Rate Shopper needs to include available box rates or cubic inch pricing

[jesse4]

We just started using Rate Shopper and it is a huge time saver for our multple UPS accounts. However, there are still areas it is severely lacking any time savings at all.

The Fedex One Rate program allows you to ship for a low flat rate that is often cheaper and faster than ground. Initially, the program started with requiring shippers to use (and select) one of their supplied box sizes, and also that it is for the One Rate program. They have since expanded to include regular boxes that fall within a certain cubic inch. For example, a 6x6x6 regular box falls within the FX One Rate Small Box specifications. In this example I chose a 6x6x6 box because this is a cubic casting of metal, which would only fit in a FX supplied Large box, which is more expensive to ship than a Small Box rate. Let's say this 6x6x6 box selected as Regular Package (required to quote ground and regular express services) that is 20 lbs would cost $24 to ship ground, $65 to ship 3 Day, and $92 to ship 2 Day. However, if I spend the time on this package (like most of my packages), I toggle back and fourth between One Rate Small Box, (regular) Small Box, and Regular Packaging, I will see that the cheapest rate is $8 to 2 Day this shipment.

This was a rather long and not-so-extreme example but necessary to understand that Rate Shopper should also include various packaging cubic inch rates that may fall within certain special accounts enabled in a users' settings. A vast majority of my FX shipments take 3x as long to ship because we still have to manually scroll between different box types to get the actual cheapest rate for the same box. More often than not it IS cost effective to take this time, however we would rather utilize our time more efficiently. We frequently ship regular 40lb brown boxes classified as FX Extra Large One Rate for half the price and transit time of ground, and on average $200 less than regular 2 Day. AK and HI shipments also see a huge benefit.

On a similar note with much less impact, Priority Mail services have the same issues. I can select Small Flat Rate Box and get the fixed shipping rate, however many shipments can be as much as $2 cheaper selecting a non- flat rate box type of the same size, depending on weight and destination.

UPS doesn't care if you use their box or not for their competitive Simple Rate program, and from what I have seen simply entering the box size will automatically calculate the same rate as if you entered one of their supplied boxes. They seem to not push pricing discounts for branded boxes like FX does, actually for some methods they cost more. 

In summary, the Rate Shopper needs to include box types and cubic inch in it's calculations to be a true time saver to get the actual cheapest rate. This would also push ShipStation beyond the competition that has a similar rate shopping feature.

[CaraAdmin]

Hello, @jesse4!

Thank you for your suggestion. We’ve passed it along to our development team for review.

Happy Shipping!

-Cara

[oeban31]

Where did this land @AdminCara @CaraAdmin? The guidance here re Custom vs Standard packaging is quite confusing. I can't figure out how to get Rate Shopper to consider FedEx 2Day w/ custom packaging (not one rate) vs FedEx 2day w/ FedEx one rate packaging type (one rate) and shop the two... or alternatively, USPS ground advantage w/ custom packaging vs FedEx 2 day w/ FedEx one rate packaging... It's a critical use case for us. We use custom packaging for everything EXCEPT for FedEx one rate and need to be able to take advantage of the one rate program in order to optimize cost and delivery.

[CaraAdmin]

Hello @oeban31!

Thank you so much for your post in the community!

While the ability to add a package type in Rate Shopper is currently only available for our AU and AZ merchants, we truly appreciate you bringing this up. I’ve shared your suggestion with our development team for review. Though this feature isn’t on the roadmap just yet, feedback like yours plays an important role in shaping future updates.

We’re always looking for ways to improve, and I’ll share any updates with the community as they become available. Thanks again for being an engaged member of the ShipStation community!

Happy Shipping!

-Cara