About the Shipment Cost dashboard

The Shipment Cost dashboard provides visibility into your transportation costs across all primary cost drivers, including base carrier rates, surcharge categories (fuel, residential, delivery area, additional handling, etc.), service levels, geographic zones, weight characteristics, and dimensional properties. Use this dashboard to identify cost trends over time, understand which factors are driving your shipping expenses, and make data-driven decisions for carrier mix optimization and contract renegotiation.

The dashboard aggregates shipment data across multiple dimensions — including customer, carrier, service method, origin/destination geography, fulfillment center, and ship option — giving you the insights needed to optimize your transportation spend and evaluate the financial impact of routing decisions.

Filters

Sections and metrics

Critical Cost Metrics

The Critical Cost Metrics section provides high-level KPI (key performance indicator) cards that give you an at-a-glance view of your most important shipment cost metrics. These metrics show the overall performance for a recent time period and include comparison to previous periods to help you quickly spot trends.

Total Cost

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric displays the total cost of all shipments from the prior full week. This KPI card includes a comparison to the previous week and shows anomaly detection to alert you to unexpected changes.

Average Cost Per Package (Prior Full Week)

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric shows the average cost per package (CPP) for shipments from the prior full week. This is calculated as total cost divided by shipment count. The KPI card includes week-over-week comparison to help you track changes in your per-package costs.

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This metric always reflects the full week prior to the end of the selected time period, regardless of filter settings.

Average Cost Per Package (MTD vs Prior MTD)

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric shows the month-to-date average cost per package compared to the prior month-to-date period. This view helps you understand how your current month's costs are trending compared to the same period in the previous month.

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This metric always reflects the MTD prior to the end of the selected time period compared to the prior full month, regardless of filter settings.

Shipment Volume

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric displays the total number of shipments from the prior full week. This volume metric includes comparison to the previous week and can help explain changes you might see in your total cost metrics. For example, if total costs increased but volume also increased proportionally, your per-package costs may have remained stable.

Cost Trends

The Cost Trends section shows how your key shipping cost metrics are trending over time. These visualizations help you identify patterns, seasonal variations, and longer-term trends in your shipping costs and volumes.

Shipment Total Cost Trend

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric displays your total shipment costs over time in an area chart, aggregated by week. This visualization helps you see the overall trajectory of your shipping spend and identify any significant spikes or drops that may require investigation.

Average Cost Per Package (CPP) Trend

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric shows how your average cost per package is trending over time in an area chart, aggregated by week. This is one of the most important metrics for understanding whether your shipping costs per unit are increasing or decreasing over time, independent of volume changes.

Shipment Volume Trend

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric shows the total number of shipments over time in a line chart, aggregated by week. Understanding volume trends is critical for interpreting cost trends. For example, if total costs are rising but volume is rising faster, your efficiency may actually be improving.

Cost Component Breakdowns

The Cost Component Breakdowns section helps you understand what makes up your shipping costs. These visualizations break down costs into base rates and various surcharge types, helping you identify which components are driving your overall costs and where optimization opportunities may exist.

Average Surcharge Rate Breakdown by Type

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric shows a 100% stacked column chart that displays the relative percentage contribution of each cost component (base rate and all surcharge types) to your total average cost. This visualization helps you quickly see which components make up the largest portion of your costs. For example, you might see that base rate is 70%, fuel surcharge is 15%, and residential surcharge is 10% of your total costs.

Average Cost Per Package Breakdown

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric displays a 100% stacked column chart showing how the composition of your average cost per package changes over time (by week). Each bar represents 100% of your CPP, with segments showing the percentage contributed by base rate, fuel surcharge, delivery area surcharge, residential surcharge, and other surcharge types. This helps you identify if certain surcharges are growing as a percentage of total costs over time.

Base Rate as Percentage of Total Cost

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric shows a line chart tracking what percentage of your total costs come from the base rate (as opposed to surcharges) over time. If this percentage is declining, it indicates that surcharges are growing faster than base rates, which may warrant investigation or carrier negotiations.

Applied Surcharge Rate CPP by Surcharge Type

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric displays multiple line series showing the trend for each individual surcharge type over time. Unlike the percentage breakdowns, this shows the absolute dollar amounts for each surcharge category, helping you identify which specific surcharges are increasing or decreasing in absolute terms.

Average Base Rate CPP vs. Total Average CPP

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric shows a side-by-side column comparison of your average base rate per package versus your total average cost per package. The difference between these two bars represents the total impact of all surcharges. This simple comparison helps you quickly understand how much surcharges are adding to your base shipping costs.

Base Rate as Percentage of Total Cost by Carrier

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric breaks down the base rate percentage by carrier, showing you which carriers have higher or lower surcharge rates relative to their base rates. This can be useful for carrier selection and negotiation — a carrier with a low base rate but high surcharges may not actually be your most cost-effective option.

Cost by Geography

The Cost by Geography section provides geographic visualizations that help you understand how shipping costs vary by destination. These maps can reveal regional cost patterns and help identify opportunities for network optimization or fulfillment location adjustments.

US States by Average Total Cost

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric displays a choropleth (heat) map of the United States showing the average cost per package for shipments to each state. States with higher average costs appear in darker/warmer colors. This visualization is pre-filtered to show only US destinations and helps you identify which states are most expensive to ship to, which may be driven by factors like distance from fulfillment centers, population density, or carrier zone pricing.

Countries by Average Total Cost

For the set of filters that have been selected, this metric displays a global choropleth map showing the average cost per package for shipments to each destination country. Countries with higher average costs appear in darker/warmer colors. This helps you understand international shipping cost patterns and identify which markets have the highest or lowest shipping costs.