A new guide promises to help online merchants understand and adapt to the 2021 rate changes that have recently been rolled out by all major shipping carriers.
ShippingEasy’s 2021 Guide to E-Commerce Shipping Rate Changes includes a summary of the changes, case studies, and an updated tutorial on dimensional packaging – something that can confound sellers who ship large, lightweight items for the first time.
It also includes easy-to-use comparison tables for determining the most cost-effective carrier, according to Shipping Easy, which offers a platform where merchants can manage their online shipping and obtain discounted USPS and UPS shipping rates.
ShippingEasy’s Rob Zaleski said the annual Rate Change Guide will help sellers optimize shipping by helping them fully understand the 2021 rate changes. “Perhaps more importantly, it’s the only resource that can help them mitigate the impact of the changes, by clearly laying out examples of how switching to an alternative service can reduce the impact of the rate increases or even secure lower rates in 2021 than the rates paid in 2020,” he said.
New rates went into effect for USPS on January 24th; for FedEx on January 4th; and for UPS on December 27, 2020.
ShippingEasy said its Rate Change Guide provides the following features:
- A Summary of the Rate Changes: A one-page, side-by-side comparison of each carrier’s changes, highlighting the most relevant takeaways related to each, and providing links to more detailed information on the carriers’ sites.
- Tools for Determining the Most Cost-Effective Carrier for a Given Set of Shipping Parameters: The guide is the only publication available that provides easy-to-use comparison tables which allow shippers to quickly determine which carrier provides the best pricing for a package based on weight, dimensions, destination zone, and service level; it also points out where there may be alternative cost-saving services to consider (e.g. USPS First-Class Package Service®, USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate® or USPS Priority Mail Regional Rate® boxes).
- Examples of How the Changes Impact Real-World E-commerce Businesses: Case studies show the changes’ impact on real-world shipment examples from online businesses in 5 different product categories, drawn from ShippingEasy’s proprietary (and anonymous) shipping data. These examples not only show the impact of rising rates, but also highlight (where possible) opportunities to save by considering alternative services and/or carriers.
- An Updated Tutorial Section on Dimensional Pricing: Dimensional pricing—which can cause a shipping fee to be based on a package’s dimensions rather than weight for some large, light packages—has always been a critical concept for e-commerce sellers to understand in order to optimize packaging to achieve the lowest shipping costs possible. The guide’s dimensional pricing section clearly explains the rules and formulas each carrier uses to calculate dimensional pricing and provides examples using real products to show the impact this pricing model can have.
You can download the guide on this page of the ShippingEasy website.
Ina Steiner
Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She’s a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of “Turn eBay Data Into Dollars” (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, “Blogging Heroes” (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to [email protected].
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