What's your shipment actually going to cost?

What is dimensional weight billing — and when does it apply?

Carriers don't always bill by what a package weighs. When a package's cubic volume implies it takes up more space than its actual weight justifies, the carrier bills by dimensional weight instead.

The DIM divisor varies by carrier and service (UPS and FedEx domestic ground both use 139 imperial; Canada Post divides by 5,000 cm³/kg for Priority, Xpresspost, and Expedited Parcel, and by 6,000 for Regular Parcel). A 16" × 12" × 10" box weighing 4 lbs has a dimensional weight of 13.8 lbs — and you're billed at 13.8.

How ship. surfaces this: Supported rate shows actual weight, dimensional weight, and billable weight side-by-side — before you select a service. You know whether DIM pricing applies, and by how much, before the label exists.

Residential delivery surcharge — how carriers price the last mile

Carriers apply a residential delivery surcharge when a package is delivered to a home or home-based business. This classification is assessed at rating time and may be updated by the carrier during or after delivery based on their own address records.

If a carrier reclassifies a delivery address as residential after pickup — which happens when their internal routing records differ from what was entered at label time — the surcharge is added to the final invoice. Unfortunately, carrier-side reclassification after delivery is outside any pre-purchase tool's control. When it happens, our team advocates on your behalf: disputing incorrect charges, filing claims, and handling the carrier conversation so you don't have to.

How ship. surfaces this: Address validation checks residential/commercial classification at rate time, reducing mismatches at the point of rate selection. The residential surcharge is shown as a line item when it applies, so you're never blindsided by the number when the invoice arrives.

Address correction fees — what carriers charge to fix bad data

When a carrier must correct an address — postal code, street number, or suite — to complete delivery, they charge a fixed per-package correction fee. This happens automatically, without prior notification, and appears on the next invoice cycle.

How ship. reduces this: Integrated address validation standardizes addresses to carrier formatting requirements and flags likely correction candidates before the label is generated. Address correction fees can't be fully eliminated — carriers can apply them based on their own routing data discrepancies — but bad address data at label time is the most preventable source, and that part is squarely in your control.

Accessorial fee creep — the surcharges that add up after the base rate

Accessorial charges are fees applied on top of the base shipping rate for specific delivery circumstances. They're calculated by carrier billing systems dynamically — some at label time, some after the carrier audits the delivered package.

Fuel surcharges are updated weekly by major carriers. The surcharge shown at rate time reflects the current published index — if pickup happens after an index update, the billed surcharge will reflect the new rate.

How ship. surfaces this: Supported rates include line-by-line surcharge detail where carrier data exposes it. You see a clearer expected total, not only a base rate with "plus applicable fees" appended.