Can You Use a Kitchen Scale for Postage?
A kitchen scale is a multi-functional product that can be of great help if you are into cooking food and preparing meals on a daily basis. Whether you own a restaurant or a bar, or your main customers are your family members and friends that come over for dinner, a kitchen scale will allow you to stay stress-free and accurate throughout this process. Why? Much like packing for a travel trip, measuring ingredients using a cup, tablespoon, and other traditional methods are not as effective.
A kitchen scale is something many forget about, yet once they get one, it is hard to stay away from it. There are a number of different types and it is up to your budget and preference to choose the best one. While mechanical and triple-beam scales were quite popular a decade ago, today, it is the digital kitchen scale that seems to be the best selling type of food scale.
Apart from the design and the material a scale is made of, there are a variety of different points to consider. Out of all, it is the capacity that plays a huge role in a proper kitchen scale. A model that has a capacity greater than 5 kg can be used for more than measuring simple food ingredients. Bearing this in mind, a common question is can you use a kitchen scale for postage? The answer is — it all depends.
What to Look for in a Postal Scale?
Whether you are in the buying and selling business, or you happen to deal with a lot of postal packages on a regular basis, investing in a proper scale is a must. Still, looking at the market, postal scales seem to be pricier than the food ones.
On the other hand, even if the pricey postal scales were your only option, buying one would be a much better deal than if you had to pay full postage retail prices, as well as the fees charged for postage weighing.
The thing is, while some postage scales are on the high-end side, with proper research you can find a proper kitchen scale model that will not cost you the earth. Your best bet is to scroll down E-commerce sites such as Amazon and search for the relevant products.
There are a few points you need to consider during this process. Firstly, a postal scale needs to have a high capacity — while not all packages weigh above 15 lbs., if you are serious about your business, one with at least 50-lb. capacity is a must. Apart from that, a postal scale should be accurate and able to perform low-value measurements while staying precise at 1/10 oz increments.
Why does this matter? If you are going to ship those packages via airplane, there are certain requirements that it needs to fit. Kitchen scales run both on batteries and an adapter, leaving the power decision solely up to you. Last but not least, a kitchen scale that is not easy to move doesn’t serve its purpose well.
Kitchen Scale as a Postal Scale
Once it is clear what you should look for in a postal scale, it is time to answer the question of whether a particular kitchen one can do the job. As we mentioned above, it all depends on the model. Most of the food scales on the market seem to have a capacity of around 5 to 6 kg. While this is enough for regular food measurements, it is not ideal if you are looking to regularly weigh postal packages.
Along with that, it needs to have exquisite precision when it comes to low 1 gram increments. A good thing is that a digital kitchen scale is lightweight and easy to transport, making it the ideal choice for postal requirements. You can easily take it with you in your car or from one room to another to suit your current mailing situation.
Conclusion
There are a number of different scales on the market, each of them serving their unique purpose. The most popular seems to be a food scale as evidenced by the millions of people using them for food preparation and cooking. On the other hand, without a postal scale, you can never be sure about the weight of your packages. That is why with a high-capacity food scale (like a baker's math scale) you will be getting a multi-functional product to cover a few of your needs.