Internet companies are right to assume that their customers want immediate delivery of the products they order online. But high shipping costs are one of the chief reasons that customers desert their shopping carts without checking out.

Offer as an option one of the major couriers -- UPS, FedEx, Airborne Express, or whatever courier services are available in your country. But also offer the US Postal Service (www.usps.com) or your own country's postal service.

USPS Priority Mail claims an average 2- to 3-day delivery time, though I think that delivery times have degraded some in recent years. The current price of $3.50 for the first pound, or $3.95 for the flat-rate envelope, is a fraction of rates through courier services, and often you can use the free boxes and envelopes provided by the Post Office. The biggest drawback to using the Postal Service has been verifying delivery, but with Delivery Confirmation costing only 35 cents, that should no longer be a barrier. Overnight Express Mail is even faster. Global Priority Mail and Global Express Mail may well be a better alternative to using a courier service to ship outside the US.

Offering your customers a high cost but fast option for shipping should be balanced by also offering a low cost but slower alternative. Do this, and you're likely to increase sales over offering just a single shipping choice.