Rounding up shipping weights?

[inhawaii]

Does anyone here round up shipping weights instead of using the exact weight?

Rounding up a 1, 2 or 3 oz package to 4 oz.

Rounding up a 5, 6 or 7 oz. package to 8 oz.

Rounding up a 9, 10 or 11 oz. package to 12 oz.

Any pros or cons?

[wastingtime101]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

I always round up because it’s quicker for me to create postage labels when I’m popping them out in bulk. Especially on Mondays when it’s crazy... I only have to deal with using 4 different numbers on the keyboard for first class packages (4, 8, 12, 16). Clothing can very easily have half an ounce swing on the higher ounce weights. Thankfully my different clothing categories range in weight falls within a certain postage price group. For instance, my t shirts will always be 8-12 ounces regardless of its size. So I would just always put 12. Much simpler, much faster.

USPS won’t penalize you for claiming a weight higher than actual. There’s even been a few times my employee accidentally enters 9oz when the shirt is actually 11oz. I just shrug and use the postage because it’s the same cost anyway. I’m not going to go thru the hassle of voiding, creating postage manually, then amending the ebay tracking record for something like that.

For my items in regards to combined shipping, they all will go into flat rate Priority packaging anyway (FR envelopes, FR Padded envelopes, FR boxes). So I just enter the weight with a good cushion (usually 2 lbs) and just go with the flat rate service.

This is a bit different and requires weighing when I ship internationally though.

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Ditto for my items weighing under a pound each.

[inhawaii]

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@vintage-car-magazines wrote:

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For those who round up and use 4 oz for a 1 oz package, 8 oz on a 5 oz package and 12 oz for a 9 oz package......

What weight do you enter for a package that weighs 4, 8 or 12 oz?

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Are  you  trying to be a smarty pants?     😉

[muttlymob]

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@kinum-65 wrote:

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Or it arrives at the buyer's door "postage due" and so far her buyers haven't said anything, but the day of reckoning is coming

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If a seller is buying postage online, the buyer should not get charged postage due for weight issues. USPS policy is that individual employees/post offices should not manually add postage due on parcels under the assumption that the difference was already caught by the automated systems in the processing facilities.

The seller's account gets automatically charged (or refunded, if applicable) when the APV system detects a weight discrepancy.

[bigdeals.etc]

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@vintage-car-magazines wrote:

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@krazzykats wrote:

Yes, I round up.

1, 2 or 3 oz package to 4 oz.

5, 6 or 7 oz. package to 8 oz.

9, 10 or 11 oz. package to 12 oz.

Pros: It costs the same to ship 4 ounces as 1 ounce. It costs the same to ship 8 ounces as 5 ounces. It costs the same to ship 12 ounces as 9 ounces...

If the package weighs 5 ounces, I know I can add up to 3 ounces of additional packaging materials.

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For those who round up and use 4 oz for a 1 oz package, 8 oz on a 5 oz package and 12 oz for a 9 oz package......

What weight do you enter for a package that weighs 4, 8 or 12 oz?

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4, 8, 12

[bigdeals.etc]

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@muttlymob wrote:

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@kinum-65 wrote:

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Or it arrives at the buyer's door "postage due" and so far her buyers haven't said anything, but the day of reckoning is coming

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If a seller is buying postage online, the buyer should not get charged postage due for weight issues. USPS policy is that individual employees/post offices should not manually add postage due on parcels under the assumption that the difference was already caught by the automated systems in the processing facilities.

The seller's account gets automatically charged (or refunded, if applicable) when the APV system detects a weight discrepancy.

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You’d think that should be the case. But I remember about a year or two ago I got slapped with a postage due because whatever USPS employee looking at it made a mistake. So 1) the APV should have caught it if it was in fact I made the error, and 2) They shouldn’t be doing this anyway, which is making the APV redundant and useless.

One other time I even got the package sent back to me as additional postage needed. It got all the way to the buyer’s state, then back to me. Not even any postage due available. They voided my original postage so I had to pay it all over again.

[inhawaii]

I'm no expert on how the post office works, but do you really think they weigh and double check each and every package? I don't.  I would imagine only a fraction of randomly picked packages get weighed and double checked.   Anyone know?

[kinum-65]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

I suspect that she's being regularly caught by the APV system and just hasn't noticed the billing.

https://link.usps.com/2017/10/05/what-is-apv/

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/ship-smart/ebay-shipping-partners/avoid-extra-postage-costs....

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Oh that's really nice because if I read that correctly they also refund for overpayments.

[kinum-65]

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@muttlymob wrote:

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@kinum-65 wrote:

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Or it arrives at the buyer's door "postage due" and so far her buyers haven't said anything, but the day of reckoning is coming

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If a seller is buying postage online, the buyer should not get charged postage due for weight issues. USPS policy is that individual employees/post offices should not manually add postage due on parcels under the assumption that the difference was already caught by the automated systems in the processing facilities.

The seller's account gets automatically charged (or refunded, if applicable) when the APV system detects a weight discrepancy.

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I guess times have changed but that is how it was when I first started... If you tried to slip one under the radar and the post office's employee caught it MANUALLY then it MIGHT've arrived at your buyer's door postage due (and they don't get the parcel until they pay)... I suppose today's system is better but the old system taught us to doublecheck everything and not count on someone else's machines...

Because now, you truly can just mark everything first class 4 oz and let them bill us?

Or maybe...

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

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@muttlymob wrote:

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@kinum-65 wrote:

The seller's account gets automatically charged (or refunded, if applicable) when the APV system detects a weight discrepancy.

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You’d think that should be the case. But I remember about a year or two ago I got slapped with a postage due because whatever USPS employee looking at it made a mistake. So 1) the APV should have caught it if it was in fact I made the error, and 2) They shouldn’t be doing this anyway, which is making the APV redundant and useless.

One other time I even got the package sent back to me as additional postage needed. It got all the way to the buyer’s state, then back to me. Not even any postage due available. They voided my original postage so I had to pay it all over again.

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Yup, yup LOL!!!

I've had the pleasure of having to pay for postage twice myself.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@inhawaii wrote:

I'm no expert on how the post office works, but do you really think they weigh and double check each and every package? ...

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Two years ago, USPS installed special equipment at their sorting centers that automatically weighs and measures every package.   See the links posted in this thread, discussing the Automatic Package Verification system.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@kinum-65 wrote: ... if I read that correctly they also refund for overpayments.

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Yes, there have been multiple reports of credits for overpaid postage.

[maros9416]

Sure, any pair of earrings I sell goes out as a 4oz package. They all weight between .05 and 2.5oz, but it is so much easier and less handling. As soon as I sell a pair I can instantly upload tracking if I wanted to. I would assume it is common practice of sellers who's items all weight less than 4oz to just round up to 4oz. They never have to look at a scale.

[bigdeals.etc]

OT, I wonder what genius decided that “ounce” is both a weight AND a volume. Creates a lot of confusion especially when baking.

[debbe4ever]

Only if you don't consider that one is a dry weight and one is liquid lol

[bigdeals.etc]

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@debbe4ever wrote:
Only if you don't consider that one is a dry weight and one is liquid lol

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I’ve actually ran into a few recipes that called for some dry weights as a ounces (volume). Stuff like flour and sugar I can make my peace with, because it’s rather a uniform density and is small enough to not have many voids in a measuring cup. But I recall one recipe one time called for a volume of nuts. I’m like that would vary a lot in weight because of the voids and depending on the size of your nuts (pun not intended).

I’m just lucky that they don’t also do this with “pound”... calling it a volume of liquid too.