You can also trim it with your keyboard. If you put that the box is 8 inches wide rather than 9, no one is going to check. I did that on one box that was a hair over and it arrived without up charges. It's not like UPS staff have a lot of time to spend second guessing whether something is 8 inches or 8.5.

Bike Flights is usually UPS domestically. They are essentially making a profit by the difference between their negotiated UPS bulk discount and the retail rate. I use them because it is a much simpler process than dealing with UPS directly - and they might be a touch cheaper.