AbleCommerce Shopping Cart Software

UPS Rates,
2 big changes for UPS rates coming in 2015
All boxes shipped UPS Ground are now dimensioned. Previously packages under 3 cubic feed where not dimensioned and shipped via actual weight
Plus there is a 4.9% rate increase.
I think Fedex is doing the same as well.

I sell large light bicycle wheels. So My current normal wheelset box is going to double in shipping cost. If i pack them in a slightly different way I can reduce the increase to about 40% increase over last year.

This is a huge increase in shipping cost.

Currently we use Shipping tables for rated based on order Total. This is mainly due to item weight is not a great way to calculate shipping cost when you get into using multiple boxes.

But now with this new rate change I am thinking of changing to item billable weight calculation.

Please use this thread to discuss idea how your dealing with these rate changes.

Fortunately for us, we tend to ship heavier things in smaller boxes. A brief analysis back in August indicated that less than 10% of our shipments over the previous year would switch from actual weight to dimensional weight. We're probably just going to keep an eye on our actual shipping costs vs. estimated shipping costs (based on the weight of the products in an order plus a small allowance for packaging weight), and if we come up short, we'll just add a small % or flat fee to each order to make up the difference.