Automated dimension scanners routinely misread packing tape, bulging carton sides and loose polybag as rigid edges — inflating your billable weight by one or two 500g slabs. Compute the true weight, quantify the overcharge, and file a dispute that demands a weight freeze.
Direct Summary: Volumetric weight is (L × W × H in cm) ÷ 5000. Billable weight is the
higher of physical scale weight and volumetric weight, rounded up to the next 500g slab. If your parcel weighs
400g but the carrier billed 1.5kg, the scanner inflated the dimensions. Each excess 500g slab costs roughly ₹20–₹30
on forward freight and again on reverse. A successful dispute needs three photographs — the parcel on a calibrated
scale, a tape measurement across all three dimensions with the AWB label readable, and a close-up of the label —
plus a written request to apply a weight freeze so the error stops recurring.
Volumetric weight (kg) = (L × W × H) ÷ 5000. Billable weight is the higher of that and your dead weight, then rounded up to the next 500g slab. A 28 × 20 × 12 cm carton is 1,344 g volumetric.
Enter your dimensions to see whether a smaller carton would drop you into a lower slab.
Pre-formatted with the divisor calculation and a weight-freeze demand
Replace [YOUR SELLER / BRAND NAME] before sending, and attach the three photographs listed in the letter.
At a selling price of ₹799 with landed cost ₹240, forward freight ₹65, packaging ₹20 and ad CAC ₹130, net profit on a delivered order is ₹344. Each return costs ₹270 (both freight legs, packaging, CAC). The break-even RTO rate is 56% — above that, every additional return destroys cash. At your current 20% return rate, blended profit is ₹221.20 per order, ₹22,120 per 100 dispatched.
Maximum survivable return rate is 56%. You have 36% of headroom at your current 20%. Each delivered order covers 0.78× one return.
| Selling price | ₹799 |
| Gross margin (price − landed cost) | ₹559 |
| Delivered deductions (forward freight + packaging + CAC) | −₹215 |
| Net profit per delivered order | ₹344 |
| Return deductions (both freight legs + packaging + CAC) | ₹270 |
| Break-even RTO rate | 56% |
| Return rate | Delivered | Returned | Net profit | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5% | 95 | 5 | ₹31,330 | Profit |
| 10% | 90 | 10 | ₹28,260 | Profit |
| 15% | 85 | 15 | ₹25,190 | Profit |
| 20% | 80 | 20 | ₹22,120 | Profit |
| 25% | 75 | 25 | ₹19,050 | Profit |
| 30% | 70 | 30 | ₹15,980 | Profit |
| 35% | 65 | 35 | ₹12,910 | Profit |
| 40% | 60 | 40 | ₹9,840 | Profit |
| 50% | 50 | 50 | ₹3,700 | Profit |
/rto-break-even-calculator?price=799&cost=240&cac=130&fwd=65&rev=55&pack=20&resale=100&active=20
Couriers do not bill on what your parcel weighs. They bill on whichever is higher — the scale weight, or the space it occupies on a truck — and then round that up to the next 500-gram slab.
Ignore flapping tape, bulging sides and loose polybag. Measure the carton itself, the way it would sit flat on a truck floor.
A 400g item in a large box is billed on the box's volume, not the item's weight. That is not an error — it is the tariff.
501g bills as 1kg. That rounding is where the slab overcharge hides, and where a dispute recovers money.
A strip of tape folded over the carton edge, or a second layer applied across a flap, reads as extra height or width. This is the single most common cause of a one-slab jump.
Overfilled boxes bow outward at the seams. The scanner reads the widest point of the bulge, not the nominal carton size you ordered.
Soft outer packaging compresses under its own weight in transit but not on a static scanner belt, so the measured dimensions exceed the packed reality.
A parcel that was damaged, flattened and re-taped in a hub measures larger than the original because the re-fold changes its profile.
Shave centimetres off carton height to drop into a lower slab.
Local, zonal and national slabs with the volumetric audit.
Find weight and commission overcharges across your whole statement.
Challenge false "Customer Unavailable" scans and waive reverse freight.