How Billable Weight Is Affecting Your Shipping Expenses?

It’s likely not news to you that everything is going up in cost. Running a business is never an easy feat, and in this economic climate, staying afloat and profitable is becoming even more challenging.

Fuel is on the up, supply chains are on the brink, and the cost of living crisis is changing customers’ spending habits – there is a lot of uncertainty right now, and it can be hard to navigate.

You’re likely looking for as many ways as possible to cut costs without cutting corners. To limit your expenses without limiting your business.

One cost that may feel unavoidable is shipping. Not only is this inevitable, with no alternative or replacement, but it’s another rising expense. Several different shipping providers are upping their prices. DHL Express is just one example, with shipping rates expected to jump by 7.9 percent in 2023.

Other providers, such as UPS and FedEx, will soon implement 6.9 percent average increases, too. Annual price increases are not new. Yet the current issues with inflation, currency, and rising administrative costs are pushing this increase even higher.

However, there are specific elements that add to this expense that you do have the power to change. In this article, we will learn more about “billable weight.”

We will learn what it is and how it is calculated. We will also consider a few valuable suggestions to help you save money when shipping your goods.

What is Billable Weight?

Billable weight is quite a self-explanatory term – it’s the weight you will charge when you ship a parcel or package.

Shipping providers may vary in how they calculate it. However, most tend to use the greater of either the actual weight or the dimensional weight as the billable weight. This is calculated to work out how much to charge you for shipping in case of shipping by weight.

This being the case, a lightweight product in a large package would have the billable weight of its dimensional weight. Meanwhile, a heavy product with a small weight would be charged by its actual weight.  

Shipping providers and carriers use this method because they have limited space and weight capacity within their vehicles. As a result, this approach enables them to charge for the actual weight and the space it takes up.

While actual weight is the physical weight of the shipment. The dimensional weight of a package is generally calculated by multiplying height, length, and width. Subsequently, divide the total by the carrier’s DIM divisor.

After gathering the information of shipping carriers will choose the higher value of the two to be the billable weight. Therefore, billable weight is a complex concept.

In other words, a small package would have a smaller DIM weight. However, if there are heavy dumbbells, the actual weight would be much higher. The billable weight would be the exact weight you would be expected to pay as the shipping cost.

How Do You Calculate Billable Weight?

Shipping carriers will use a specific DIM weight formula with a DIM divisor to calculate the dimensional weight of packages. To establish the billable weight of a package, you need to know both the actual weight and the dimensional weight. Follow these simple steps to ensure that shipping costs don’t come as a surprise:

1. Use a postage scale to determine the actual weight of the package. Round up the measurement to the next whole pound.
2. Measure the package’s length, width, and height in inches, rounding up to the nearest whole number. Multiply these dimensions together to get the cubic size of the parcel. Then, find the DIM divisor of your chosen shipping carrier and divide the cubic size of the parcel by this DIM divisor. This will give you the DIM weight of the package.

Once you have determined these two weights accurately, you can calculate the billable weight by choosing the more significant number of the two.

You can also access online calculators that will help you determine the dimensional weight of your package and compare the prices of different providers to help you get the best deal.

Finding which shipping service will give the best prices is sometimes straightforward, but with some research and comparison, you can save money by shopping around. What else can you do to save money on shipping expenses?

How Can You Save Money on Shipping?

Reassuringly, there are things you can do to keep your shipping expenses low. Here are two things to think about:

1. Review your packaging. If you can, reduce the dimensions of your packages because this significantly impacts your shipping expenses. Additionally, you might not be able to reduce the weight of your product but opt for more lightweight packaging options that will lower the actual weight. Think about ordering your packaging supplies in bulk to keep these costs low, too.
2. Calculate estimates for your shipping costs by understanding shipping weight. If you can accurately measure your shipping costs, you can expect the expenses and see where you can reduce costs. Use online shipping calculators on various shipping providers’ websites. This helps in giving you an up-to-date, accurate estimate of how much to expect in terms of shipping costs. The Final Thought

In summation, these are the points that you need to remember if you would like to calculate or know more about billable weight in general. 

If you need to transport heavy material across expansive distances, then you should have access to these critical pieces of knowledge. 

If you liked this piece of content, then leave us a comment and follow us for more such pieces. Thank you.

Additional Reading:

• What Is a Shipping Exception Fedex?
• How Ocean Shipping Companies Are Adapting To Global Trade Shifts
• Green Shipping 101: Understanding The Impact And Benefits In 2024