Generally, the freight is charged according to the billing formula of “first weight + additional weight”, but it is also related to the ticket, piece, size and weight of the goods. Considering the safety of transportation, loading and unloading and manual handling, special specifications of goods such as overlong, overweight and special shapes will be rejected or charged extra. However, the actual operating cost of bulky cargo in transportation, internal processing and delivery is relatively high, and it occupies a large space. Bulk weight reflects reasonable cost. Bulk weight means that the larger of gross weight and volume weight is charged for freight. Volume weight is rarely reflected in domestic land express delivery, but air transport capacity is scarce. The bulk weight ratio of small parcels of bulky cargo is large, which can be simply described as “too much to weigh”.

For bulk weight or volume, the industry has certain classification standards. The international air transport market generally adopts the standard of bulk weight ratio of 1:167, that is, the algorithm of “volume ÷ 6000”. The volume of irregular items is estimated by the “smallest cuboid” loaded. When the volume weight of the cargo is greater than the actual weight, the freight forwarder charges the customer based on the volume weight, but charges the airline based on the actual weight or lower weight. The difference is called “eating bubbles”. The freight forwarder can mix other people’s “heavy cargo” and “light cargo” to make “flat cargo”. When everyone knows the price difference, the “bubble splitting” phenomenon appears. If the “60% to 40% bubble splitting” is followed, then “the freight forwarder gets 60% and the customer gets 40%. If the actual weight is 140kg and the bubble weight is 160kg, then the 20kg will be divided into 40% and 60%.

Heavy cargo ballast is the most popular. “General cargo” may refer to cargo with a compromise bubble weight ratio, or it may refer to conventional foreign trade cargo. However, when the cargo is too heavy, it is not conducive to load balance, and the pallet will be charged “pad fee” for overweight.

In the shipping container billing, the “measured volume” of the cargo is different from the “occupied cargo hold volume” including the deficit hold. There is a “billing ton revenue” in the bulk cargo consolidation. The concept of “tons” is a general term for weight tons (W) and size tons (M), referred to as R/T. The charge is based on the volume-to-weight ratio, with the larger one being discarded. For example, 1:500 means that a cargo weighing 500kg is equivalent to 1m3. If it is less than a cubic meter, it is charged by cubic meter. If the cargo is 1000kg/1m3, it is charged at 2RT. According to international shipping business practices, any cargo with a cargo stowage factor of less than 40㎡/t is called heavy cargo. If it is charged according to the UK’s 1:363 (the United States usually has 1m3 corresponding to 200kg), then 1m3 corresponds to 363kg. For example, a cargo weighing 1t and with a volume of 1m3 will be charged at 2.75 yuan/m3. The common system in my country is The density is greater than 1t/㎡ for heavy goods, and carriers may also use different weight-to-bulk ratios for calculation in off-season and peak season.

Customers who report light weight and have small deviations can be treated leniently, and larger logistics companies or LCL companies will “increase the code beyond the square meter”. The parcel volume is large and it is troublesome to measure the volume, so usually the bubble will not be counted piece by piece at the customer’s handover end. When express delivery handles the weight of a single parcel, it can be equipped with dynamic electronic scales and 3D measurement on the sorting line of the distribution center, or random sampling can be used to realize weight audit. In contrast, the strict “postal code + address” verification system has a greater effect on the billing of cross-border parcels. “Freight to be collected” shipments will be charged this freight to the recipient. The freight shown on the airway bill is usually the actual settlement freight, or it may be the nominal freight stipulated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

In addition to the basic freight calculated by service, there are various surcharges, which are different from value-added services and are mandatory options, such as remote areas, dangerous goods, non-standard goods, fuel, carbon emission compensation programs, etc. For example, the fuel surcharge is a floating fee that changes with the fuel price. Regardless of the mode of transportation, the fuel cost is the biggest part of transportation. Since the frequent changes in fuel prices lead to fluctuations in transportation costs, air transportation often has this charge. If a paper bill of lading is submitted during consignment, the carrier’s system entry hours will be increased, and data entry and EDI manifest information fees will be charged. There are dozens or even hundreds of surcharges in international logistics. Some surcharges are charged by shipowners/airlines, some are charged for entering and leaving ports/terminals, and some are charged by freight forwarders under various pretexts. For example, part of the fees are adjusted and transferred between consignees and consignors. On the one hand, the fees are lowered to attract consignors, and on the other hand, the consignees are charged more at the destination port. Therefore, before shipping, the freight price composition must be determined in advance, and the “industry regulations” charging items must be distinguished to avoid the phenomenon of random charges or inflated surcharges after shipment.

For online shipping billing on e-commerce platforms, different freight templates must be set according to the product classification. Each freight template has specific shipping billing rules. Many sellers earn logistics fees instead of product price differences, such as setting rates that are different from the actual freight rates and earning the price difference between the first weight and the additional weight. In e-commerce marketing activities, sellers who offer free shipping can save more logistics costs by selling products in bundles or in the form of discount packages, or let consumers increase their single purchase quantity to obtain faster logistics methods. Usually, sellers use promotional forms such as free shipping for combined multiple orders, that is, when buyers purchase a certain amount or product quantity, they can get free shipping or logistics discounts. For different logistics products, sometimes it is cheaper to split multiple items and ship them separately, and sometimes it is cheaper to bundle them. For example, if the product is overweight, you can use a logistics plan of splitting the order and shipping according to the product rules of the logistics provider, separate the main parts and accessories of a set of products, or adopt package sales and combined shipments to reduce the logistics costs of a single ticket.