I’ve been trying to think about a good series to do on the blog this month when most of us are doing more buying and selling then we are reading. So I decided to do a little mini-series talking about the specifics (hardware and software) of what I use to run my business from day to day. My hope is that this look into the Tools of the Trade will help anyone doing their end of the year shopping for the company in addition to their holiday shipping.

So, let’s talk about exactly what scale I use for shipping calculations and printing postage out at home…

For years, I was using a mechanical scale (which I don’t remember the brand of) but I finally noticed a few years ago that it had gotten messed up and no amount of calibration could get it close to right anymore. I finally decided to splurge and get a digital scale. 

At the time (which, full disclosure, was at least 5+ years ago), I researched the heck out of everything out there and finally settled on an UltraShip-75 which I, appropriately enough, got on eBay because that was where I found the best price. Every time he uses it, my husband spends several long minutes extolling its virtues and calling it the best purchase I ever made. He still does this and we’ve had the thing for over 5 years now. Add to this the fact that a) he had nothing whatsoever to do with its purchase and b) he hates most things and you’ll understand that it’s just a great tool that does what you want it to without much fuss.

I love this scale.

Many of the things that make it great are available on other models so I just want to give you a list of the things I’d recommend looking for in a scale. The things I like most about it are…

  • The readout part (face) comes off and stretches pretty far away from the scale itself which lets you read it even when weighing an awkward box or when the scale is on the floor
  • You have your choice of units of measure, including pounds and ounces at the same time which not all scales do for some weird reason
  • It’s accurate both for items less than an ounce and for items all the way up to 75 pounds <- Very important for the stuff we ship. We previously needed two scales to achieve this.
  • It has a tare feature and also comes with two different attachments to hold awkward items on the scale
  • Works with AC adapter or (when you can’t plug it into the wall) batteries <- This is insanely useful. Power out? Scale still works. Need to move the scale somewhere random to weigh a weird item but there’s no plug handy? Scale still works.

If this thing died tomorrow to spite me for writing a blog post about it, I would just buy another one. I feel like I’ve gotten more than my money’s worth out of it. It also apparently comes in white if you care about these sort of things. Mine’s black. (The picture above is almost the exact version I have the only difference is that my big black buttons have labels beneath them telling you what they do.)

Anyway, that’s my postal scale. If you care to share what scale you’re using, please do below!

PS: I’m picking items to highlight in this series by the highly scientific method of looking around my office and picking things at random. Have a request? Let me know! I’m in a sharing mood. 🙂