While I have seen plenty of companies that charge shipping rates that I thought were unreasonable, as others have stated, there are reasonable costs to factor in.
To ship a package via UPS ground might cost, for example, $10, for actually getting the package from point A to point B. Then factor in the box, packing material, tape, shipping labels, ink to print the shipping labels, time to pack the boxes, and the UPS upcharge for a one-time pickup (or the monthly rate for daily pickup, pro-rated into X number of shipments per month), and you might end up with a shipping rate that's $15.
When I ship a package, I add $2-3 to the shipping fee to cover the peripheral costs to break even. I don't try to make $$ on shipping, but I don't want to lose $$ on shipping either.