A New Year’s Resolution: Lose the Bulk

“Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits.”  - Author Unknown

Everyone who has ever made a New Year's resolution to slim down, raise your hand.  Losing weight is one of the most common resolutions every new year. But how about losing bulk?  That's a way to make the environment healthier. Let me explain.

For years now, FedEx has had a mechanism to encourage FedEx Express and FedEx Ground customers to be environmentally sensitive in packaging their shipments. It’s called “dimensional weight.”  Here's how it works. When a shipment weighs relatively little in comparison to the volume of the packaging, a dimensional weight is calculated that takes the box size into consideration. The shipping rate is then based upon the greater of the two – either the actual weight or the dimensional weight.  Why? Because we have limited space in our vehicles and aircraft, and we want to maximize the payload-carrying capacity of them. It is far better to transport many tightly packed products rather than few products surrounded by lots of empty space inside their packages.

This approach hits a sweet spot of sustainability because it increases the number of packages each vehicle or aircraft carries. This, in turn, reduces the emissions generated per shipped package. And by slimming down the bulk of their packages, shippers reduce their transportation costs and improve their own environmental performance by consuming fewer packaging materials.

So, here’s to a New Year’s resolution that’s not so new: lose the bulk.

Hear more about Mitch Jackson's views on sustainability at the FedEx Multimedia Center.