Is It Cheaper to Ship One Large Box or Several Smaller Boxes?

A situation that beginning shippers often run into when starting their eCommerce businesses is having to ship multiple products to a single address. When this happens, shippers often wonder whether it’s cheaper to ship one large box of all the products or to send several smaller boxes at once to the same destination.

Shipping One Large Box is Often Cheaper than Sending Several Smaller Boxes

When it comes down to it, it’s almost always cheaper to ship one big box instead of multiple smaller boxes. Not only will you save more money by consolidating your items into a single shipment, but you’ll also make some housekeeping tasks easier. For instance, you’ll only have to follow along with one tracking number instead of several. This makes it easy to see where your box is during transit and whether or not all of the items reach your recipient without any issues.

Keep in mind that some small business owners may only have specific boxes or mailers designed to fit their single orders. For instance, it’s not uncommon for an online clothing retailer to only keep a few types of mailers around for orders containing only one item. If you don’t have larger packaging sitting around your home or office to accommodate a large order with multiple items, you’ll still want to spring for a box at your local supply store. You can find the right size of boxes you need when you order them online at Amazon or ULINE.

Take Advantage of Shipping Software & Specially-Discounted Services to Make Shipping More Affordable

When you’re ready to send one large box, you may notice that the shipping cost is still quite significant compared to your smaller orders. If you want to lower your shipping costs for larger boxes, the two best ways to do so are as follows:

• Use shipping software to buy discounted postage online
• Access specially discounted services such as USPS Media Mail (if your items qualify)

Shipping Software Lets You Purchase Labels at Deep Discounts

Let’s face it: shipping is expensive. If you don’t know the tricks to keep your costs down, your shipping expense can eat into your margins and make you question whether maintaining an eCommerce business is even worth it. However, online shipping software allows you to purchase labels from major carriers such as USPS and UPS at deep discounts typically reserved for huge commercial shippers, such as USPS Commercial Pricing (for USPS labels only). In some cases, shipping software will allow you to save up to 89% off of what you’d pay to ship the same box at your local Post Office or UPS Store! Since these savings are so great, this strategy is hands-down the best way to control your costs and set up your online business for success.

Special Services Like Media Mail Offer Ultra-Affordable Rates for Qualifying Items

On top of using shipping software to buy discounted labels, you can also lower your costs by taking advantage of special services that the average individual doesn’t know about. One such service is USPS Media Mail, which is one of the most heavily discounted services that USPS offers.

However, since Media Mail is so affordable, only specific items qualify…which makes this second strategy of lowering costs not as common as the first one (using shipping software). Some items that qualify for Media Mail rates include books, CDs, DVDs, manuscripts, sheet music, and more. To learn whether your items qualify for these special rates, check out the USPS website to learn more about Media Mail, its rates, and its restrictions.