In an attempt to reduce time and complexity, many companies ship packages using one or two favored vendors, such as the U.S. Postal Service, UPS or Federal Express, using next-day-air as a standard, said Enroute founder and CEO Keith McCall.

Enroute's product, ShipIt!, offers real-time pricing and delivery time information on half-a-dozen shipping vendors, from the big companies to unknown regional shippers that are often cheaper and faster, McCall said.

Its dashboard can also let shippers broaden their options to, for example, ground shipping, which is just as fast and cheaper than next-day-air for destinations less than 200 miles away, McCall said.

ShipIt also crunches and presents statistics to help users figure out if their shipping vendor is imposing undue delivery surcharges after the fact for things like overweight packages and incorrect addresses.

"Surcharges can kill you," said McCall, who started Enroute last year after leaving his job as