Are you ready for Dimensional Shipping in 2015

It’s been known for months that dimensional shipping is coming in 2015 but no-one seems to be really talking about it. Is it not a big deal? Maybe not. Until the impact of 20-30% price increases start filtering though in 2015.
Dimensional Shipping makes sense. It is charging based on how much space your package takes up. Width * Height * Length. Doing so will hopefully stop the Amazons of the world using huge boxes with lots of packing to send small items. But it is going to mean increased prices for some orders especially large light weight items. Does it mean decreased prices for small heavy parcels? No. Because the greater weight is going to be used: actual or dimensional.
To copy the current the USPS ad, how much does a 1-pound box weigh? There is a formula for calculating dimensional weight. Weight = (Length * Width * Height) / Factor where Factor = 166 for domestic and 139 for international. Regardless it is the size of the shipping box and not the size of the individual items going into the box that is being used. So not a simple equation when customer are buying more than one item.
You need to define your shipping box sizes, define the size of each products. Then you need an algorithm to work out how many shipping boxes will be needed. Again not a simple equation.
UPS is starting on 29 December. The UPS XML module for osCommerce has the capability but must be carefully configured and tested. FedEx starts on 1 Jan 2015. FedEx Webservices does not have any dimensional features at all at this point in time.
We predict panic?