Air or sea? That is the question


You must know all the alternatives that the market offers you to transport your purchases online. You currently find a lot of information about sending your purchases by air, but do you know when it is more convenient to choose another alternative?

Because you are important to us and we want you to decide, we leave you these tips that you should take into account to decide on how to import your merchandise; it does not matter if you are a merchant or not, you can use these suggestions to import from the furniture of the home to inventory to start your own business.

Need: This element will be of great importance in your decision-making. You should know that a shipment by plane takes between 24 to 72 hours, after it is received in the Miami warehouse, and to be at the door of your house. If you choose to ship by ship or by sea, consider that the delivery time will be at least 7 days, so you decide how urgent it will be to receive your purchase.

Weight: Another important factor for your economy that you must consider is the weight of your merchandise. Shipments by plane do not have a maximum of pounds, you can even import a car if you prefer, but you must know that maritime rates are usually up to 60% lower than air rates and that the way to calculate the weight is different. For example, for air imports, only the actual weight of your packages is taken into account. Otherwise, the weight required to import your purchases by sea will be 350 pounds of volumetric weight. Do you know what it is and how to calculate the Weight / Volume? If the answer is no, then we must start there.

We call volumetric weight the calculation that reflects the density of a package. A less dense item generally takes up less volume of space compared to actual weight. The volumetric or dimensional weight is calculated and compared to the shipment's actual weight to determine which is more significant. The higher weight will be used to calculate the cost of shipping.

We calculate the volumetric weight taking into account the width, length, and depth of the package and a volumetric dividing factor of 166. Keep in mind that the measurements will be used in Inches / Pounds.


For example, you bought a marble coffee table in a box that measures 50" wide, 50" long, and 50" deep and weighs 350 Pounds. To calculate the volumetric weight, we will do it as follows:

(50 * 50 * 50) / 166 = 753.01 Pounds

Our volumetric weight is 753.01 Pounds; this will be the weight you must take into account when calculating the amount to pay according to your rate. Don't forget to add up the additional charges.

Now that you know what factors you should take into account to decide the route of your imports, sit down and put paper and pencil on it so that you know which is more convenient for you.

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