Scales For You

There are so many trucks on the road now.  We live close to I-40 which runs East to West across the United State, and the increase over the last few years in the number of trucks traveling that road is astounding.  So many of our products are shipped by truck.  Companies like FedEx, DSL, UPS, and the United State Postal Service make it easy for all of us to ship items to other parts of the Country.

If you’re trying to sell on Ebay or operating a small business that ships products out, it will pay you to buy a postage or shipping scale.  You can save yourself some trouble and time by weighing your packages before you take them to the shipping pick-up.  When you know approximately what it will cost to ship the item, you can include at least part of this cost in the price of your product.  www.holladaypartners.com offers an electronic digital shipping scale that will simplify your life at the lowest price ever.

Have you heard the story about a farmer who was buying hammers for $6 each, then standing on the street and selling them for $5 each.  Someone asked him why he would sell at a loss.  His reply was, “anything beats farming.”

If you are one of the many people who sells items on ebay, you need a reliable shipping scale.  By making a picture of the item for ebay, packaging the item for shipping,  and then weighing it on a shipping scale, you can determine exactly how much you will need to charge your customer for shipping.  When the profit is relatively small, a mistake in shipping costs can, not only eat up your profit, but actually put you in the hole.   You’ll end up like the farmer selling hammers! 

My son-in-law loves to shop for bargains.  He buys toys, sports equipment, household appliances, collector’s items or anything else that he finds on a really good sale.  He does almost all the grocery shopping, and even buys clothes for his wife and daughter.  He is happy to return the clothes if they are not satisfactory, because then he can shop some more.  The problem is the accumulation of so much stuff that they don’t need or use–the attic is full, the extra garage is full, the closets are full, the cabinets are full and the pantry is full. 

My daughter finally decided that enough was enough.  Since she couldn’t convince him to stop his hobby of shopping, she started a home business on Ebay.  He buys, she sells.  By using a postage scale, she can figure the cost of shipping at home.  She puts a few items on Ebay.  When they sell, she packages them up and my son-in-law is happy to take them to  the post office, because that means more money for shopping.  It’s a cycle that I could live without, but if it works for them, I’m for it.  I just want them to be happy together so they’ll raise my grandchilddren!

For many people, working from home is the ideal situation, and with the surge in Internet businesses, it is a dream that more and more people are recognizing.

One of the biggest home-based moneymakers is the eBay market. Whether you sell clothing, books, or other collectibles online, this is a great way to work from home and pull in a steady income (or at least some supplemental money). These types of businesses, however, require frequent trips to the post office. As such, there are a few indispensable tools any serious “eBayer” should invest in.

This includes a quality postage scale. An accurate scale allows you to know the exact shipping costs of your product before you travel all the way to the post office. This information is essential in helping you gauge how to price your items.

With a less accurate scale, your shipping estimates can be significantly off, and you stand to lose a chunk of any profits.

I recently found a children’s science experiment that used a large bowl full of water sitting in a baking pan as a scale to measure the volume of different objects.  You gently lower an  apple, rock, or another item into the water in the bowl and the water will overflow into the baking pan to make room for the object.  Then remove the bowl from the pan and pour the water from the pan into a clear measuring cup.  Where the water level lines up with the scale on the measuring cup determines the volume of the object.  By refilling the bowl with water, you can then measure another object. 

I’m sure elementary students in a science class would love experimenting with this measuring device.  However, when I’m ready to measure or weigh an item, I want an up-to-date digital, electronic scale with an easy-to-read display.  Technology has improved so much over the last few years, and I want to take advantage of it when I purchase a scale for my home and/or business.  I’m sure you do, too!

Did you know that the water in a little cloud has been estimated to weigh about 550 tons.  If an elephant weighs six tons, the water inside a typical cumulous cloud would weigh as much as about 100 elephants.  Of course, the water is in tiny little particles not nearly as large as an elephant.  The water in one hurricane could weigh as much as 40,000,000 elephants.  Now that’s a lot of weight!

Many different items may need to be weighed in your homes and/or businesses.  A weigh scale should be purchased according to your weighing needs.  A wide variety of scales with many different features are available in colors that will match any decor.  You probably won’t be weighing elephants or water in clouds, but whatever your weighing needs are, a weigh scale is available.  Evaluate your weighing needs, then look for a weigh scale that will solve your problem accurately and efficiently.  

Why do you need a shipping or postage scale?  Do you have a busy mailroom that regularly ships multiple types of packages or are you just trying to save an occasional trip to the postoffice?  Your needs will determine what type of shipping scale you need and approximately how much you should pay. 

A digital or electronic shipping scale uses a pressure-sensing microprocessor to give you a clear, unambiguous digital readout.  Digital scales normally cost more than manual scales, but the precision may be worth the extra money.  Also, determine the capacity needed before purchasing your scale.  If some of your packages will be large and/or heavy, the shipping scale you buy should be able to accommodate them.   

There are many different kinds of scales to meet varied needs in the workplace and at home.  Most people, when thinking about scales for the home, are looking for bathroom or kitchen scales.  However, some homeowners have hobbies that can benefit from a good set of counting scales.  Many workplaces and some homes need shipping scales.  Restaurants and labs need precision scales to insure accuracy and repeatability.

 When purchasing scales for the home or workplace, evaluate your needs first.  Then look for scales that have the features that will benefit most in your specific endeavor.  Of course, cost is important,  but saving money by purchasing scales without the features needed will cost more in the long run.  My husband says, “If you buy something you don’t like, you won’t get to where you like it.”   I think we can paraphrase and say, “If you buy scales that don’t meet your needs, they won’t get to where they will.” 

I thought accuracy and precision meant the same thing.  They are closely related, but there is a difference.  Accuracy is the degree of closeness of a measured or calculated quantity to its actual (true) value, while precision is the degree to which further measurements or calculations show the same or similar results (repeatability).  A measurement system or computational method is called valid if it is both accurate and precise.

Based on these definitions, I want any scales that I purchase to be precision scales.  However, I also want them to be accurate.  Precision and accuracy are especially important in lab scales, postage scales and kitchen scales.  

My granddaughter went to church camp recently.  She was only gone from Sunday until Friday, but she insisted that her Mom send her a care package.  I’m sure many mom’s still use the postal service to send care packages to their children, regardless of age and circumstances. 

If you are sending many packages, large or small, it will save a lot of time to have your own postage scale.  Just box and wrap your package, set it on the scale and you’ll know the exact weight.  You can then affix the correct amount of postage without going to the Post Office.  Small packages can be placed in your mailbox for pick-up and delivery.  What a convenience!