Close to a third of online merchants who ship orders via FedEx and UPS are unaware of the significant changes to rates that took effect at the beginning of this year due to dimensional weight pricing, according to Endicia, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that helps businesses with USPS shipping.
Endicia surveyed 700 businesses and found that 28 percent of online businesses hadn't heard of dimensional weight pricing that will hit the rivals of the U.S. Postal Service.
Kenco Logistics Services, based in Chattanooga, Tenn., noted that starting on Jan. 1, 2015, parcel carriers will increase the price on ground shipments smaller than 3 cubic feet, impacting shipping costs and packaging design for shippers across the nation. Unless shippers adequately prepare, some experts estimate that they can expect an average 30 percent cost increase on small parcel shipments.
Dimensional weight pricing, known as DIM, utilizes a formula to calculate billable weight based on a package’s volume, according to Kenco. A shipper can calculate DIM for a parcel by multiplying length times width times height and dividing the product by a DIM factor. For FedEx and UPS, that DIM factor is 166, according to Kenco.
