How to Reduce the Gross Weight of Your Package

The cost of shipping a package depends on several factors, one of the most important being the gross or dimensional weight, whichever is greater. In most cases, carriers charge by dimensional weight, but small but heavy packages are usually charged by gross weight. Is there a way to reduce the gross weight of these packages? Let’s find out together.

The gross weight of a package is its actual weight, packaging and all, while the dimensional weight (also known as DIM weight or volumetric weight) reflects how much space a package takes up in relation to its gross weight. Carriers introduced dimensional weight because large but lightweight packages can take up a lot of space.

Most packages have a higher DIM weight than gross weight, but some are small but heavy. Of course, you can’t make the items you ship lighter to reduce shipping costs, but you can minimize the combined weight of the items, their packaging, and any additional components such as cushioning.

To minimize the actual weight of your package, use lightweight materials such as corrugated cardboard, bubble wrap, biodegradable peanuts, and honeycomb paper instead of foam or cardboard inserts. However, it is important to make sure that the materials you use are durable, because your ultimate goal is to strike a balance between minimizing weight and ensuring the safety of the items in the package. That’s why, for example, regular thin cardboard will not do the job; you have to use corrugated cardboard.

It is also a good idea to minimize excess material by choosing the right box size. If the box is too large for the items, you will have to fill the empty space with packing material, which will increase the gross weight. You should choose a box that is just large enough for the items and a sufficient, but not excessive, amount of packing material to protect the items.

If the items you’re shipping come in individual boxes, consider whether double-boxing is really necessary. Some items, such as electronics, should be double-boxed for added security, and you can’t remove the original boxes when you sell the items. In some cases, however, it is perfectly fine to get rid of extra boxes, which will allow you to minimize both the size and weight of your package.

Since there is only so much you can do to minimize the weight of your package, you may want to consider flat-rate shipping. Flat-rate shipping means that you pay a fixed shipping rate regardless of the weight and size of your package or the distance it’s shipped (up to a certain limit).

Carriers typically have several sizes of flat-rate envelopes and boxes, so you choose one that is the right size for your items and pay the set shipping price regardless of how much the package actually weighs, as long as its weight is below a certain threshold (for example, 70 lbs for the United States Postal Service).

In most cases, flat-rate shipping is a cost-saving option for small but heavy packages. To find out if it’s really the best option for you, you can use our Postage Calculator to calculate shipping costs based on the DIM/gross weight of your package and then compare the results to the carrier’s flat rates.