Audience
This article is intended for businesses shipping large, light merchandise via USPS. If this sounds like you, read on and you may find some money-saving advice below!
Motivation
Two weeks ago, I was preparing a quote for a new high-volume client. They had asked me to:
- Design a set of optimum box sizes for any number of their products between 1 and 30.
- Optimize for the usual stuff: transit times, shipping cost, and the cost of manufacturing and stocking the boxes.
Now, I had heard of the PM cubic service before and hadn’t really given it a thought until I started running numbers for their quote. I discovered that their product would fit nicely into five boxes having volumes of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 cubic feet.
If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, I recommend checking out this great Stamps.com article covering the general workings of PM cubic.
With PM cubic, we were able to deliver a competition-smashing quote to our client using only 5 boxes for 30 product configurations while providing prices lower than any flat rate container to any destination! Talk about a victory!
Qualifications
Now that we’re getting into the meat of the article, let’s talk about how exactly you can tell if this solution will save you money over your current solution. You will need to be shipping medium volume (100 – 1,000 USPS shipments per month) and most of your packages will need to have the following qualities:
- Package volume in cubic feet is 0.500 ft3 or less.
- Package density is “high”. A good standard here is at least 16 ounces per 0.100 ft3. PM cubic ignores weight and dim-based pricing and receives an essentially flat rate based on its PM cubic class.
- Package girth does not exceed 48″. Add up the two largest dimensions of your package and multiply by two, this is the approximate girth for a rectangular box. PM cubic has girth requirements.
Conclusion
If your packages meet the above qualifications, you will have significant savings available through the PM cubic pricing plan. To get the ball rolling, you will need to contact both your local USPS Corporate Rep (these people do not work at Post Offices, USPS corporate typically has their own offices in the nearest large city) and your Endicia Rep and inquire about PM cubic pricing!
