The United States Postal Service offers flat-rate pricing for packages selling different postage options varying in size and shape.
When shipped in higher volumes, it saves money but there are issues if both the flat rate and regular delivery systems are used simultaneously.
[5] American telecommunications companies commonly offer a flat rate to residential customers for local telephone calls.
Some GPRS / data UMTS access to the Internet in some countries of Europe has no flat rate pricing, following the traditional "metered mentality".
This is because the lights come on and turn off at predictable times, generally off-peak, and the total draw for the entire town can be accurately calculated in advance.
A customer pays the same amount whether they use the electricity in bursts during mid-day, when demand and the utility's costs are highest, or if they spread it out over the entire day.
In most parts of the world regular users of public transport, especially commuters, make use of weekly, monthly or yearly season tickets that allow unlimited travel for a fixed fee.
Motorway tolls in some countries (Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia) are paid by purchasing weekly, monthly or annual stickers attached to the windscreen.
At some stage, the concept of the flat rate was even introduced into passenger air traffic in the form of American Airlines' AAirpass.
In dealing with the shipping of parcels and documents, a "flat rate for international deliveries of packet size #1" would mean that the same shipping charge (for example US$15.00) would be applicable to all packets of this size, regardless of their designated destination (country of recipient), and regardless of the quantity of their contents, i.e. whether they contained one sheet of paper or were filled to the maximum.
It can be difficult to compare prices between hourly-paid and flat-rate services, and this sometimes causes rejection of flat rate shops over hourly ones.
Regional companies such as Med Health Services Inc.[11] in the Pittsburgh area and Northwest Radiology Network of Indianapolis[12] have been among the first in the nation to implement the practice on a trial basis.