One Minute Technical Support on Containers – Weight and Volume 3


A new post that will take no more than 1 minute to read but give you a HUGE advantage in your adventurous making!

A comparison of volume and weight.

A comparison of volume and weight.

All container manufacturers sell their containers by the volume they hold. Let me repeat, all container manufacturers sell their containers by the volume they hold.

Things to know:

  1. NET WT – this means net weight. GROSS weight is the weight of all items, gross meaning all things that are visible  (container, lid, label and contents). Net means only the valuable contents, not the container or other packaging. Net means only what you can use (for instance: a lip balm tube NET WT is only the amount of product above the internal pusher, not everything the tube can hold). To measure weight use a scale or balance.
  2. FL OZ – this means fluid ounces. FL OZ are how containers are supposed to be marketed, however, there are sellers that don’t understand this concept. Headspace is the amount of space, near the head of the bottle, which is to allow for expansion during filling or transit. In home canning, glass jars have head space to allow the contents to expand during the heating process. All containers have some amount of headspace. To measure volume use measuring cups, teaspoons, tablespoons and graduated beakers.
  3. In the USA the Imperial measure, along with the metric equivalent, should be listed on each product sold regardless of if the product is sold by weight or by volume.

In the photo above we have our 2 ounce tins. You can find the 2 ounce tins here.

I have shown you a picture of the tins holding Extra Large Salt, fruit seeds, Natrasorb, Ground Luffa and Lanolin Lip Solutions. Every tin is filled to just below the uppermost edge. I don’t want any product to touch the lid. Here are the Volume and Weights corresponding with these products:

Ingredient Volume Net Weight: Imperial Net Weight: Metric
Extra Large Salt 2 FL OZ 2.54 oz 72 g
Blueberry Seeds 2 FL OZ 1.62 oz 46 g
Natrasorb 2 FL OZ 0.2 oz 5.6 g
Ground Luffa 2 FL OZ 0.42 oz 12 g
Lanolin Lip Solutions 2 FL OZ 1.82 oz 51.6 g

I hope this helps to solidify weight vs volume and know why it is important to double check your containers.

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About Tina

I started thesage.com in 1996 with the help of my husband. Now I get to help people make all kinds of soaps and bath and body products. I think my favorite things to make are lip balms and lotions/creams. Of course I get most of the soap technical support questions because that is my strong knowledge area. Glad this blog is here!

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3 thoughts on “One Minute Technical Support on Containers – Weight and Volume

  • Kelly

    Thank you for the post!
    So it is necessary under labelling regulations in our industry to specify the both the metric and Imperial weights on products?

    I have a hand cream that I sell by net weight, so would it thus then be correct/necessary to print “4 oz. net wt. (113 gr.)” on the label?
    And any product that I sell by fluid ounces would need to have all 3 measurements listed? (In which case, I’m thinking I should just switch to selling all by weight instead of volume, for simplicity’s sake.)

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    • Tina Post author

      Kelley,

      The products sold by volume will have just volume listed, example: 16.9 fl oz (500 mL). Items sold by weight will just have the weight listed, example: NET WT 0.53 oz (15.0 g).
      Don’t try to list both a volume and a weight.

      Cheers!
      Tina

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