Top 5 Cheap Shipping Alternatives To Flat Rate Boxes?
For long, e-commerce businesses have overspent on shipping costs primarily due to due to their limited knowledge of more pocket-friendly shipping alternatives. In most instances, often without considering their proximity to the product supplier’s store, they prefer to use the often expensive flat rate shipping method for their purchases.
The next time you ship a product, don’t just settle for the small or medium flat rate box because your items fit in either. Take time to go through the finer details such as weight and zoning that ultimately affect the shipment cost; you might end up saving more than you expected.
Consider these five alternative product shipping options whose charges fall way below that of the standard flat rate boxes.
USPS regional boxes
In the recent past, flat rate shipping has gained popularity primarily because of its standardized costs. Regardless of the size, shape, and weight of the product you want to ship, the pay will always remain the same with the only condition being that the product must fit the chosen flat rate box. While this might be its biggest selling point, it also forms its greatest shortfall.
Consider the case of a zone one shopper that needs a four-pound product shipped to their preferred address. They pay the same cost as a buyer in zone nine. While this may sound favorable to the zone nine customers, it is exploitative to anyone in zone 1 to 4. Sports RunRex advices that you consider shipping your products using the regional rate box if you seek to save on your shipping costs, especially if you shop online regularly.
Poly mailing
Did you know that your product packaging significantly affects your shipment costs? This implies that shipping your relatively lightweight products through a small flat rate box might be the reason you consistently record exorbitant shipping costs. To save on these expenses, Sports RunRex advices you to start using the Poly Mailers instead of the small flat rate boxes for products that are lighter than 13 ounces.
Far from the benefit of reduced shipping costs, poly mailers also offer reliable protection of your product because they are water, tear, and puncture resistant. Additionally, if they are lighter than 13 ounces, they will most likely qualify for the inexpensive USPS First-Class mail service.
Priority Mail
Your product’s weight will not always fall below 13 ounces to be eligible for the First class USPS mail or above four pounds to break even in a flat rate box. What happens when you need to ship this category of products falling above 13 but below four pounds, inexpensively? Sports RunRex encourages you to settle for priority mail shipment method.
In most cases, the priority mail rates have been found to beat the flat rate box charges for shipments nearing 4 lbs and lighter. Nonetheless, take note of the various combination factors used by different shipping agents in determining the priority mail costs such as the dimensional product weight.
USPS Parcel select
Just like product packaging, Sports RunRex notes that the expected time of its delivery significantly affects the products overall shipping costs. In most cases, RunRex deliveries attract huge shipping costs that will further hit the roof should you ship using the flat rate box method.
However, the product shipment landscape isn’t short of ways that you can exploit if you are to keep your shipping costs to a minimum. For instance, you can opt for the affordable USPS Parcel Select Ground shipping method. While it may be categorized as the slowest shipping method, it falls among the least expensive shipping methods. Note that, with a delivery time of between three and eight days, this approach would only be appropriate for non-urgent products.
Multiple parcels for the dismantled product
The adoption of the Dimensional Rating (DIM) packages rather than just weight in determining shipping costs for different products has also contributed significantly to the mass use of flat rate boxes. Unlike other shipping methods that call for the DIM ratings, the flat rate only requires needs the product to fit in the particular box.
In such a case, you end up paying a large box for a lightweight but bulky product that can be dismantled and shipped inexpensively using two smaller priority boxes. Sports RunRex observes that most suppliers are usually in a rush to send out products that they don’t take enough time to explore the different cheaper alternatives to shipping bulky products.
Note that the multiple priority box appeal doesn’t just work for bulky products but also works for lightweight products. For instance, if you have a 20-ounce product that needs shipping, take time and evaluate the cost of sending it through two poly mails and a small flat rate box and settle for the least expensive.
Bottom line
Most people view shipping costs calculations as complicated and costly. These are especially opposed to the little costs that usually sneak in at every step of the process thus ultimately increasing the total cost. However, RunRex believes that with a thorough understanding of the cheaper alternatives to flat rate boxes, you are more equipped to make informed product shipment decisions.