UPS Actual Vs. Dimensional Weight

[koryb1]

I've noticed that my monthly UPS statement regularly has "adjustments" to our shipping costs (always increases). In speaking with UPS I understand why, but I don't know how to adjust our shipping settings in ShopSite.

The root of the problem is "actual weight" versus "dimensional weight".

We have our shipping settings based on item weight. For UPS Ground shipments, unless it's a really big box, UPS uses actual weight, and the shipping costs ShopSite estimates match what our bill ends up being.

For UPS Air shipments, however, UPS also calculates dimensional weight (based on Length x Width x Depth), and takes the greater of dimensional weight versus actual weight. So for example a pair of shoes we ship weighing 1.5 pounds, which we ship in a box measuring 14 x 10 x 7, would instead be considered a 5.9 pound package based on their calculation of dimensional weight. If we charge the customer based on 1.5 pounds and then get billed based on 5.9 pounds, we obviously lose money.

So the fix would be for that same Air shipment to instead be based on the size of the box it ships in, and I know ShopSite has ways to do this. We'd assign the box dimensions to this product, and the Air cost calculation would be accurate. But while this would be good for Air shipments, it wouldn't be for Ground shipments, where the size of the box doesn’t matter. Our products are light-to-average weight, and dimensional weight is always more expensive than actual weight for our shipments.

So what I think I need is for Ground shipments to be calculated in ShopSite to be based on weight to keep costs low (and accurate), and for Air shipments to be calculated based on box size. Or as an alternative, I could charge an extra surcharge that would apply to Air shipments but not Ground shipments. I don't see how in ShopSite I can do either of these.

Any suggestions? Surely other companies have the same problem and must have figured out the right approach.

Thanks in advance,

Kory

[Jim]

Have you configured Dimensions for your products? (Products > Edit Product Info > Shipping and Download Information > Shipping Dimensions: ) If there are dimensions configured and you have selected the radio button by the dimension box (or a specified shipping box size), both the weight and the dimensions are passed to UPS and they calculate the shipping rates based on those settings. If you only have the weight configured then that is all they have to base calculations on so the rates could be considerably different than that the dimension weight would be.

[koryb1]

Thanks Jim for the quick reply. I have not set up the shipping dimensions. My understanding is that these fields are for the box size the product would fit in. We however often ship multiple items in the same box, and I don't believe that ShopSite is able to determine that, and for a multi-item order ShopSite would calculate the shipping as if each item were shipping in its own box.

From the Help Pages:
If you are using a shipping option that uses specific package sizes as part of the shipping cost calculation (such as UPS), you may need to specify the dimensions of the package this product will ship in. If you specify a package size here, ShopSite will calculate the shipping costs as if the package were being shipped individually (even if multiple packages could be shipped within a single larger box).

If you have further guidance on how we may still be able to make this work I would greatly appreciate it.

[Jim]

You are correct that if dimensions (or a box size) are entered each product will be shipped as an individual package. But the only way to use the dimension weight is to include the dimensions so they can be sent to UPS with the weight. There isn't any other way that the dimensional weight can be calculated.

Note that ShopSite is not calculating the shipping charges, it just sends the weight and dimensions (if available) to UPS and they return the specific shipping charges. So if you have specific products that are always being under charged you might want to set the dimensions for those so that appropriate charges will be returned from UPS. Depending on the version of ShopSite that you are using you might have a setting on the UPS config screen where you can adjust the rates by a percentage to add (or subtract) from the rates that UPS returns. If you added say 2-3% to all orders it might offset the few orders that are being under charged so you don't have pay the extra shipping charge out of your profits. You could probably figure a close approximation of the % you would need to add based on how much you are having to pay extra compared to how much you are currently receiving from the shoppers.

[koryb1]

Jim thanks again for the reply. Bumping up my rate adjustments might be the only way to recoup some of these expenses.

ShopSite is awesome, but it appears there is room for improvement in this regard. The real fix might be too complex, but what seems like a simple improvement would be to allow for different rate adjustments based on the shipping service selected. To really recoup my costs I'd need to increase prices by by 8-9%. If I did that on Ground that might be noticeable and scare customers away. Since this issue only effects my Air shipments, it would be nice if I could leave Ground shipments alone and bump up only my Air ones. Since they're more costly anyway, I think I could bump those up by 10-12% and customers wouldn't notice.

Does ShopSite have a "Feature Request" program to pass this idea on to?

Thanks again!

[Jim]

You can post enhancement request in the "Enhancement Requests" forum http://support.shopsite.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=9

It isn't ShopSite that is computing the rates, we display what the shipping carrier (UPS, Fed Ex, USPS ) provide with the information that we send to them. We send the weight and dimensions (if provided) so I'm not sure why the rates they return are not matching what they are charging.

[koryb1]

UPS is returning accurate rates based on the info ShopSite is capable of sending. However UPS distinguishes between Ground and Air in ways that ShopSite can accommodate better I think. I will post to the ShopSite suggestions page. Thanks for your feedback.