My first education with shipping was similar. I found the pricing for boxes and bubble wrap ludicrous. One of the attractions of the shipper I chose was a local drop off. Turns out only the main shipping offices were the only place one could print the QR sourced shipping label. Into traffic hell. At least I could print the code myself and drop the boxes without a line at that point.
Got my own boxes bubble wrap and tape though and saved most of my sale. I would have lost a good third of my money just to shipping.