What's the best method for shipping live figs?  USPS or UPS?  Leave in pot and tape up the top or wrap the roots in plastic bag?  How to keep the plant from shifting or getting crushed inside packaging?  I'm thinking mostly about one year or younger plants currently in half gallon pots.  

This is how mine was shipped to me. I think the cheapest/fastest is USPS Priority which is guaranteed 2-3 day. The pot was taped and in plastic. Hope this helps.

What size was that pot, it's hard to tell in the pic...?  & what kept the plant from shifting around in the package, just the peanuts or is there a bamboo stick..?

The pot was very small. It was 4" round diameter top, 3" round diameter base and 3" high. It was not staked, the only thing that kept it from shifting was the packing peanuts. You may want to let the soil dry out a bit which will help with shipping weight and instruct them to water immediately upon arrival. Hope this helps.

You can do pot or plastic.  Even priority mail can take 4 or more days so I'd be sure there was no chance of drying out.  I always tape the pot to the bottom and use a bamboo stake.  The stake goes in the pot but the top can punch through cardboard so I put packing tape aroung the top for some give and pressure distribution and I put a piece of tape where the bamboo would touch the carton.  It has to be large enough so that jostling and movement of the pole keeps the tip on the tape.

Use the search box above and search "best way to ship" and a bunch of topics come up , some with pictures.