Now it’s The United States Postal Service’s turn to impose new DIM pricing. Effective June 23, 2019, the new pricing will affect boxes shipped via Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express and other parcel shipping services.
The current Postal Service dimensional divisor (DIM) of 194 applies to boxes that exceed one cubic foot in volume, and only for zones five and above. The new DIM divisor will be reduced to 166, and will now apply to all zones.
Let’s look at how the change would affect a specific package. We’ll use a 15x12x8 parcel in Zone 5 as our example.
Using the old 194 dimensional divisor, the billed weight would be 8 pounds (length x width x height, divided by the DIM). With the new divisor of 166, the billed weight is now 9 pounds. The Priority Mail retail rate for zone five shown here* reflects a larger than expected increase!
The old 194 DIM: 8 Pounds = $21.70
The new 166 DIM: 9 Pounds = $24.75
Price difference = $3.05
Where does this leave you? As a parcel shipper using USPS, this will certainly affect your already rising shipping costs. In today’s cost-critical e-commerce arena, being proactive is paramount to controlling your shipping spend. And, there’s no escaping these challenges in which you can expect frequent rate increases throughout the year from EVERY major Carrier, now even including the USPS, as well as FedEx and UPS.
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* (Remember to bear in mind that for packages at or under one cubic foot in volume, the USPS will continue to use actual weight, not the DIM weight.)