You might not be able to do much to reduce the rising costs of flowers, hard goods or even your electric bill. But there is one expense that presents an opportunity for cost savings: ground shipping.

Take, for instance, these scenarios based on real addresses:

A florist orders hard goods from a Cleveland, Ohio wholesaler and has the 15-pound box shipped via FedEx to their business address in Atlanta, Georgia. The shipping cost is $17.02.

That box, shipped the same distance from Cleveland to the florist’s residential address outside Atlanta, would cost $30.08 — in part because of FedEx’s surcharge for residential deliveries.

Differences in the rates for commercial and residential deliveries are just one factor that affect the cost of ground shipping. What a customer purchases and how much of it they purchase also factor into the cost. And during a time when the cost of nearly everything is increasing, it’s important to understand how to minimize shipping costs, in some cases — as in the scenario above — as much as 76 percent.

“I think freight is one of our biggest controllable costs or expenses,” says Dave Botchick, president of Pioneer Imports and Wholesale in Berea Ohio. Botchick calculated the shipping costs for the box to Atlanta based on his company’s rates.

He sees so much opportunity for his retail florist customers to save money on shipping that he has created a page on his company’s website with tips.

“If I have good products but it costs too much to get it to people, they will buy from someone else,” Botchick says. “We’ve really worked hard to understand freight and pass on to other people.”

His company’s shipping web page features two videos of Botchick offering shipping advice. In one video he uses two boxes of baskets to illustrate why customers should consider size when purchasing. One box has 12 baskets with high handles. It would ship to Kansas for $44. Another box has 24 baskets with no handles. It would ship to Kansas or $24.

“The high handles take up a lot of space. It means you are shipping a lot of air,” Botchick says in the video. “These baskets,” he says, picking up the baskets with no handles, “nest together nicely. You get a lot more money, a lot more value in the same box, for a lot less price shipping.”

That’s because ground shipping companies use a dimensional weight (the amount of space a package occupies) to determine shipping costs. If the actual weight exceeds the dimensional weight, then the packaged is billed by the weight.

Essentially, the more valuable space a box takes up on a truck, the higher the shipping cost, as was the case with the box of baskets shipping to Kansas for $44.

“You have to think in those terms,” Botchick said. “Don’t be surprised if that box is going to cost you more if you like something that happens to be full of air.”

The best way to get not only the best shipping rates, but also often the best value on product, is to buy in bulk, Botchick says. Buy in full boxes or full cases. Or, buy enough items to fill a pallet, which can be shipped as freight.

Dave Kaplan of Above All Flowers, and a newly elected member of the Society of American Florists’ Growers Council, advises his customers to consider purchasing with other florists to get enough volume to reduce shipping costs.

“Volume does make a difference,” he says. “It costs the same to deliver five cases than it does more cases. It’s the same wear and tear on the truck.”

It also helps to shop with sellers that include the price of shipping in the total cost of the product and advertises it as such. That’s what Kaplan strives to do with his product.

He calculates the cost to send product to the farthest corners of the continental United States and finds the average of that cost. The average is worked into the price of the product which eliminates a lot of confusion and surprises for his customers, he says.

“That way there is no guesswork,” he says. “You are getting product in and not getting the sticker shock.”

Kaplan and Botchick both agree there is no such thing as free shipping. The cost is always passed on in the price of the products, they say.

Laura Rich, director of marketing and product development at Smithers-Oasis, says consumers accustomed to Amazon’s free, next day delivery need to level their expectations.

“We all want that Amazon experience,” she says. “You have to change your mentality. As a businessperson, you can’t purchase like that.”

Amanda Jedlinsky is the managing editor of SAF Now.