The fuel surcharge is a charge that is added to the price of shipping your package. The reason that is is separate is because the price of fuel needed to transport your package fluctuates with the market value of fuel. When the cost of fuel is low price the shipping companies can reduce the surcharge and likewise when the cost of fuel is high the shipping companies must increase their fuel surcharge.

The following are links to pages that show the fuel surcharges for the big three.

DHL FUEL SURCHARGE

FEDEX FUEL SURCHARGE

UPS FUEL SURCHARGE

Good Luck and Good Shipping,
Your How To Ship Advisor

Dimensional Weight is a standardize calculation used by all the big three shippers to access if your package is taking up an undo amount of space. For an extreme example, imagine that you shipped one pen in a box made for a computer. The weight would practically be negligible but it would take up a lot of space in the shipping truck that could be used to ship heavier items. The shipping companies seek compensation for this in the form of the dim weight designation. Normally you do not have to worry about this unless you are shipping a non-heavy item in a large box.

US DOMESTIC AIR SERVICE
(Length x Width x Height = Cubic Inches)/(194)

US DOMESTIC GROUND SERVICE
(Length x Width x Height = Cubic Inches)/(194)

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
(Length x Width x Height = Cubic Inches)/(166)

Good Luck and Good Shipping,
Your How To Ship Advisor