HOUSTON – If you ship gifts to family or friends during the holidays, you know it can get expensive. Trying to figure out which carrier is cheapest and quickest gets confusing real fast.

You’ve got three main choices when you need to ship a package: USPS, FedEx and UPS. If you just pop into whichever office is closest to you, you may be spending way more than you have to.

Shortly after the holiday shopping rush comes the shipping rush.

“There’s a ton of stress put on the FedEx and UPS infrastructures,” said Brian Gibbs, the founder of Refund Retriever. The Houston-based company helps businesses around the country manage their shipments with big carriers.

Now he’s helping consumers with valuable advice about the way you need to ship your gifts this year.

“Ship it early. Don’t wait for the week before Christmas,” Gibbs told consumer expert Amy Davis.

The longer you wait, the more expensive it will be to ship residential packages with UPS. It is adding holiday surcharges to packages beginning November 18th through December 22nd.

The Test