Art Shipping Cost Calculator

Switching to a crate adds more than just extra padding inches (8 vs. 6 for softpack) — it also switches you to a much heavier actual-weight formula (dimensional weight times 0.7 plus 15 lbs, versus 0.4 plus 5 for softpack) and a materially higher crating-cost formula reflecting plywood and hardware. Since billable weight is whichever of dimensional or actual weight is higher, the crate's heavier actual-weight estimate often becomes the number the shipping-cost formula bills against.

Dimensional weight is your padded package's length times width times height divided by 139, the standard domestic-carrier divisor that approximates how much space a shipment takes up on a truck. Carriers bill whichever is higher between that and actual weight, so a large but lightweight piece — say, a big canvas in a bulky but feather-light softpack — can end up billed on its size rather than its true weight.

The calculator flags a shipment as oversized, tripling the handling fee, if the padded package exceeds 48 inches on any single side or its combined length-plus-width-plus-depth girth exceeds 130 inches. Since the fee is based on the padded dimensions (your artwork size plus the packing allowance for your chosen crate type), a piece just under those thresholds unpacked can cross them once packing is added, especially with a wooden crate's larger 8-inch pad.

Shipping cost is a base rate plus 50 cents per billable pound, then multiplied by a distance factor that steps up at two thresholds: 1x under 500 miles, 1.5x from 500 up to 1,500 miles, and 2.5x beyond 1,500 miles. That means crossing just past the 500- or 1,500-mile mark can jump your shipping cost noticeably more than the same distance increase within a single tier.