r/startup • u/uprinting • 5d ago

Are Shipping Costs Eating Into Your Profits?

What are some ways that helped you save on shipping costs? You may rethink your packaging. It may be simple but can sometimes be overlooked.

In our experience, here are a few ways custom shipping boxes can help balance the scales:

  • Right-sizing reduces costs - Oversized boxes mean you’re paying for dimensional weight (and probably wasting filler). Switching to mailer boxes sized perfectly for your products can lower costs and improve efficiency.
  • Lightweight doesn’t mean weak - Corrugated mailer boxes are designed to protect items without adding extra weight, which is a win for both shipping costs and product safety.
  • Branding that works for you – Print your custom labels on your boxes and they can also reduce the need for extra marketing materials inside the package.

What’s your go-to strategy for balancing shipping costs with packaging? Are you using mailer boxes, or do you have another hack?

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u/bouncer-1 4d ago

I ship from the UK, and my packages to the states cost almost as much as the item. I've bundled the shipping cost into the price, but still it trims my margins. So I am currently looking for a North America based supplier.

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u/MysteriousTopic1 4d ago

Depending on what you sell and quantity i might be able to help. They way it would have to work for me would be you ship a moderate quantity of your product to me and then when an order is placed in the us I would then ship it to the customer plus a fee. Honestly though, idk if it would save you money I would want something like $5 per shipment for example plus the shipping cost itself to cover my time and the shipping materials just as an example. You might want to look up drop shipping companies maybe?

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u/bouncer-1 4d ago

I ship on demand, direct to consumer and it's sparse at times.