More Than Ever, Size Matters

The United States Postal system, and all others in the business of delivering parcels, are in for a “shipping shock” come January, 2007. That’s when UPS changes over to charging for “Dimensional Weight,” i.e. charges based on the size of a parcel as opposed to simply its scale weight.

What this means to shippers, are increases of up to 75 percent for large packages. What it means to postal services, couriers and other potentially lost revenue if they can’t follow suit. While this can be argued as an over-simplistic view, the facts are that major shippers—FedEx, DHL, or the USPS have been charging dimension / weight combinations for years. Even the local postal counters keep a tape measure handy for large packages. It’s entirely possible that a package’s dimensional cost will exceed its actual weight charges (for example, a box of feather pillows). Industry analysts agree that the recent UPS announcement will have the others scrambling for their share of the “Size Matters” action.

Industry experts see a challenge for small couriers and shipping companies unable to cost-justify the complex laser-based systems used for dimensional measurement. Such carriers will be losing major revenue opportunity.
 
Richard Cooper is President of a mid-size Canadian courier business, Cardinal Couriers.

“Our company was forced into dimensioning charges by the big players.” says Cooper. “The problem was that Cardinal couldn’t possibly measure each package manually, so we sought out the same systems used by organizations like UPS and FedEx. These were laser measuring devices, hardly affordable for our size of operation.”

The Cardinal solution was to contract with Global Sensor Systems (GSS), a Canadian company specializing in electronic sensing technology. The system developed combines horizontal and vertical sensor bars containing passive dimensioning sensors. The bars are mounted on a custom weigh scale. When a package is placed on the scale, its dimensions are instantly determined and the shipping weight is calculated by a computer within the measuring device.

“Our first system”, says Cooper, “Was installed right in our conveyor line. The operator simply positioned the parcel on the scale up against the sensor bars. The weight and dimension data are captured by the system automatically for logistical and billing transactions.

“The ExpressCube is completely self-contained,” Cooper continues, “with all the software needed to interface with our accounting system. We are able to dimension and weigh up to 500 packages per hour per system. It accepts boxes from 15cm to 122 cm length, 15cm to 91cm high, and 15 cm  to 61.5cm depth. Data collection speed is about 1.3 seconds per package.”

“Apart from being an extremely cost-effective solution,” says Cooper; “we liked the concept of measurement without using laser beams. From a safety perspective on the shop floor, and from the maintenance angle as well—there’s no need for alignment checks on the measuring beams and the equipment is suited to being knocked about on a conveyor line.”

Along with the UPS “shipping shock” there will be a rush for front-end dimensioning / weight systems capable of protecting shipping customers from the inconvenience and paperwork associated with “supplemental billing”, i.e. major carriers are now billing their shipping clients additional charges—frequently two weeks after shipment. These charges are based on dimensional data captured by the dimensional equipment used by the carriers.

One thing is certain, world postal authorities will not be sending customers a secondary postage charge two weeks following a parcel delivery, and continued use of tape measures at postal counters will soon be a thing of the past.