personally have never scheduled a FedEx pickup as I prefer not to ship anything but FedEx. But I do sometimes ship with FedEx when I sell on Mercari, and you can also ship with FedEx on eBay.
That being said, I live in a small town that doesn’t have a UPS or FedEx store nearby, and to get to the nearest one, I have to drive about a half an hour away. However, there is a workaround for this. For example, you can go online and find out about UPS drop-off points at other businesses. In my case, in my town, the Ace Hardware Store and Advance Auto are two places where you can actually drop off your UPS package, and UPS will pick it up. I don’t do this when I have really large packages for my shipments into Amazon or a big item I sell on eBay. But if I have a small item that I can carry and I’m going to be out (the Ace Hardware store is not very far from my home), I will just run it in there and drop it off. I prefer the Ace Hardware store because it’s easier for me to get in and out of, but I do this all the time. I’ve even taken bigger boxes there, and I have a cart that I can use to carry and roll them in. But in general, I tend to just take packages that I can carry in my hand, and only when I have just a random package here and there. If I have multiple packages or big packages, I definitely schedule a pickup because it’s only $4, and it’s a lot more convenient. But this is a choice that you have to make.
As for the FedEx store, I take packages to the Walgreens store. However, I must warn you that they only accept boxes up to a certain size. But there must be a lot of people who take packages there because they immediately know when I walk in carrying a box, and they head back to the photo area to scan it in. They’ll scan it and send the receipt to your email address or your phone, which I usually get as a text. Now, if I have a large box (which I’ve had for some pools that I sold on eBay during COVID), I had to take those to the actual FedEx store, which was like a half an hour drive from my house. I was taking these in on a dolly, and I had another box of something (I forget what it was). I tried to stop off at Walgreens, but when I went to scan it, they said it would not scan because they’re not allowed to take anything that big. I’m not sure how that’s coded, but that’s what they told me.
So, do a Google search and see if there are places in your town that offer these pickups, especially if you’ve been driving a distance or paying to have pickups. If you’re selling items that you’re making a small profit on, and you have to pay to have a pickup, it might not be worth it and may cut too much into your profit when you could just drop these off at these businesses. As a small-town seller, you might not be at that big of a disadvantage as you might think.