I am sending 10 cartons of the same size and weight: how do I get the chargeable weight for the whole shipment?

Example: stock going to a customer's warehouse

Ten cartons, each 40 × 30 × 30 cm and 6 kg, with a divisor of 5000 from the carrier in this example. Here is what the tool returned:

• One carton: volume 36,000 cm³, volumetric weight 7.2 kg (15.87 lb), which applies because it beats 6 kg.
• Total volume for ten: 360,000 cm³.
• Total actual weight: 60 kg, while the total chargeable weight is 72 kg (158.7 lb).

The gap between 60 and 72 kg is what you pay for empty space inside the cartons. With identical cartons, improving one box improves all ten.

Why the rounded figure is multiplied

The tool rounds each package's weights to two decimals, then multiplies the figure shown by the quantity. That way what you see always adds up: 7.2 × 10 = 72, with no total that differs from the multiplication by a hundredth. A note under the result says so whenever the quantity is above 1.

Ask your carrier: per carton or per shipment?

That rule belongs to the carrier, not the tool. Some carriers calculate and round each piece separately, others work on the shipment as a whole. To see why it matters, suppose a carrier rounded each carton up to the next half kilo, purely as a hypothetical: 7.2 becomes 7.5, and the total becomes 7.5 × 10 = 75 kg rather than 72. The tool does not apply such rounding, so apply it yourself if your carrier's terms say so.

1. Open the Volumetric shipping-weight calculator and enter one packed carton's size and weight.
2. Select the divisor your carrier gives you, or type it in Divisor value.
3. Type 10 in Identical packages and read the three total lines.
4. Copy the result and paste it into your packing list with the Packing-list generator, next to the carton numbers.

If the cartons come from a supplier, ask for their dimensions on the purchase order you raise with the Purchase-order generator, so you can work out shipping before the goods arrive. If the cartons are not all the same size, the quantity field is not enough: run each size separately.