Shipping costs are a non-value added cost of selling merchandise via web, catalog/mail order or phone. The shipping fees paid to carriers (FedEx/UPS/DHL/USPS) while being the most obvious and major component is not the only cost associated with shipping a parcel.
While cost of parcel shipping orders cannot be eliminated, it can be reduced and managed by aggressively re-evaluating and optimizing the shipping process.
The shipping charges are now based on greater of the actual weight or dimensional weight of the package, hence it is imperative to package in the least possible space to minimize DIM weight.