9 ways to try and lower your shipping rates with UPS or FedEx rates
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Negotiate discounts for a % off the gross charge for ground, air, and all other services in exchange for giving them volume. They will typically give you different percentages off depending on how much you ship per week.
Negotiate the dim divisor you use to calculate the dimensional weight of your package. This is very important if you ship big boxes with a lot of air. The dim divisor is the number that UPS and FedEx use to determine the dimensional weight of a box. Did you know that if you ship a 5 pound box that has outside dimensions of 16x16x30 they will charge you like this. 16*16*30=7680cubic inches. The standard dim divisor is 166. 7680/166=46.27. This means that you will be charged for a 47 pound box if you ship a 5 pound box with the previous dimensions.
Negotiate an allowance for packages that get remeasured during transit. It is is only .5 inches bigger can that be allowed? Is it a full inch? You will find that many of your packages will get remeasured during transit. UPS is wrong a lot. Getting an extra inch of forgiveness is mostly to prevent UPS from overcharging.
Negotiate your rates for residential separately.
Negotiate your discount off of the standard accessorial charges. Not everyone past the same rates for residential and other extra charges. These can be negotiated based on volume.
Negotiate a ground with freight pricing discount. This is a great service that UPS offers but many don't know about it.
Negotiate a Sure post discount. This is UPS's way of delivering using the Post Office for the last mile.
Negotiate discount during holiday surcharges. There are now surcharges for shipping during the holiday. If you plan to ship a lot during the holiday you should probably try to figure a way to get some relief on this charge.
Negotiate special rates for extra tall packages if you ship them. After a certain height there is a substantial surcharge. We get hit with it all the time when we are shipping rolls of vinyl. Rolls are often 60 inches or longer.
