When you use zones to your advantage, you can reduce shipping costs and even offer free shipping. Shipping zones affect eCommerce fulfillment costs and delivery times, so a clear understanding of shipping zones should inform your fulfillment strategy. Each zone corresponds with an approximate number of days from the point of origin to the delivery address, and the zones within the continental U.S. Zones relate closely (but often not exactly) to distance traveled. And before you go, check out our grocery calculator to check the amount of money you should spend on groceries per month to avoid sinking into debt.Carriers such as FedEx, UPS, and USPS use shipping zones to determine the shipping cost of a package. To make better decisions and save money, we recommend checking the price calculators of each company before sending your package. Now you know how to calculate dimensional weight. In this case, the most affordable option is UPS. The cheapest one provided by UPS would cost you $139.62. The cost of shipping with USPS would be $196.61. Let's assume that you live in New York and your friend lives in Seattle. The cheaper option between UPS and USPS would depend only on the price rates that depend on distance. UPS and USPS dim weights are smaller, so they would both probably be cheaper than FedEx. UPS DIM weight = (70 * 14 * 14) / 166 = 83 - assuming that you ship from a retail location Let's say it had dimensions of 70 x 14 x 14 inches:įedEx DIM weight = (70 * 14 * 14) / 139 = 99 Remember that coat hanger we wrote about earlier? Let's compare its three dimensional weights. Even if your parcel weighs 10 pounds, if its dimensional weight is bigger, you will have to pay more. The shipping company will estimate the cost of shipping by weighting it, measuring it and calculating its dimensional weight, and comparing these two values.

It's quite a light object, but also reasonably big. Imagine you want to send something to a friend. The general formula is:ĭIM weight = (Length * Width * Height) / DIM factor, whereĭIM factor or Dimensional factor is a number determined by each delivery company. Each company establishes it according to a slightly different guideline.

Also known as volumetric weight, it's a measure of weight estimated from length, width and height. That's why, in 2015, the concept of dimensional weight was created. Its cheap for a customer, but it takes up a lot of space for couriers. They don't make much money when a truck is only able to fit a few large packages instead of many smaller ones. Transporting big and light packages is uneconomic for courier companies.

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