Shipping cost calculator
Build a shipping quote from the ground up: chargeable weight, base rate, fuel and accessorial surcharges, and cross-border duty and tax, itemised line by line.
On 5 kg chargeable weight total
- Freight (5 kg × $9.5)−$47.5080%
- Fuel surcharge (25%)−$11.8820%
| Step | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Volume per piece | 40 × 30 × 20 | 24,000 cm³ |
| Volumetric weight per pieceThe divisor 5000 is the carrier's published centimetres-to-kilograms factor.Source: DHL | 24000 ÷ 5000 | 4.8 kg |
| Actual weight | 4 kg | |
| Greater of the twoThis parcel is bulky for its weight, so the carrier bills the volume figure. | max(4, 4.8) | 4.8 kg |
| Each piece rounded up, then multiplied by quantityThis carrier bills in 0.5 kg steps at this weight.Source: DHL | ceil(4.8 / 0.5) × 0.5 × 1 | 5 kg |
| Chargeable weight | 5 kg |
Step 2 of 3 — I am sending a parcel
What will the carrier bill me, and when does it arrive?
- Step 1Billable weightThe weight you are billed on
- You are here Shipping cost
- Step 3Delivery dateThe date it lands
Two ways to build a shipping budget
Select a dated USPS table for a domestic zone-based parcel estimate, or enter your own quote. The own-rate example starts at 9.50 per billed kilogram and 25% fuel; neither number is a carrier quotation. Replace them before relying on the total. The available weight presets are limited to their stated billing contexts.
Follow one example through the stack
A hypothetical parcel billed at 5 kg with a rate of $9.50/kg has $47.50 transport cost. At 25% fuel on that base, add $11.875. With $6 handling the displayed total is $65.38. This worksheet applies fuel to the base only. If your tariff also applies fuel to handling or another accessorial, include that additional amount in the applicable extra field or reconcile it separately.
Published USPS mode
Choose service, retail or commercial tier, and destination zone. The tool selects a published weight band, including sub-pound Ground Advantage bands, and applies supported size and packaging charges. Multiple identical parcels are priced separately and then multiplied. The comparison beneath the total shows prices per parcel; entered additional charges apply to the shipment total. Rates are US dollars from the stated edition, not live account prices.
Where an invoice can differ
Flat-rate packaging, cubic rates, negotiated discounts, unsupported special services, address corrections and newly changed tariffs require your postage provider. A passing size check is not acceptance approval. Cross-border duty is a simplified optional estimate; use landed cost to review origin-dependent thresholds, valuation and tax assumptions. USPS domestic prices do not price an international leg.
Make the next decision
If dimensional weight drives the cost, use the packing comparison. If surcharges dominate, compare the actual service terms before changing cartons. Use the delivery planner only with a service window from your quote. A price difference alone does not establish a faster or more reliable service.
Questions people ask about this
Answers written from the published rules, not from other people's summaries of them. Every figure quoted below is listed with its source at the foot of this page.
Every formula on this siteIs the initial price a live carrier quote?
No. Own-rate defaults are illustrative. USPS mode uses stored Notice 123 tables with their edition date. No carrier account is connected.
How are several parcels priced?
In USPS mode, each identical parcel is rated separately and the postage is multiplied by piece count. Service comparison prices are per parcel. Additional manually entered charges are shipment-level totals. Calculate different parcels separately.
Can I change the currency of a USPS price?
Published USPS prices remain in USD. Selecting a different currency in own-rate mode labels your entered prices; it is not an exchange-rate conversion.
Does fuel apply to every charge?
This model applies fuel to the base transport charge. Some contracts include selected accessorials in the fuel base. Check that scope and include any difference separately.
Further reading
Related calculators
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Where these numbers come from
Rates and rules change, and a calculator running on stale data is worse than no calculator. Every figure below carries the date we last checked it and a confidence level, so you can judge how much weight to put on it.
| Source | Publisher | Effective | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice 123 — Price List The complete published USPS tariff. Six tables are parsed directly from it — Ground Advantage, Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express, each in retail and commercial, 431 weight bands in total — and every row was checked for nine zone prices, prices that never fall as zone or weight rises, and the exact set of weight bands with nothing missing and nothing invented. Commercial was additionally verified to undercut retail at every comparable band. The PDF itself is kept in the repository and its SHA-256 recorded next to the numbers, so a reader can check them against the same document we read. USPS is the only carrier whose price tables are currently integrated here. Other carriers also publish rate guides; their prices are not integrated. | USPS Postal Explorer | 2026-07-12Checked 2026-08-18 | Primary source |
| DMM 113.1.3 — dimensional weight, and Notice 123 price list Read directly off the Domestic Mail Manual, revision 7-12-26. It states the divisor as 139, applies dimensional weight only to parcels exceeding one cubic foot (1,728 cubic inches), requires each measurement to be rounded up to the nearest whole inch before multiplying, and requires the result to be rounded up to the next whole number. Nonrectangular parcels multiply the cubic dimensions by 0.785 first. Notice 123, effective the same date, confirms the threshold and the 108-to-130 inch oversize band. | USPS Postal Explorer | 2026-07-12Checked 2026-08-18 | Primary source |
| DHL Express weight and dimensions Supports centimetres divided by 5000 and per-piece comparison with actual weight. It does not establish every local billing increment; the worksheet labels those increments as assumptions. | DHL | Not specifiedChecked 2026-09-21 | Primary source |
| UPS US dimensions, billable weight and size limits US daily divisor 139; retail divisor 166; whole-pound billing; 150 lb, 108 inch length and 165 inch combined limit. This page includes conflicting general measurement wording; the preset follows its explicit round-up instructions. Confirm the governing service guide or contract. | UPS | Not specifiedChecked 2026-09-21 | Primary source |
| UPS fuel surcharge tables Fuel surcharges reset weekly against a published diesel-price bracket table. Any calculator that hardcodes a percentage is stale within days, which is why ours takes the current fuel price as an input. | UPS | Not specifiedChecked 2026-08-17 | Primary source |
Page updated . Spotted something out of date? Tell us — corrections are published with the date they were made.
More on the working: every formula on this site, the full source register, what the terms mean, and how we decide what to publish. What an estimate here can and cannot support is set out in the accuracy notes.