Cubic weight surcharges
I learned about these sneaky surcharges long ago thanks to selling second-hand goods on eBay. Knowing about them is not only good for shipping reps, but shipping anything. Most freight companies, including Australia Post, charge by whichever weight is highest: cubic weight or actual weight. If your cubic weight is higher than your actual weight, you could pay more than you should. I hope this post will save people some dollars.
I think the formula used to calculate cubic weight is standard across the industry. In any case, AAE say:
'Cubic Weight' means the weight determined by us by multiplying the height, width and depth of the Goods by the standard cubic factor of 250 kilograms per cubic metre, rounded up to the nearest whole kilogram.
Translated, that means:
AAE then round up the answer to the nearest whole kilogram.
Your aim is to get the cubic weight as close as possible to the actual weight. Here's an example. When I recently shipped Zephyr from Melbourne to Cairns, the dimensions of my box were 21.7 x 17.7 x 17.9 cm. If I pop the dimensions of my box into the formula, my cubic weight is:
(0.217 x 0.177 x 0.179) x 250 = 1.72 kilograms
Since my actual weight including the snake was 1.6 kilos, that’s pretty good. Because AAE would round that up to 2 kilograms, I have plenty of extra weight to play with without having to pay more. But if my cubic weight came out at 2.001 kilos, I’d be charged for 3 kilograms.
It is therefore very important to (a) estimate the weight of your box, packaging and contents, and (b) work out the dimensions of the parcel accordingly before deciding how you will package your reptile (or anything else). It can be difficult to do, but it will save you money when you get the hang of it.
If anyone has any questions, comments, tips or corrections, please feel free to add to this thread.
Regards,
Renenet
I learned about these sneaky surcharges long ago thanks to selling second-hand goods on eBay. Knowing about them is not only good for shipping reps, but shipping anything. Most freight companies, including Australia Post, charge by whichever weight is highest: cubic weight or actual weight. If your cubic weight is higher than your actual weight, you could pay more than you should. I hope this post will save people some dollars.
I think the formula used to calculate cubic weight is standard across the industry. In any case, AAE say:
'Cubic Weight' means the weight determined by us by multiplying the height, width and depth of the Goods by the standard cubic factor of 250 kilograms per cubic metre, rounded up to the nearest whole kilogram.
Translated, that means:
(Length x height x width in metres) x 250 = Cubic weight in kilograms
AAE then round up the answer to the nearest whole kilogram.
Your aim is to get the cubic weight as close as possible to the actual weight. Here's an example. When I recently shipped Zephyr from Melbourne to Cairns, the dimensions of my box were 21.7 x 17.7 x 17.9 cm. If I pop the dimensions of my box into the formula, my cubic weight is:
(0.217 x 0.177 x 0.179) x 250 = 1.72 kilograms
Since my actual weight including the snake was 1.6 kilos, that’s pretty good. Because AAE would round that up to 2 kilograms, I have plenty of extra weight to play with without having to pay more. But if my cubic weight came out at 2.001 kilos, I’d be charged for 3 kilograms.
It is therefore very important to (a) estimate the weight of your box, packaging and contents, and (b) work out the dimensions of the parcel accordingly before deciding how you will package your reptile (or anything else). It can be difficult to do, but it will save you money when you get the hang of it.
If anyone has any questions, comments, tips or corrections, please feel free to add to this thread.
Regards,
Renenet
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My old freight company promised me lots of things on cheap pricing...quoting me one figure which i then passed onto the customer then adding fuel levy, administration, gst, and then not giving us the discount....this was especially bad on the most expensive freight job we had. Got quoted $453 which is what we charged our customer, a month later they send us the invoice of $790...I was obviously unimpressed and fought it for months eventually paying $650 to just make it go away. I am currently looking for a new freight company....
