posted on December 11, 2000 09:40:21 AM
Let me start by saying that I live in Canada. I found some items to sell that are lightweight but large... They are popular items for gift-giving this year so I had 6 of them to sell... I weighed them and priced out the airmail parcel rates at around $8 US. I sold all of my inventory without a problem.
I packaged up my parcels in Xerox paper boxes and brought two of them to the Post Office. Surprise! Surprise! My packages were measured and weighed. They actually weighed 3 pounds, but were rated at 8 pounds due to the size of the box, and so that is what I was charged for mailing, an 8 pound package! I hadn't planned on this at all and was nearly hyperventilating! It cost me an additional $7 US to send these packages!
Now mind you, my profit margin made up for it, but it still hurt! Ouch! I still made a bit of money on my sales... So when I got home, I repackaged the remaining 4 items with smaller, tighter boxes and was able to shave $3 US off the shipping cost... Now I only have to pay $4 US out of pocket to ship these... I'm not too happy about it, but I'll certainly chalk it up to a lesson well-learned.
All this to say, that if need to know how to calculate the minimum density assessed weight, here is what you do: take the measurements of your package (length and width and depth) and multiply them together. If you measured in inches, divide your total by 165. If you measured in centimeters, divide your total by 6000. The resulting answer will be your assessed weight. The post office charges whichever is more, either the actual weight or the assessed weight.
It was certainly my fault for not getting enough info on shipping up front, so I am passing on my lesson here to anybody who might need it.
posted on December 11, 2000 09:47:52 AM
Sounds like there may be an increase in the shipping of rocks throughout Canada. At least, that's what I would do- if I'd be getting charged for 8 pounds, I'd do my best to see that I got my money's worth.
posted on December 11, 2000 09:53:07 AM
Jozi ....... You need to check into AW more often, this was all covered back when it first rolled out in Oct. Sorry you missed the threads!
From here on in BIG lightweight items are out of the question for me, unless they're BIG $$$ makers.
posted on December 11, 2000 10:13:55 AM
RedDeer- It's not so much that I didn't read the original posts in October, I never fully understood the implication. When I checked the Canada Post website, It stated that for Airmail, the distance didn't matter, only the weight... So I didn't realize that by weight, they also meant minimum density assessed weight and not just actual weight. I know! I didn't read it closely enough.... And I'm kicking myself now! So I just tossed the package on my scale and quoted shipping based on that alone.
posted on December 11, 2000 12:38:08 PM
HI reddeer!!!!! Yes it sucks ...Canada post , but i have gotten another letter from Canada Post that the rates are going up again in January..
posted on December 11, 2000 02:06:53 PM
Rates in the U.S. are going up (in January I think), at least for some forms of mailings, which is probably triggering increases in to-U.S. shipping rates.
Minimum Density Postage sounds like a pain, but a package does have two obvious physical factors: weight and size. Too much weight, and the plane won't fly (or whatever), too much size, and fewer pkgs can get loaded aboard. Both have a cost. I've always been somewhat surprised (even having lived in the U.S. my whole life) that the U.S.P.S. only factors weight -- but it is definitely more convenient that way. The cost savings (not just for individuals, but for the U.S.P.S. itself) of not having to measure size must sufficiently offset the capacity loss in shipping some quantity of large but light packages.
posted on December 11, 2000 03:14:12 PM
Minimum density rule is 166,67 kg per cubic meter. This means that Canada Post allows you 6000 cubic cm per kg.
Conversion from metric to Imperial Units gives you around 10.5 pounds per cubic foot or an allowance of 165 cubic inches per pound.
Now, this number is nor very useful since Canada Posts rates are in kg. Then, if you measure in inches, you are allowed 366 cubic inches per kg.
posted on December 11, 2000 03:21:11 PMdc9a320- I'm not sure on the math either but here is a direct copy from the Canada post website.
Minimum density is charged when items are larger in size and light in weight. To calculate the minimum density, multiply the length by the width by the thickness in cm (or inches) and divide the answer by the density factor. This gives you the assessed weight. When the assessed weight is greater than the actual weight, the assessed weight is used to calculate the shipping charges and is to be entered on the shipping document. If the actual weight is greater than the assessed weight, it should be entered on the shipping document.
NOTE: The density factor is 6,000cm (165 for inches).
I've tried calculating a package in centimeters and in inches and comparing the results based on inched and kilos and it always works out very closely.
posted on December 11, 2000 10:29:27 PM
D'oh, that's what I missed, ~2.2 pounds per kilogram. ~2700 * ~2.2 = ~6000. And I generally consider myself pretty good at metric for an American. If only I'd have divided 6000 by my 2704, I'd have recognized the missing factor immediately.
Oh, well, same sort of carelessness that apparently led to a Mars probe being lost, and even closer to why a 767 ran out of fuel halfway into its intended flight. Fortunately, all I did here was write a post to AW
(Thankfully, the heavy jet was glided to a safe landing, with few injuries and minimal damage. )
[ Edited to point out that I should have proofread before posting, not after. 2.2 lb/kg, not 2.2 kg/lb! That's it, time for sleep. ]
[ edited by dc9a320 on Dec 11, 2000 10:33 PM ]
posted on December 12, 2000 12:58:53 AM
I believe that USPS does indeed factor size in its rates. At the Web site calculator, one is asked if the item is a Package, a Large Package, or an Oversized Package.
posted on December 12, 2000 01:52:43 AM
The USPS measures the length and girth of large packages, and charges an "oversize" fee if it's too big, regardless of weight. So does UPS.
jozi, it's also possible that your U.S. bidders would have BALKED at paying almost DOUBLE the shipping charge you quoted them, regardless of the fact that it actually cost that much to ship (and the money wasn't just padding your profit margin). You might have had much less bidding and lower final prices if your auctions had stated the shipping at $15.00 instead of $8.00.
posted on December 14, 2000 07:59:47 AM
I know what it feels like to pay extra then I told the customer.
Now what I do is I pack the item and on my trip to the post office I bring it to be weight, so there will be no mistake in cost.
Because every international item I sold cost me money and none of the customers would reimburse me.
So, the buyer just needs to wait a few days till I go to the post office and I have no problem and so far all my internation customers don't have a problem.
This has worked for me this last year.
Plus my profit is too small to keep paying shipping, which sometimes is more the the item cost.
posted on December 14, 2000 08:55:58 AM
I learned this the hard way, so now if anything is beyond what I normally sell or in any way different, I verify postage beforehand. Even if I can calculate it online at the USPS website, I've still had situations where the actual cost, for whatever unknown reason, was much higher than what I figured. One of the worst surprises was on a "light but large" item. Thankfully I'd made a really sweet profit on it so I still came out ahead after having to pay double the postage I'd expected to. So, I don't trust the online rate calculator and I stay away from oversized stuff for the most part.
Yes it sucks ...Canada post , but i have gotten another letter from Canada Post that the rates are going up again in January