Hi** @PomandChi **.
You’re correct in saying that there isn’t yet a way within the Shopify admin to natively assign specific packaging to individual products. However, installing a third-party app like Advanced Shipping Rules or Parcelify should help with calculating a more accurate shipping rate for your store. Advanced Shipping Rules has a Lite option for $9 USD per month that you can look into, to see if that will suit your specific business needs. Otherwise Parcelify is perhaps the most affordable option for $14 USD per month. If you have any further questions concerning the apps I mentioned, do get in touch with their support team as they’re best equipped to answer app-specific queries.
I can completely understand how having this feature natively on Shopify would be beneficial for your business, and I appreciate you raising this matter with us. I’ve submitted this feedback along to our developers, so that we can look at further ways of improving our platform for you and all of our merchants. Just a note that we can’t guarantee when and if changes will be made, or provide a timeline for updates on this request. However any updates will be listed in our changelog here.
As you’re currently looking to maximise your shipping strategies, I also recommend going through our Shopify Blog here for some helpful tips on how you can reduce shipping costs.