Why are you paying for Shipping Supplies?
Most new or small businesses charge their customers a shipping charge, but often forget to factor in the cost of packing and materials. That said, the first shipping and packing tip is to ensure that your price or shipping charge includes sufficient mark-up to adequately cover the expense of packing your item(s) thus preserving your margins. To determine your packing expenses first identify the materials needed to ship your product(s) on a per item basis. Start by asking the following questions…
1. Is the item being shipped fragile or large?
If yes, ship the item in Corrugated Shipping Boxes.
If no, consider one of the following mailing products; Bubble Mailers, Mailing Tubes, Poly Mailers, or Rigid Mailers. Mailers are a low cost alternative to boxes and are usually less expensive to ship.
2. If using corrugated shipping boxes, decide how the item(s) will be protected during transportation?
The most common methods of protecting the contents of a shipping box is wrapping the item in Bubble Wrap, suspending the item using Packing Peanuts, or filling the box with Kraft Paper in effort to stabilize the item.
3. Factor in the other supplies needed to ship the item(s) which include; Carton Sealing Tape, Shipping Labels, Packing List Envelopes, and a Tape Gun.
Now calculate the amount of materials it takes to package one item and multiply by the number of shipments per month. This will give you an understanding of how much packaging material is needed on a monthly basis. Finally, divide the cost of materials by the number of items you ship per month to arrive at your “per item” packaging cost.
Other things to consider:
- Don’t forget to insure your package. Both UPS and FedEx offer free insurance up to $100 per shipment. The US Postal Service does not offer free insurance.
- If you have an employee packing, you will have to calculate labor charges to cover the “time” aspect of packing.
- Buy your packaging supplies in bulk to save money.
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