Nobody designs a shipping label. You buy one: the carrier generates it the moment postage is paid for a specific box on a specific route, and your only jobs are to describe the package honestly and to get the printout onto the box. Here is the whole process, priced with real quotes.
Addresses, service, tracking and proof of paid postage all live in the label the carrier scans.
Four everyday packages, quoted through the SMKlog calculator from Newark, NJ 07102 to Atlanta, GA 30303 on 2026-07-27. Each price is the cheapest returned row and the full amount charged.
| Package | Label price | Service on the label |
|---|---|---|
| Flat mailer, 13 × 9 in, under half a pound | $8.38 | USPS Ground Advantage |
| 1 lb box, roughly shoebox size | $9.91 | USPS Ground Advantage |
| 5 lb box, small-appliance size | $13.65 | UPS Ground Saver |
| 10 lb box, big and sturdy | $17.56 | UPS Ground Saver |
Notice the carrier switch halfway down the table. USPS tends to win the light end and UPS the middle, which is exactly why making a label should start with a comparison rather than a habit. The carrier-specific walkthroughs go deeper: USPS labels, UPS labels and FedEx labels each get a page with full price ladders.
Any inkjet or laser on plain paper produces an acceptable label. Print at full size with scaling off, since a shrunken barcode can refuse to scan. From a phone, the print view hands off to your system print menu, including AirPrint on an iPhone.
Tape every edge down and run no tape across the barcode itself. If the box gets rained on between your door and the drop-off, a clear plastic pouch or a full covering of packing tape over the text areas keeps the ink from bleeding.
The weight and size you enter become the contract. Carriers re-measure in their hubs and bill differences afterward, so a label made against real numbers is the only kind that stays at its quoted price. See our terms page for how corrections are handled.
Quote the packed box online, pick a carrier service, pay, and print the file that comes back. Through SMKlog the whole sequence runs as a guest and usually takes a few minutes; the cheapest finished label in our 2026-07-27 test run was $8.38 for a flat mailer.
You can address a box by hand, but ink isn't postage. You'd still buy the postage at a counter, at the walk-up rate. An online label bundles addresses, the chosen service, tracking and paid postage into one barcode, which is why carriers scan it straight into their network.
Ordinary printer paper works for every major carrier: tape it flat by all four edges and leave the barcode untaped. Half-sheet sticker labels save the tape step but change nothing about price or acceptance.
USPS runs Label Broker, which turns a QR code into a printed label at participating Post Office counters and kiosks. Our Label Broker guide covers it, and our printer-free guide walks through every other workaround worth using.