Hi all, I have seen multiple threads asking how to include the weight of the package (tare weight) into an order. Usually the answer is to calculate the amount of items that will fit in a box and add a partial tare weight to each item. I have not found that to work well for our situation. We usually have orders of several items of various sizes and weights.
It would make shipments extremely accurate if a tare weight could be added to each shipping method. Even better would be a tare weight that could be based upon the weight of the products. For 2 lbs of products the tare weight would be less than for 30 lb of products. I would not imagine that this would be an extremely complicated feature to add
Thanks,
Daniel
[quote][color=#282828][font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]It would make shipments extremely accurate if a tare weight could be added to each shipping method.[/font][/color][/quote]
Hello,
Do you always use the same exact carton size for every Fedex Ground, 2nd Day and Priority Overnight shipment? Very unlikely which is why it is actually far more accurate to add an additional tare weight to your actual product weights. You will most likely never be able to cover every possible shipping package weight scenario down to the ounce, however, seldom would it be necessary to do so! 
Keep in mind that all major parcel carriers “Round Up” the actual package weight to the next higher Lb, so use this to your advantage when calculating the amount of tare weight added.
I agree that you will not be able to anticipate all of the variations of boxes you will use with each shipping method. But we are not really talking abut size but rather weight.
I think it would be easier to use shipping methods based on weight (small, medium, and large orders) and assign a tare weight based on the order size. It seems like adjusting the tare weight would be a lot easier than using trial and error to adjust the weight of every product on the site.
[quote][color=#282828][font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]But we are not really talking abut size but rather weight.[/font][/color][/quote]
Hello, you are overlooking a very important detail here in that different carton sizes have different weights…
Go out to your digital scale and weigh a 6 inch cube box, then weigh a 16 inch cube box…
If you really want accuracy in realtime shipping calculations, then you need to enter an additional percentage to your individual product weights to account for the tare.