A couple of shipping related things I discovered for shipping FedEx ground

This might be common knowledge, but I discovered a couple of small details this morning that will hopefully help me keep my shipping cost down.

I scrap in small quantities and ship out of state via FedEx Ground 100-200lbs of material at a time. So here's what I found out:

1. Density of material in boxes that I have shipped has been surprisingly consistent at about 0.01 lb/in^3. I got this number by dividing shipping weight of my boxes by their dimensions.
2. Using this density estimate, I got a quote from FedEx that showed that shipping two 60 lb boxes is almost $20 cheaper (for the destination ZIP that I used) than shipping one 120 lb box.

I am curious if having more of smaller boxes is cheaper still. I suspect that it's not if boxes get too small, but I did not go through the exercise to figure out at what point that happens.

I found the best box for me is 24x24x24. I can get right under 60 pounds like that. If I remember correctly I sent out 3 boxes like that. The shipping was alittle over 30 bucks for all

OSHA probably has something to do with that. One man can handle a 60lb box but the shipper has some point where they require 2 men or mechanical assistance. So they factor this into the cost of larger loads.

Good info though.

I don't recall if it was FedEx or UPS but one shipper once told me 70 pounds was where it went to a two person handling requirement, and past that point the rates showed a rapid increase.
It's relatively easy when on their shipping quote page to back up and enter different weights to see where it changes, and that applies to any size package to anywhere. I've used that method a lot when preparing shipping for both domestic and international packages.
Always leave yourself some room. If you get it too close, sometimes they'll add something like a customs form and push it over into a higher bracket, extra tape and labels can add up ; )

Bear is correct ...for Fedex keep the weight just under 70 pounds. Cost me $40 to go from Denver to Mentor.