Shipping label weight is wrong?

[prairies2planet_jc]

Recently my Canada Post Expedited shipping labels have been printing with the wrong weight. For example the one I just printed says the weight is 3.112 kg, but I entered the weight (and hopefully paid for!) of 2.3 kg. Anyone experience the same thing or know what's up with that? Thanks, and sorry if there's a shipping forum - looked but didn't see one.

[mr.elmwood]

My labels today were fine. Everything going to teh USA so I knew what the postage was supposed to be.

[bellwether51]

Yes. This happened to me and when I questioned it at Canada Post, they explained that when a box is big relative to its actual weight, there is some override in the system that assigns a "typical" weight to it. She used a term which I think is even on the label which I cannot recall. I think the charges you would have paid take that into account. It was news to me, but made sense I guess.

[ricarmic]

I think the term you want is the "volumetric" weight....

If I recall it is length x height x width divided by 6,000  (this is all in CM)

If that number is bigger than the physical weight, you pay based on the volumetric weight instead....

[recped]

Detail here.....

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/pay/questions/shipping-dimensional-weight.html

[pocomocomputing]

Expedited Parcel USA and Canada use Volumetric Weight (also know as Dimensional Weight) to override actual weight of a package. Basically a big lightweight item takes more space so Canada Post charges more. So they create a weight based on the volume of the parcel.

VW = L (cm) x W (cm) x H (cm) / 6000.

Examples

A box 30 x 20 x 10 cm has a VW = 30 x 20 x 10 / 6000 = 6000/6000 = 1.00 kg.

Any item packaged in that box will be charged a minimum of 1 kg or the actual weight if over 1 kg.  So if your item packaged in that box size weighs 270 grams, it will be charged at the 1 kg rate based on the VW.

A box slightly larger at 31 x 20 x 10 cm has a VW = 31 x 20 x 10 / 6000 = 6200/6000 = 1.03 kg.

Any item packaged in that box will be charged a minimum of 1.5 kg or the actual weight if over 1.5 kg.  So if your item packaged in that box size weight 270 grams, it will be charged at the 1.5 kg rate.

So when choosing a box to ship your item in, if you have a choice of boxes to use, select a box with a smaller Volumetric Weight if possible when shipping light items.

Since volumetric weight is based only on dimensions, you can calculate the VW of any box and write it on the side of the box along with its dimensions. This way you can see what the VW is for a box when selecting a box. In the two examples above, if you have a light weight item that weighs under 270 grams, you would be smarter to use the box with the 1 kg VW over the slightly larger one with a VW of 1.5 kg.

Knowing your boxes VW can save you a few $$ in shipping by choosing the right size box for light weight items.

Small Packet and Tracked Packer do not use Volumetric Weight. Your package has to be under the maximum dimensions for those services.

Please note that Volumetric Weight is used on other Canada Post services such as Regular Parcel and Xpresspost. In the USA USPS only uses Volumetric Weight on items over 12x12x12 inches. Couriers such as UPS and FedEx also use Volumetric Weight in Canada using similar formulas.

[prairies2planet_jc]

Thanks everyone for the replies - very helpful and good to have the mystery solved.

[diminuativedesigns]

Unless using volumetric weight is new, this never happened before last week or so, and I have been shipping for 5 years

[pocomocomputing]

Volumetric weight is not new. It has been around for a while. But maybe what is shown on the label is new. Which would make sense since that is the rate charged.

I do believe that Expedited Parcel was showing actual weight on the PayPal labels in the past when I used it a lot and may have recently started showing the Volumetric weight on the labels. Hard to check since I use Expedited parcel rarely now as I have small items for sale.

eBay/PayPal/Pitney Bowes have been changing PayPal's shipping labels in the past year so it may have changed. Maybe another update recently.

Maybe someone who uses Expedited Parcel more often can check what is being shown on a label. Or perhaps the OP can post what dimensions and weight were entered in to the eBay listing.

[canuckchick]

It tells you what it WOULD cost, if the weight were at its maximum for the volume measured.  Its probably designed to make you THINK that Canada Post is giving you a break by charging the lesser amount.  This type of spin on reality is all too common nowadays!  

[chupacabra2000]

I'm surprised this is remotely legal.  You're bringing a packaged item that's under their weight estimate but they're charging up a penalty.  Not to mention, forget about packing items securely with 2" of padding on all sides!  No wonder I've been stuck trying to correct the weight field, re-entering weight and dimensions  but the weight is listed at approximately double the actual weight of a fragile items I've packed to survive shipping across a national border, then from one coast to the other.  You'd think there'd be more incentive to pack carefully and even reduce fuel emissions by making packages lighter.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@chupacabra2000 wrote:

I'm surprised this is remotely legal.  You're bringing a packaged item that's under their weight estimate but they're charging up a penalty.  Not to mention, forget about packing items securely with 2" of padding on all sides!  No wonder I've been stuck trying to correct the weight field, re-entering weight and dimensions  but the weight is listed at approximately double the actual weight of a fragile items I've packed to survive shipping across a national border, then from one coast to the other.  You'd think there'd be more incentive to pack carefully and even reduce fuel emissions by making packages lighter.

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@chupacabra2000 

If the shipment was in Canada the weight shown will be based on dimensions.  International like expedited it will show actual. The note on label will be DIM weight. When system does the math it "should" be billing based on the volume or actual weight. Whichever is greater. The calculation they use is found on the CP website. It would be awesome if the label showed both when applicable but unfortunately that does not happen. When in doubt keep a note of the actual measurements and watch the bill when they process. They have been registering a bit quicker than in the past as of late.

-Lotz