I’m experiencing a significant issue with Shopify’s USPS shipping rate calculations, especially when it comes to large items.
Context:
Most of my products are large and ship in big boxes, so I assign each product its calculated dimensional weight (not the real weight). This ensures that the proper shipping rates are calculated during checkout, particularly favoring services like FedEx Ground for large packages. However, I also have smaller, lighter items like baby clothing, for which I use the real weight and a default box size of 10x6x6 inches.
The Problem:
Recently, Shopify’s USPS shipping calculator has stopped functioning correctly. It should automatically detect that a package assigned a weight of 39 lbs, as in the case of a small baby bed, is not eligible for USPS’s cubic rate, and should instead default to FedEx Ground or other more appropriate shipping methods. However, Shopify is still offering USPS’s cubic rate option for these larger packages if the default box size (in my case, 10x6x6 inches) is under a cubic foot, which is completely incorrect.
In the attached example (see screenshot), a small baby bed with an assigned weight of 39 lbs was eligible for USPS’s cubic rate, which led the customer to pay only $13.94 to ship this from California to Oklahoma. In reality, this item ships in a 30x20x10 inch box and weighs 11 lbs, so the dimensional weight assigned was meant to trigger my FedEx Ground rates.
After talking to several Shopify chat reps for hours, I was finally informed that this is part of an ongoing ‘INCIDENT’ affecting over 60% of stores. Despite knowing about it, the issue remains unfixed, and Shopify hasn’t publicly addressed it. This is causing substantial financial loss and confusion for many merchants.
Shopify, please address this issue ASAP. We need a proper solution before more stores are affected by incorrect shipping charges. This is a serious issue and needs attention immediately.
