How To Save Money By Choosing The Correct Box Size
Shipping costs can have a great impact on the revenue from your business. Optimising your packaging and changing some shipping habits can save more while shipping.
Here are a few tips on how you can tweak your shipping habits to make the most out of your business.
#1. Understand How You Are Charged
Most shipping companies use the dimenisonal weight to calculate the shipping charges.
Dimensional weight takes into account the weight and volume of the packaging. If your packaging weighs less but has a large volume, then you will be charged based on the volume. If your package is heavier, then the charges will be according to the weight. Dimensional weight, in general, favors those shipping heavier products. So, to save more, make sure you use the smallest size packaging possible. Different shipping companies have different policies to calculate the dimensional weight. So, make sure that you research different companies too.
#2. Shrink Your Packaging Size
The best way to cut down on shipping costs is to cut down the size of the shipping boxes.
Also, you need to understand when are poly-mailers a better option than a corrugated box. For example, if you are shipping a t-shirt or any other fabric, then padded poly-mailers can be a good choice. Poly-mailers do not take much space during shipping and will cost you less. You can also use Kraft mailers for shipping paper products like cards or documents.
Example: for the products of different size, keep different sized corrugated boxesrather than a one-size-fits-all box. Having boxes for specific products means you will have boxes with less void space in them.
#3. Bundle Your Packaging Together
Bundling many packages also reduces costs of shipping.
So, if one customer has ordered multiple units of a product, bundle them as a single package. Each shipment you send to your customer has some constant shipping overhead charges. If you are sending out many packages, these charges add up. So, make sure that you always pack them in a single box, or use as fewer boxes as possible.
#4. Rethink Void Fill Options
Your choice of affects your shipping costs.
If you use crinkle paper, butcher paper, or any other form of crumpled paper, then your boxes may become heavy. Thus, you can get yourself something like bubble wraps, air tubes, or even packing peanuts. From a sustainability point of view, you can use cornstarch-based packing peanuts also.
The best solution is to make a custom cut corrugated insert for your product instead of using void fills. This can also reduce sizes of boxes and keep your product secure.