Customer Service Helper

What is Dimensional Weight All About?

“I got a great deal on a battery-powered car for my nephew at Christmas time.” We hear this type of comment frequently at The UPS Store. Customers get “great deals” on very large items and then bring them into the store to ship to the relative. They might have paid $35.00 for the nice sit-down battery-powered vehicle, but to pack and ship the item, it will be $125.00. Why?

Well, in the world of shipping, size does matter! You might review one of my other articles about How Shipping Costs are Determined to get an idea about the effect that size has on a shipment. To properly package a battery-powered vehicle, the store has to use a bigger box than the box in which the unit is sold. There should be at least 2″ of packing peanuts protecting the inner contents from the outside of the box all around. The bigger the box, the higher the cost of packaging the vehicle for the customer.

Now that the vehicle is boxed, the shipment must be manifested (i.e., processed for shipment, labeled). The customer is shocked when the price of shipping something this large is so high. The cause of the high price tag for shipping lies in what is known as dimensional weight. Weight is just one factor in the determination of shipping costs. Size is another. Larger size boxes hit various thresholds and trigger dimensional weight calculations. A 10 pound box might be charged at the rate of an 80 pound box due to the dimensional weight of the shipment.

In UPS world, you can calculate the dimensional weight in several steps. First, multiply the length times the width times the height of the box (e.g., 20″ x 18″ x 12″ = 4,320 cubic inches). For a Ground shipment, you do not have to worry about dimensional weight until that calculation of cubic inches exceeds 5,183. Once you hit the magic number of 5,184 or more cubic inches, you divide that result by 194 to compute the minimum weight to be charged for that shipment. Always round fractions UP to the next pound. For Air shipments, dimensional weight is always used. Compute your cubic inches and divide by 194. In the Air shipment case, the larger number (i.e., actual weight or dimensional weight) will be used in determining the price of shipping the package.

There is a guidance document on the UPS website at: http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/ship/packaging/dim_weight.html?srch_pos=1&srch_phr=dimensional+weight. It discusses the issue of dimensional weight as well as considerations when shipping international packages and the large package surcharge.

Visit your local The UPS Store location to service all of your shipping, copying, notary public, faxing, and mailing needs.

Fred Savio is a multiple center owner of The UPS Store franchise in southern New Jersey. Visit Fred’s shipping blog at http://shippinginfo.blogspot.com/. You can email him at fredsinfo2006@yahoo.com.