Shipping costs are easy to understand—bigger, heavier things cost more, right? To an extent. But what some businesses fail to consider is that dimensional pricing is a reality as well. Sometimes, the box size is more important than what’s inside; a lightweight product ends up being charged like it’s thousands of pounds heavier because its box is too large.
This isn’t typically where people waste money—and businesses fail to realize it. They negotiate costs for boxes they’re using and assume that shipping costs are as they come. But box size plays a huge role in the charge and even the slightest difference can result in thousands of dollars over time.
How Dimensional Weight Works
These days, carriers don’t just weigh your packages. They measure them as well. Dimensional weight pricing is calculated by measuring the boxes dimensions, multiplying the numbers together, and dividing by a set number. If this number exceeds the actual weight, you will be billed dimensional weight, meaning the higher number.
So a box that’s average in size has a proportion that’s 100s of pounds greater than its contents. Essentially, the carrier is charging for how much truck space it takes—not how heavy it actually is.
Thus, with every inch added on each dimension, the calculation will skew in favor of making it heavier than it actually is. A box could be so close in weight to another tiering category but if it’s excessively large in each direction, it may bump you into the next tier for shipping costs per package.
What Oversized Boxes Cost Businesses
In the experience of too many boxers with oversized boxes, when they use stock boxes they’re too big. They have certain boxes that fit their heaviest items and then they use those boxes for smaller items because it’s easier. Or they grab boxes that are cheapest and don’t pay attention to dimensions.
So what’s the cost? It adds up—quickly. A slight increase for an oversized box per shipment results in thousands of dollars across a year assuming consistent shipments. This is essentially throwing money in the air because you’re paying for hot air.
And if products are typically lightweight, it gets compounded even further. A company shipping a small item weighs very little but because it’s in an oversized box, they’re paying it’s its weight—like hundreds of dollars more—because they mistakenly thought their products couldn’t fit into smaller spaces.
How Smaller Box Solutions Impact Pricing
Having properly sized boxes eliminates excessive space which leads to exaggerated dimensional weight calculations. If you get custom boxes made to size, dimensional weight can operate closer to actual weight—therefore, only that value applies to price.
This matters because even a few inches here and there per dimension matters—there’s a difference between boxes that are medium-sized but still smaller than they should be compared to average sizing that keeps it closer to what one would actually expect it to be. For lightweight boxes, they’re not paying extra to ship air.
Smaller boxes mean saving costs per package—this cost savings happens time after time—compounding savings over time unlike one-time expenditures. If you can reduce shipping cost per package—especially daily or monthly when demand grows—a little bit each time, it turns out to be worth it.
It’s Not Just Shipping Costs
Boxes that are oversized take excessive filler materials. More bubble wrap, more packing paper, more filler needs to fill excessive space so products don’t move around. That’s more cost and more time adding up each time someone fills an order.
Smaller boxes need less filler as there’s less excess space—the product fits snug with little material but enough so there isn’t too much movement or risk of breakage inside. This means material costs are reduced as is the time needed to fill each order which is important when time-strapped filling numerous orders a day.
Boxes that are smaller also mean more fit on pallets and in storage spaces. Storage spaces cost money—every foot of wrong direction allotted could result in lost margins. It’s important every part of the process makes sense financially for success.
When Size Inflates Over Time
For too many companies, they don’t realize their boxes are too big because it happens over time. They start with one product line and add new ones over time or they no longer find a supply source that works and the new one is slightly larger than anyone realizes.
The problem is that size inflation occurs slowly but surely, without trigger signs or obvious direction for where excess sizing came from. A company just accepts their rising shipping costs because they don’t realize that it’s coming from their dimly sized box dimensions getting too big—literally—instead of tracking them like they should be doing.
The Breakeven Point for Custom Sized Boxes
A custom approach often lends itself to impracticality as it’s assumed that custom box production is more costly than it’s worth; only larger companies should take advantage of this solution because of lower costs or higher production values over time.
But when it comes to dimensional weight box production typically pays for itself quicker than anticipated since diminished dimensional weight actually supports proper value for shipping.
It’s how much shipping per month compared to how many reduced dimensional weights apply with smaller-to-size boxes established—if you get box sizes approached correctly and you ship often enough you’re getting your return for investment within months—and then compounded further with every shipment after that point.
Even more modest shipping quantities with disproportionate dimensional charges relative to weight help custom sizing pay off much sooner than anticipated.
Getting Measurements Right
It’s not just about smaller boxes—it matters finding a box that’s appropriate. Too small has its own issues with protection concern levels and an unnecessarily perplexing approach toward packing and fitting.
The best bet is determining sizes based around true measurements with only a tiny allowance for minimally impacting filler or protective materials.
However this means things need to be measured accurately and ideally backwards from box dimensions to actual product designs instead of trying to fit them into pre-existing stock sizes which often aren’t sufficiently helping anyways.
For those companies with multiple different sized options, it’s often easier to have multiple custom sizes that’ll cover different categories than universal one standardized size or even too many sizes of each category.
The Process of Changing Box Sizes
First develop an understanding of where historical shipping data has caused dimensional weight charges that are highest per request; those are the packages that stand out as candidates best fit for dimensional sizing.
Once new boxes are in production, savings show up immediately—and every single package saves you money per charge—which adds up quickly.
All of this new found savings is compounded from previous material used and timesaving advantages on the other end—which makes a difference on more than the line item of shipping.
Ultimately, box sizes play a pivotal role in how much businesses spend on shipping them out—and it’s ultimately something that many businesses fail to capitalize on—making it an easy approach relative to converting good money into better goods every single time sent out!