Postal Shippers Beware: USPS Implements New Dimensional Pricing in June

The United States Postal Service is changing the way it charges for boxes shipped via Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express and other parcel shipping services. Currently, the Postal Service applies a dimensional divisor (DIM) of 194 for boxes that exceed one cubic foot in volume, and only for zones five and above. Effective June 23, 2019, the DIM divisor will be reduced to 166 and will apply to all zones.

Let’s take a look at how that might impact shippers. Take, for example, a box that’s 15x12x10. With a 194 DIM, the billed weight would be 10 pounds (length x width x height). However, at a DIM of 166, the dimensional weight is 11 pounds. When looking at Priority Mail rates to zone five (retail rates shown below), the impact is significant:

• 10 Pounds (194 DIM) = $26.85
• 11 Pounds (166 DIM) = $29.00
• Price difference = $2.15 (8 percent).