Box Sizes for FedEx, UPS, and USPS

When it comes to selecting the best box size to ship your letter or package, you have a wealth of choices from FedEx, UPS, and USPS. So much so, that trying to guess which is the best choice for eCommerce businesses to use when shipping for your customers can present a real challenge. To better understand what your options are, which ones are best for what, and some price comparisons, we’ve created this guide.

Unsure how to get started? Speak to one of our eCommerce fulfillment experts. We’ll help guide you to the right choices to boxes and tools to simplify your decision. They can also walk you through how our services can optimize your box selection and best protect your product for shipping.

Turn to Red Stag Fulfillment for High-Value and Oversized Shipping

FedEx boxes

FedEx makes available a wide range of box sizes for your shipping needs. Whether you’re a regular customer or a new business, you can order boxes online or pick them up from a FedEx store for a small fee. Once you’ve created a FedEx account, you’ll have access to a several free options as well.

Now, here are three categories of FedEx packaging. They also offer some freight boxes, including flat-rate freight, but you should speak with a fulfillment expert for help determining what’s suitable for your products and how to manage your inventory for these types of shipments.\

FedEx standard box sizes and pricing

Here are many of the most common box sizes for your eCommerce business. Consider the size of your goods and the amount of infill you’ll need to protect your products.

Specialty box sizes

Both FedEx and FedEx Office provide multiple specialty boxes in different sizes:

FedEx flat-rate shipping boxes

UPS box sizes

Like most carriers, UPS offers a range of pre-made packages and box for you to use for shipping. Choosing one of these can make it easier to calculate your shipping and fulfillment costs. It’s also a good way to protect your products when shipping. Consider trying out various UPS boxes to discover what best fits and protects your products while keeping costs in check. UPS also offers packing and freight shipping services. Because these boxes aren’t always standard, you may want to reach out to UPS or a 3PL provider like Red Stag Fulfillment for a more detailed quote and box information.

The following boxes and envelopes are available to order on UPS. By creating a company account with UPS, you can order them for free on the UPS website. Please note that buying them at UPS store is more expensive.

UPS flat-rate shipping boxes

UPS also offers flat-rate shipping options, and these can be applied to the boxes you get directly from UPS as well as your existing packaging. FedEx and USPS do not have the flat-rate option for using existing packaging. Please note that you’ll be paying the simple retail rate unless you’ve negotiated a better deal.

USPS box sizes

USPS offers a very wide range of shipping box sizes. The ones featured here focus on their core offering and flat-rate solutions because these are typically the ones that eCommerce companies use.

Use the postal service’s store to review its shipping supplies. There are more than 100 options to choose from, including 72 products that you can get sent to your business for free.

Understanding eCommerce box sizes

Your business should look at all its box options and try to slim things down because carriers use multiple calculations to set the price for shipping your products to customers. To test and understand these pricing differences, you’ll want to have the existing rate table and a dimensional weight (DIM) scale available.

UPS, FedEx, and USPS use your package’s actual weight and its DIM weight to determine the weight-calculation they apply to your cost. DIM weight is a calculation based on overall box size to build pricing around the volume of your package. It’s designed to help the carrier generate revenue based on large but light products. You’ll fill up their trucks quickly with large items, so they’re charging based on that space utilization.

Try our DIM weight calculator here to test pricing from all three carriers

Your order fulfillment partner can help you find creative ways to stay on top of the DIM weight. This reduction might be shifting your packaging options around to one of the options above or choosing your package designed to slim down overall size while ensuring products are protected.

5 ways RSF works to keep your costs downf

Negotiate better DIM rates: By shipping high volumes of large, heavy products with carriers, Red Stag has negotiated more favorable rates. We pass those discounts directly on to you, including higher DIM factors that reduce dimensional shipping costs.
Compare every option: Red Stag Fulfillment reviews your products during onboarding and every order during the packing phase to find the best possible shipping for that order. We start with cost-effective solutions and DIM weight comparisons to trim down costs while also ensuring your order arrives on time and complete every time.
Optimize boxes for each order: By working together, we’ll determine the correct box sizes for your products and orders, plus the correct infill to protect products while controlling for weight.
Consolidate packaging: When customers order more from you, they still tend to want as many items as possible in as few boxes as possible. We help you make their dream come true by identifying cost-effective ways to consolidate orders. We make it easier to minimize the price for even larger boxes and orders with our special savings on large, bulky goods.
Split orders across boxes: Sometimes, your lightweight goods have significant DIM weight costs because of their size. We work with companies to determine if they can split orders, or even products, across multiple boxes to reduce box size. When there’s a significant reduction, you can often save money by shipping across multiple boxes instead of one oversized, lightweight box.

What’s next for your eCommerce business?

Now that you’ve learned more about box sizes for UPS, FedEx, and USPS, it’s time to start optimizing your packaging and infill for your orders. That’ll ensure you’re spending wisely while keeping customers satisfied. These guides and blogs can help you get started on that journey.