ECommerce has disrupted the mattress market, offering consumers premium mattresses at reduced prices without the showrooms. But there’s one big expense online mattress companies must still contend with: the cost of shipping a bed in a box. Mattresses are large, even when compressed into a box, and they’re heavy, often incurring oversize and overweight charges. Fortunately, Red Stag Fulfillment has shipped millions of large and bulky items, including mattresses. We’re experts at eCommerce fulfillment for hard-to-ship items. Here’s how we make shipping a bed in a box affordable.
The secret to excellent mattress fulfillment
Boxing products and shipping them might seem like a rote activity, but all fulfillment centers are not the same. Just as there’s an art to handling apparel to prevent damage and ship efficiently, there’s a skill level required to ship a bed in a box that not all logistics companies have.
Red Stag Fulfillment is primed for mattress fulfillment.
- Our warehouses are laid out with extra wide aisles for moving large merchandise easily.
- We have procedures in place to protect our employees and our clients’ products as we move them in the warehouse. We have a proven track record of safely storing and shipping large products like beds and mattresses.
- Our packing stations are built to hold heavy boxes.
“We really started shopping for a better solution when we switched to large, flat-packed furniture. We needed a 3PL that had experience with big, heavy, bulky products like ours.”
– Brenden Marquardt, Co-Owner, Homestead Brands (maker of Lori Wallbeds)
Delivery options for shipping a bed in a box
FedEx and UPS will accept packages up to 150 pounds, and some mattresses fall under that weight limit. However, both have length and girth limits that may make shipping a bed in a box unsuitable for regular ground services. UPS and FedEx ground limit the length of a box to no more than 108 inches (9 feet), and the combined length and girth to no more than 165 inches.
To calculate length + girth:
(2 x height) + (2 x width) + length = girth
Freight is often a better option for sending beds and mattresses. Fortunately, with the advent of oversized eCommerce, there are more freight options available for eCommerce companies. Freight deliveries are sometimes slower than regular ground, but the cost savings more than make up for the extra shipping time.
FedEx Freight Direct
FedEx has made freight shipping customer-friendly with its Freight Direct service. The trucks can deliver at ground level (no loading dock needed), and customers can choose an appointment window and even have the box brought inside. Customers can also pick up freight packages at a FedEx service center. FedEx Freight Economy delivers in three to six days.
UPS Freight
UPS accepts freight items and also offers freight trucking services, from less-than-truckload (LTL) to full-truckload (FTL). Contact UPS for delivery times and cost estimates.
LTL freight to ship a bed in a box
There are many trucking companies that accept LTL shipments, and some of them can accommodate residential delivery for eCommerce customers. LTL shipments are often palletized for easier movement and protection during transport.
Red Stag Fulfillment is always looking for the best shipping options for our clients that sell oversized or bulky products. We’re pros at safely packing large items, including a bed in a box, for delivery to your customer’s doorstep.
How Red Stag Fulfillment makes bed in a box shipping economical
At RSF, we’ve structured our business to make top-notch order fulfillment affordable, even for large and heavy products. Here are some of the benefits you get when you use our services for shipping a bed in a box.
Lower shipping rates
We ship millions of packages every year, so we can negotiate lower shipping rates with major delivery services. That allows us to offer discounted rates to our clients.
Favorable DIM factors
Dimensional weight is an alternate calculation that multiplies the width, length, and height of a package by a number called a DIM factor. Billable weight is the greater of actual weight and dimensional weight. Although mattresses generally weigh between 50 and 150 pounds, depending on the size and materials, most are large enough to be subject to dimensional weight pricing, even when compressed in a box.
The lower the DIM factor, the greater the dimensional weight. Currently, UPS and FedEx use a DIM factor of 139, and USPS uses 166. Because Red Stag Fulfillment ships a high volume of oversized and bulky packages, we can negotiate higher DIM factors with shipping companies, reducing the dimensional charges for shipping a mattress in a box.
Smart packaging to reduce oversized charges
Sometimes the key to lowering DIM charges is the packaging. Using a box that’s even an inch or two smaller in one dimension or another can tip an item over the line from dimensional charges to shipping by actual weight.
We also use package consolidation, shipping small items in the same box with oversized products without an increase to the DIM weight. That allows you to ship accessories for little or no extra shipping charge. For example, if you sell mattress covers or sheet sets, including that with the mattress in the box can be cheaper than shipping them separately.
RSF works with our clients to find the small adjustments that can have a big impact on shipping costs.
Fewer shipping zones
If you sell large items like beds or mattresses, you can’t afford to carry enough stock to fill shelves in dozens of warehouses across the U.S., but you still need order fulfillment that delivers quickly while keeping costs low. Red Stag Fulfillment has solved this problem with strategically located warehouses in Utah and Tennessee, optimizing national fulfillment services while minimizing the number of warehouse locations you need.
The more shipping zones your package crosses, via ground or freight, the higher the cost of shipping a bed in a box. Red Stag Fulfillment helps you keep both inventory and shipping costs low.
Your best choice for eCommerce mattress fulfillment
When clients selling large and bulky items like beds and mattresses come to Red Stag Fulfillment, they’re amazed at the service they find. Our fulfillment guarantees mean you don’t have to worry about paying for our mistakes. Plus, with one of the highest fulfillment accuracy rates in the industry, we don’t make many mistakes. That may be why we’ve been named the best fulfillment company for high-value, large, & specialty products year after year.
If you need help shipping a bed in a box or any other oversized, heavy, or bulky items, we’re the pros. Come talk to Red Stag Fulfillment.
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