If you have an online store and you usually make parcel shipments you have to read this post. We are going to explain what is the volumetric weight of a shipment, how to calculate it, and why it is so important to control the logistics costs of your company.

Normally when making a shipment by courier, to calculate the cost of the shipment we always talk about kilos of goods to be sent. However, sometimes the transport company may talk about volumetric weight, so we have to be clear about how to calculate it.

What is Volumetric Weight?

The volumetric weight of a shipment, also called the volume weight, corresponds to the weight of a good taking into account its dimensions.

This way of calculating the weight is usually used by transport companies when the space occupied by the packages is proportionally much higher than the actual weight of the goods. In these cases, the transport company will take into account the volumetric weight instead of the actual weight.

Thus, when calculating the shipping cost of a package, both the actual weight and the volume weight must be calculated, since the transport company will always apply the higher of the two.

How is the Volumetric Weight Calculated?

The calculation of the volume weight is done by means of a simple mathematical formula. First of all, we must calculate the volume of the package. To do this we only need the dimensions (indicated in meters) of the package to be sent and make the following calculation:

VOLUME OF THE PACKAGE:

Length x Width x Height

Once we have the volume of the package, to know the volume weight we must multiply it by the conversion factor indicated by the transport agency:

VOLUMETRIC WEIGHT:

Package volume x Conversion factor

What is the Conversion Factor of Volumetric Weight?

The conversion factor or cubage factor transforms the volume of the package into billable weight. This factor may vary depending on the shipping agency and the conditions we have agreed with them.

For this reason, it is very important to take into account this conversion value when contracting your shipments, even more so if you have to ship bulky packages. It will be useless to have a very good rate per kilo shipped if the transport company then applies a high conversion factor, as we will be paying more kilos for the shipment.

Let’s look at an example:

We have to send a package whose dimensions are 50x40x30cm. and the real weight is 8 kg.

First, we will convert these measurements into meters and multiply them together to calculate the volume of the package:

VOLUME: 0.50 X 0.40 X 0.30m = 0.06m³

Now it is time to apply the conversion factor. For this example we will use a conversion factor of 170 kg/m3. Thus, the volumetric weight would be as follows:

VOLUMETRIC WEIGHT: 0.06m³x 170kg/m³= 10.20 kg.

In this case, we find that our package has a real weight of 8kg. and a volumetric weight of 10.20kg. Since the transport companies use to invoice their shipments with the highest value between real weight and volumetric weight, in this case, the invoice value of this shipment will be 10.20kg.

Importance of Proper Packaging Weight

The above case is a good example of the importance of reducing the volumetric weight of our shipments. The best way is to use cardboard boxes and packaging of the right size. It will be useless to use oversized boxes if, due to the volume weight, we are going to pay more for the shipment.

At Luxury-Paper-Box we offer you a wide variety of e-commerce mailing packaging for any type of shipment:

Self-Assembly E-commerce Mailer Boxes for Online Shipments

This type of self-mountable box for shipments is ideal for shipping small products. We have more than 80 different sizes so you can choose the one that best suits your products. In addition, we have the option to customize this type of packaging box with your logo.

If we know how to choose well our mailer box packaging we will avoid possible additional transportation costs, because we only have to pay for the volume or weight of the product we send and not for the empty space that may be inside our box or packaging.