In dropshpping industry, product weight is one of the most important factors that influence shipping costs. That’s why most people only dropshipping light products.
However, do you know sometimes product size can also be a critical factor that makes shipping rates become higher? That’s because when shipping light products, most shipping companies will use dimension weight to calculate shipping costs. What is dimension weight and how to know the exact shipping cost of the product you want to see? Let’s find out.
Definition
Actual Weight: The weight after weighing, including the Gross Weight (G.W.) and the Net Weight (N.W.). The most common Weight is Gross Weight.
Dimensions Weight/Volumetric Weight: Weight is calculated by the volume of cargo according to a certain conversion coefficient or calculation formula.
Chargeable Weight(C.W.): The weight to calculate freight charges or other incidental charges.
Calculation
Dimensions Weight
Its general calculation method of express delivery and air transportation: Dimensions Weight = Length( cm)* width (cm)* height (cm)/6000. This means the conversion coefficient of volume and weight is usually 1:167, that is, one cubic meter is about 167 kilograms.
Chargeable Weight
Chargeable Weights = either Gross Weight or Dimensions Weight. Compare the Gross Weight and the Dimensions Weight, whichever is heavy is Chargeable Weight, also called Full Throwing Weight.
Chargeable Weight= (Gross Weight + Dimensions Weight)/2, also called Half Throwing Weight.
Chargeable Weight= Gross Weight (If the Dimensions Weight is no more than 20kg), also called Free Throwing Weight.
Example
Generally, for heavy goods/deadweight cargo, the charge shall be based on the Gross Weight, while for light goods/bulky cargo, the charge shall be based on the Dimensions Weight.
For express delivery and air transportation, the goods whose Dimensions Weight is heavier than Gross Weight are light goods/bulk cargo, such as cotton, that’s to say if the goods’ weight per CBM is heavier than 166.67 kg, the goods are heavy goods/deadweight cargo.
For example:
- Gross Weight: 15kg
- Dimensions Weight: 50CM X 50CM X 48CM /6000 =20kg
- If Full Throwing Weight: Chargeable Weight=20kg;
- If Half Throwing Weight: Chargeable Weight=(15+20) / 2 = 17.5 kg=18kg;
- If Free Throwing Weight: Chargeable Weight=15kg.
For sea transportation, its calculation is simple than air transportation, the LCL business in China basically divides heavy goods and light goods according to the standard of 1 cubic meter equals 1 ton. Among LCL, heavy goods are rare, and almost are all light goods, and the freight charge is calculated according to the volume.
