Create a Letter Postage Scale

Here is a simple way to create a US specific first-class letter scale that is surprisingly accurate and simple. You will know if your first-class letter requires more than standard postage and if so, how much more. It should take about 5 minutes to complete and is reusable.

Steps

  1. Attach your rubber band to the end of the ruler (or item you are using instead of a ruler, see Things You'll Need section). Tie a knot near one end of the rubber band (leaving loops on either side of the knot) and attach it to the end of the ruler.
  2. Put a piece of tape over the rubber band to help ensure that it does not slip or change position on the ruler. The rubber band must be flat on the surface of the ruler opposite the knot.
  3. Clip the paper clip onto the rubber band so that it will be able to hold onto a letter while hanging from the rubber band. A large paper clip is recommended.
  4. Move the ruler so the rubber band is just hanging off the edge of a table. The table should have a sharp edge.
    • If you don't have a table available, use anything that has a sharp edge and a flat and level surface that is at least the length of the ruler. A book on a table or small box or desk picture frame might suffice. Put this sharp-edged surface at the end of the table to be used instead of the table.
  5. Make a calibration weight. Gather 5 quarters and make a stack. This is one ounce! Place the stack of quarters on the rubber band that is wrapping the ruler. Be careful to make sure the quarters are perfectly balanced on the rubber band. If they lean off of the rubber band and touch the ruler, the scale will not be accurate. This is why a medium width rubber band is needed. A thin rubber band is tough to balance the quarters on.
  6. Find the balance. Slowly inch the ruler off of the desk (or the surface with a sharp edge). The ruler should be perpendicular to the edge you are using. Any angle you use off of 90 degrees will reduce accuracy. You will find at some point that the ruler will begin to tilt and want to fall off. Go back and forth between it desiring to fall and it staying on. Try to get to the place where the end of the ruler slowly lifts off the table and begin to tilt down toward the quarters.
  7. Make a mark on the ruler. Make a very small and fine line to show at what point the ruler began to fall. Again, make sure that the ruler is still perpendicular to the edge it is tilting off of.
  8. Add more weight to the calibration. Add a second stack of 5 quarters so that 10 quarters are balanced. This is two ounces.
    • You can also try to use tape to create a bundle of quarters and hang the bundle from the paper clip. Just be sure to use thin, light tape--like Scotch tape--and not much of it.
  9. Repeat the previous three steps for as many ounce marks you like.
  10. Confirm your scale, if you like. With marks at 1 ounce and 2 ounces, you can also make a mark at 1/2 ounce without much effort. Use a piece of paper and copy the marks you made on your ruler to the edge of a paper (copy the distance, in other words). Now, make a new mark on the ruler that exact distance away from the 1 ounce mark and heading away from the 2 ounce mark. You should now have three marks of exactly the same distance with 1 ounce in the middle, 2 ounces closest to the rubber band and 1/2 ounce closest to the middle of the ruler. Place 4 dimes and a nickel back on your scale (almost exactly 1/2 ounce!). Slide the scale to the new mark you made and see how close you are.
  11. Clip an envelope on the paper clip and tell its weight. If the ruler doesn't fall off of the table when the stick is lined up to the 1 ounce mark, you're good with a single stamp! Over 1 ounce but under 2 ounces, add a 17 cent stamp. You can also tell the approximate weight by sliding the ruler slowly until it begins to tip off the table.
  12. See how much postage to put on the envelope.

    Weight Not OverPrice
    1 ounce$0.42
    2 ounces$0.59
    3 ounces$0.76
    3.5 ounces$0.93
  13. You may need to add additional postage if your letter is smaller than 3x5", larger than 6.125x11.5, over 3.5 OZ, or more than 1/4" thick.

Tips

  • Get a postal rate guide, it will tell you all of the different things the postal service charges for, not just weight. They also go by size and thickness of the letter(if it is bigger than normal and thicker it will need to be hand sorted, therefore it costs more than machine sorting).
  • If you want to measure your way to new scale marks, each mark you make that is equal distance is exactly double the weight of the previous marks made. I.e. 1/2 ounce doubles to 1 ounce. 1 ounce doubles to 2. Your next equally distant mark will be 4 ounces, next 8 ounces. Halfway in between 2 and 4, however, is NOT 3 ounces. The halfway mark between ounces (in weight, not distance!) is actually about 5/8 of the distance from the lower toward the higher weight.
  • If you use a piece of wood, be sure to double check your scale at different times of the year. Humidity in the air can affect the weight and throw the scale off slightly.
  • If you run out of room for making marks, try adding a small weight, like a quarter, to the opposite end of the ruler from the rubber band. Make sure the quarter is taped (or glued) on well and won't move. You will need to recalibrate with the weight added.

Warnings

  • This is only as accurate as you allow it to be. Take your time to build it right, and it should get you within a 10th of an ounce or less in accuracy.

Things You'll Need

  • 1 Rubber band (preferably medium width (2mm to 3mm...about the thickness of two quarters) and about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} in length)
  • 10 Quarters
  • Paper clip (bigger is better)
  • a little tape of any type you prefer
  • a wood or plastic ruler or some other item that is at least {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} long and not cylindrical (don't want it to be able to roll around). It should be light weight but NOT flexible. Heavy object will make this difficult or impossible. The longer and lighter the item, the more accurate the measure!
  • a postal rate guide, for weight, size and thickness charges.

Related Articles

Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Create_a_Letter_Postage_Scale&oldid=319552"