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 cu
