Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Wow!! Just got back from dropping off a few shipments. I'm in Ohio, one went to GA, the other to NJ. Both weighed under 2 lbs (1.6 & 1.8 respectively) UPS Next Day Air charged me $118.00. One at $60.00 the other at $58.00 Now that is completely insane. last orders I shipped were of the approx. same weight and the exact dimensions 17" x 15" x 11" and cost me less than $80 for both. One to Oregon, one to AZ. So I thought I'd give everybody a heads up. Maybe it's only in my area, but I doubt it. Any more info would be appreciated.

unfortunatelty unless you are shipping in UPS boxes they do not go by the weight. They go by dimensional weight. I ship with UPS boxes and get charged only the exact weight and not dimensional. I shipped 2 packages yesterday in 12x12x12 boxes and 1 to North Carolina 1 pounds was $23.25, and 2 to Kentucky 2 lbs $29. The dimensional weigh charges are always higher than the true weight and the prices all depend on the location.
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Rob Trenor
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I also tried using boxes from UPS, I got the 12x12x12 boxes from ups and was billed dimensional weigh charges on 2 of my shipments.The bill came with the dimensions as 12x12x13 , when i called UPS they said that the 12x12x12 are inside dimensions so i was billed for 9 pounds on a 1.5 pound box.

When a boxes measurements are given it is the inside dimensions so you were charged correctly. Also the rules on dimesional weight go like this for whomever doesn't know. Any box that exceeds a cubic foot ( 12 by 12 by 12 ) gets charged for dimweight. This is done to keep folks from shipping large light weight boxes and filling the trucks up without UPS getting what they feel is their fair cut money wise. The formula for calculating the dim weight is length times height times width divided by 194. Do the math and you will be charged either the dim amount or the actual weight whichever is greater. The way to avoid the dim charge is simply to use smaller boxes when possible. Also on a side note although they don't really seem to care technically UPS doesn't accept snakes so watch out as it may be a Lacey act violation to use them. I'm not sure if it's a violation or not just giving a heads up is all.

Phil