How much profit is being made on shipping?

[PostmasterX]

I've been buying products for years from LOR, but the shipping always seems extremely high compared to what it actually costs. I needed a tiny part, shipping is $4, when I look at USPS or UPS, it's less than a $1. (They won't combine it with another order I'm wanting to place.) That second order is $18 in shipping according to the LOR website, when I search UPS and USPS/FEDEx, they say it should cost a total of $3.49 to ship this package. And these are some of the cheap products that have been shipped. 

[LORAdmin]

Hello PostmasterX, thank you for sharing your concern. As general information, the shipping costs from any company do not just include the shipping charges from USPS and UPS. The standard "Shipping and handling" fees also refer to the boxes and packing material required to ship your order, which has significantly increased in the past two years, in addition to USPS and UPS raising their rates. For orders where our store platform largely over estimates shipping costs, we do refund the customers the difference after the order has shipped. It is a rare occurrence for that kind of over estimation, but it does happen. We're typically lucky to break even on shipping and handling costs, and do not reach out to customers to charge extra if the amount charged to them was less than what we actually paid. If you ever do find an estimate on the direct website of any carrier with the exact weight/dimensions of your package from our address to yours that is cheaper than the estimate from our store, we would ask that you open a help desk ticket with a screenshot of the estimate so we are able to ship your custom ship your order directly through the carrier at the lower rate. Thank you!