There are two fields where the maximum carrier weight thresholds are controlled:
- Maximum Per Package Weight
- Maximum Per Shipment Weight
Maximum Per Package Weight
Each Small Parcel carrier will provide a default value for the maximum weight for any single package based on their published weight details.
While some ShipperHQ users have uniquely negotiated weight and length thresholds, in general, these are defined by the carrier as follows:
UPS
The maximum weight of any single package per order is 150lbs.
Please see here for specific weight and size limits from UPS
FedEx
Upon installation, FedEx will default to 70 lbs per package, however, this can be adjusted up to 150 lbs if needed. Please see carrier’s page for more specific requirements and exceptions.
Please see here for specific weight and size limits for FedEx
Maximum Per Shipment Weight
The Second weight threshold to be aware of is the maximum carrier shipment weight, which refers to the total weight of a complete order.
The maximum carrier shipment weight would consider the following: If there are 5 items in the cart and these are packed into two or more boxes, the total weight for all boxed products must be less than 500 Lbs.
While each of these fields can be edited to reduce or increase the thresholds some carriers restrict small parcel shipments to 200 lbs. These data are controlled by the carriers’ integration settings.
This means that adjusting the maximum per package weight for UPS to 200 lbs will fail to return rates greater than 150 lbs.
The same principle applies to the maximum shipment weight threshold. If either the individual package weight or total order weight exceeds these thresholds, the small parcel carriers will not provide a rate quote for the order.
Please see the resources below for more information on UPS and FedEx Small Parcel shipment weights.
While UPS does allow for much higher maximum shipment weights, shipping costs will increase significantly.
If you find that your average shipments are greater than 500 Lbs, an LTL carrier would be recommended to quote for these larger shipments as the associated costs can often be more favorable with LTL carriers.
For more information on setting up an LTL carrier, please see here.