Hi Mohamed,
I removed those dashes, and when I repeated the same test as I mentioned below, there was a change in the UPS shipping methods. When I added 8 of the product, UPS shipping listed 1 box to ship and freight was slightly lower than previously. When I added one more to make the product a total of 9, the UPS shipping method changed from 1 to 2 boxes being shipped and the freight was slightly lower than previously. It no longer listed 4 boxes being shipped though. The dashes may have been the problem, so that may of fixed the issue. I'm going to do some more testing with other products to be sure, and if it's still an issue I will repost.
Again, thank you so much for all your help.
Gina