Size and Weight
Indicating the size and weight of your packages is key to getting accurate rates and ensuring your shipment is within the service guidelines set by your selected carrier. The more accurate your information is, the better the rate quote you will receive from the carriers.
If the size and weight details are incorrect, many carriers will charge you a post-shipment adjustment fee to make up the difference for the actual cost of the shipment. This may also result in your package being held by the carrier until the extra delivery cost is paid by you or the recipient. Additionally, if the size or weight you enter exceed the min or max limits for the selected service, you should receive an error from the carrier. This will help you know if you need to change to a different service or carrier for that parcel (and avoid potentiall costly adjustments from the carrier if you hand over a package that doesn't meet their service guidelines.)
Requirements
Add the weight
and dimensions
objects to the packages
object when creating a shipment, creating a label, or getting a rate.
The weight
object for a shipment's packages
object is required and requires two properties:
Property | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
unit | enumerated string | required ounce , pound , gram , kilogram |
value | decimal | required The weight of the package in the unit specified. |
The dimensions
object for a shipment's packages
object is optional (but recommended). When using this object, it requires four properties:
Property | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
unit | enumerated string | required inch , centimeter |
length | decimal | required The package length in the unit specified. |
width | decimal | required The package width in the unit specified. |
height | decimal | required The package height in the unit specified. |
Create Label Example Request
This example shows how to create a label for a package with a weight of 9.6 ounces, and dimensions of 12.0 x 7.1 x 6.0 inches.
POST /v1/labels/
Both the package weight and dimension properties will be returned in the packages
object in the response.
TIP:
Multi-Package Shipments
You'll notice that the
packages
object is an array of objects. This means for services that support multi-package shipping, you'll add multiple objects containing the relevant package details for each package that is part of a multi-package shipment.