This handy tool will calculate your volume weight once you have entered the shipment dimensions and number of pieces.

Dimensional weight is a billing technique that calculates a shipment’s size characteristics based on weight and volume instead of only the actual weight.  Weight alone cannot sufficiently describe how much space inside of the transportation vehicle is required to transport a particular shipment.

For example, if you’re shipping 2,000 lbs. of “packing peanuts” they may weigh the same as ton of steel, but the “packing peanuts” will occupy considerably more of the space inside the vehicle and the freight carrier would charge for more than 2,000 lbs in this case because this shipment would take up so much more space.

Dimensional weight is used when the size of a shipment does not require the full use of the vehicle and the shipper does not want to pay for exclusive use of the vehicle. There are separate formulas that are used by air, trucking and ocean carriers to determine dimensional weight.