You might be wondering what is the use of taking volumetric weight instead of actual weight, isn’t it?

The higher of the actual weight or the volumetric weight is considered while shipping the packages. Let me give you a hypothetical example: A person is shipping a balloon to the USA which actually weighs in grams but it’s going to take a lot of space on the plane because of its low density. To avoid these circumstances the higher of the actual and volumetric weight is taken into consideration to standardize the shipping costs of less dense packages.

What Is Volumetric Weight?

Volumetric weight is also known as dimensional weight and it came into existence because the cost of shipment also gets affected by the space it occupies on the aircraft rather just than the actual weight. Volumetric weight is based on the size of the package (length, width and height) instead of the actual weight.

Besides just that, dimensional weight encourages the shippers to pack their goods efficiently and make the best use of aircraft space and deliver the benefits to other customers as well. This reduces the shipping costs as more weight can be carried by aircraft and the best use have been made of the space available.

How To Calculate Volumetric Weight For International Courier By DHL FedEx

Calculating volumetric of dimensional weight for air freight is just a child’s play using a simple formula. Multiply length, width, and height of your parcel and divide that by 5000 in-case you have measured in centimeters. If you have measured length, width and height in inches, divide the product by 305.

Volumetric Weight Calculation In Centimetres

: (Length X Breadth X Height)/5000

Volumetric Weight Calculation In Inches

: (Length X Breadth X Height)/305

If you are shipping packages every day or on a regular basis (weekly or monthly), the following tips can be a boon for you. Actual weight is fine but volumetric weight sucks surging shipping costs.

There is only one big way to reduce the dimensional weight

Reducing the size of the shipping box is the only way to lower down your volumetric weight. Let’s say you are shipping 31cm X 31cm X 31cm box daily which leads to 6kgs dimensional weight.

But if you reduce your box height by 4cm, it will be lead to 5kgs dimensional weight. You can use this free volumetric weight calculator to do the calculations.

Lowering down your box size by just a few cms led to a KG reduction in the dimensional weight leading to savings of thousands of rupees in a month with only a single package. Make sure you check out this Packing Advise For International Courier page.

P.S. Make sure to tell the exact dimensions to us or your preferred courier company (without rounding off). What happens is that if your package dimensions are: 31cm X 31cm X 30.5cms and you round off it to 31cm X 31cm X 31cm, the scanner of DHL, FedEx, UPS etc.((might not be as much accurate as you measured) might find it as 31cm X 31cm X 31.5cms which further rounds it to 31cm X 31cm X 32cm which gives you a hit of increase in cost for 1cm for a single package.