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Metrics type: Key Metrics • Category: Shipping & Courier

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At a glance

Average label cost per shipment, pooled across every UK sub-carrier ShipTheory’s rate-shop selected (Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, Parcelforce, Yodel etc.). ShipTheory’s value-add is rate-shopping; the cost-per-shipment moves with sub-carrier mix as well as carrier rate movements. A swing in this number usually means the rate-shop ruleset shifted volume, not that a carrier raised prices.

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Calculation

Calculated automatically from your ShipTheory data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

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Worked example

The UK home & garden merchant. Reading taken at 09:00 GMT on 12 Mar 26 for the trailing 30 days vs the prior 30 days. The card reads GBP 4.24; the alert at +10% vsP is firing at +11.6%. Five things to notice:
  1. Cost rose because rate-shop shifted volume from Evri to Royal Mail Tracked. This was a deliberate operations decision in early February to reduce late-shipment count (Evri 9.8% late vs Royal Mail 4.8%). The cost lifted GBP 0.44 per parcel (~ GBP 7,000 per month) but the late count and customer-complaint volume both dropped. The trade is intentional.
  2. The +11.6% trip is a pre-planned alert. The operator should already know this is happening (they made the rate-shop change). The card confirms the cost impact is in line with forecast; no firefight needed.
  3. Total spend +25.1% on +12.1% volume. Half is volume, half is mix. Finance forecasting must split.
  4. DPD held at 19% on premium SLA parcels. DPD is the structural high-cost carrier; their share holds at the high-value slice regardless of overall mix shift. If DPD share drops materially, premium SLA shipments are being mis-routed.
  5. Yodel up to 9% from 7%. Small share but rising. Worth checking whether Yodel’s rate-shop wins are concentrating on a specific weight band or postcode area; if so, whether the per-parcel cost saving justifies the OTD risk (Yodel was at 11.7% late in the late-shipment example).

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Sibling cards merchants should reference together

Avg cost is one number; mix and rate movements behind it are several.

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Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in ShipTheory’s own dashboard: ShipTheory Dashboard → Reports → Spend → Average Cost. The portal shows the same number with sub-carrier breakdown and zone breakdown. Closest like-for-like: Last 30 Days, All Carriers, All Services, GBP. Why our number may legitimately differ from ShipTheory’s portal: Cross-connector reconciliation:

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Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Why does my avg cost change when no carrier raised rates? Sub-carrier mix shift. ShipTheory’s rate-shop ruleset picks the cheapest qualifying carrier per shipment; mix moves week-on-week as customer geography and basket composition shift. Read Sub-Carrier Volume Mix; cost change here typically maps 1:1 to mix change. My carrier raised rates and the card is flat. Why? Three reasons. (1) Rate change applied to a service tier you do not use heavily. (2) Your rate-shop ruleset auto-shifted to a cheaper carrier. (3) Rate change posts to next monthly invoice but ShipTheory’s quoted rate updated; card is forward-looking and matches next invoice. UK Highlands & Islands surcharges, how do they show? Most UK carriers add a surcharge for HD/HS/IV/KW/PA/PH postcodes plus offshore (IM, JE, GG). Surcharges are included in the card’s avg cost. If your customer geography expanded into these zones, expect a structural lift even with no rate or mix change. 3PL handling fees aren’t in this number, where are they? 3PL invoices the merchant separately for pick-pack-handle. Most 3PLs charge GBP 0.50 to 1.50 per parcel. True landed cost = this card + 3PL handling fee per parcel. Build a separate model for finance reporting. Why is my avg cost rising during peak? UK carriers impose peak surcharges November to January (typically GBP 0.20 to 0.50 per parcel across DPD, Evri, Royal Mail). Your rate-shop still picks the same carriers; per-label cost is structurally higher. Plan budgets accordingly. Should I switch to a single-carrier setup? Trade-off. ShipTheory’s value is the rate-shop dynamic; the volatility is the cost of optimisation. Single-carrier accounts are stable but typically higher absolute cost. Decision depends on margin sensitivity vs forecast simplicity. Royal Mail OBA vs ShipTheory rate-shop, which is cheaper? Generally ShipTheory rate-shop wins for variable mix. Royal Mail OBA is competitive at high volume on Royal Mail-heavy mix; if your account is 90%+ Royal Mail, OBA direct can save 5 to 10%. Test the breakeven against your specific weight-and-zone distribution. Cross-border (UK to EU post-Brexit), does that affect this card? Yes. Cross-border shipments carry customs declaration fees (DDP processing fee) plus higher base rates. If your EU export volume is rising, expect a structural lift in this card. Customs duty itself (paid by recipient or merchant separately) is not in the card; net true landed cost is higher. Why does the portal sometimes show different number? Filter state. ShipTheory portal applies workspace defaults that may exclude returns or include 3PL handling differently. Set portal to All Outbound, All Carriers, All Services, Last 30 Days, GBP. Persistent gap >2% = check connector health. How do I plan for next year’s carrier negotiation? Read 90 to 180 day cost trend (Cost Per Shipment Trend). Mix-vs-rate split tells you which carriers to prioritise. Carriers with stable rate cards but rising volume share are leverage points; carriers with declining volume are renegotiation targets.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Avg Shipping Cost is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across ShipTheory and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.