Three Ways to Save Money When Shipping
In the current economic environment, finding ways to cut costs down is more important than ever. One area where many businesses could save is when shipping. This article lists three simple factors to consider if you want to reduce shipping costs.
#1 Carrier Packaging vs Your Own Packaging
To begin, it’s important to know the major shipping carriers. In this piece, we will refer to the big four; UPS, DHL, and FedEx and the USPS.
The first way to start saving money on shipping is through the strategic use of carrier packaging. When you’re shipping a package, you can always use a box or envelope you have at home or work to ship. But, by using the packaging of your carrier, savings are possible.
Although this is a case-by-case basis, more often than not, by buying your supplies from your carrier’s website or brick-and-mortar, you will save more on the shipping than the cost of the packaging. This is a simple trick to save a few dollars, which can add up if you are shipping in high volume.
#2 Flat Rate Shipping
One major factor into how carrier’s price your shipments is by their weight. If you are shipping relatively heavy items, one way to save would be to look into flat-rate shipping options.
Flat-rate shipping means that you pay a fixed amount for the packaging, as opposed to paying by the size and weight of your item to be shipped. This saves you money in three ways.
First, for very dense but small items, you will not have to pay for that extra weight, beyond the flat-rate cost. Second, you will not have to weigh or measure your packages, so long as you’re sure it doesn’t exceed the maximum weights. Finally, by using flat-rate shipping, you will not have to worry about in-transit surcharges, which can really add-up.
All four carriers have a version of flat-rate shipping, and while it’s usually cheaper for heavier items, once again, it depends on the specific parcel, so this is not an absolute rule.
#3 Dimensional Weight
Besides weight, the next two biggest inputs to calculate a carrier’s shipping cost is size and distance shipped. But, a larger package doesn’t have to cost more.
Something that is noteworthy to newcomers in shipping is the concept of the “dimensional weight” of a parcel. This is a calculated figure, which is actually not related to the weight of the parcel at all. The dimensional weight of a parcel is defined by its height times width times height divided by 139. So, its volume over 139.
It’s puzzling at first, but quickly becomes clear why it exists. If shipments were purely based on weight, there would be no incentive to ship in small packages. This would be bad for carriers, as their trucks would be filled by unnecessarily large packages, making it so they have to ship fewer parcels each trip, costing them money.
So, by having dimensional weight, it acts as a check against big packages. If you ship too large of a package, such that the dimensional weight is greater than the actual weight, you will be charged as if your parcel actually weighed its dimensional weight.
Luckily, by shipping with large logistics companies, like us, you can have access to better dimensional weight dividers. So, instead of dividing the volume of your parcel by 139, you could divide it by 200, for example. Therefore, your dimensional weight will be lower (because it was divided by a larger number), and your package can ship for less!
Contact us today if you want to have better rates, or to learn how easy it can be to reduce your transportation costs. Happy Shipping!
