4 steps to measuring your parcel

Here at Temando we are in the business of helping our customers get the best possible shipping experience. When you are sending something, whether it is a gift for a family member, a product a customer has bought or components to one of your customers, you need to be sure that it will get there on time, you want to know that the carrier will deliver. Our job is to help you, our customer, to find the best carrier and to get the best outcome, it is what we do. To ensure that our customers get the best possible results every single time, we know that we need to give them as much advice as possible. 

There are many areas that can trip people up when they are organising a courier, one of these is getting the right measurements of their parcel. Couriers are very particular about the dimensions of the packages and if you get it wrong then you can be charged more. That is why we have composed this guide to help you make sure that you get the measurements for your package just right. That way you can be sure that the price you are quoted is the price that you will end up paying. 

The dimensions of your package is entered into the Temando system as – Length x Width x Height.

Step 1. Determining the length of your package

You need to measure the longest side of your package, rounding to the nearest centimetre. This is your length.

Step 2. Determining the width of your package

You need to measure the width of your package, rounding to the nearest centimetre

Step 3. Determining the height of your package

You need to measure the height of your package, rounding to the nearest centimetre 

 

Now all you need to do enter these details into the Temando system.

Ok, that works find for a box like shaped package, but what if you have an irregular shaped package? Don’t worry, Temando have got you covered. 

If you are trying to measure boxes or containers that are irregular in shape then you will need to use a little bit of guess-ology. Basically you need to use the same technique as above, measuring the extremes of each dimension. Generally speaking the courier company is not worried about the bulk of the package (at least with respect to dimensions as the bulk is determined by the weight) but rather the absolute length, width and height, so just give it as good a shot as you can to get the maximums of all three of these dimensions so that you can get as accurate an idea as possible. 

It’s interesting to know that most carriers base the rates on the cubic volume – how much space your package takes up in the truck. The cubic volume also known as the cubic weight is calculated using the length, width and height dimensions. 

Make sure you use these easy steps to measure your parcel.