Weight tickets are the documentation that turns your move into a payable claim. Get your office's current instructions for your specific vehicle, trailer, container, or multiple-trip plan before loading day — a generic explanation here can't replace that.
The basics: tare, gross, and net
Tare weight is the empty weight of your vehicle/trailer/truck. Gross weight is that same vehicle loaded with your household goods. Net weight — the weight of your goods — is the difference between the two. Most moves require a certified empty weighing before loading and a certified full weighing after, using a scale that provides the accepted certification and ticket format for your office.
Payable HHG weight is not the same thing as vehicle safety limits. Being within your military weight allowance does not mean a loaded truck or trailer is within its payload rating, axle limits, or combined towing rating. Check the vehicle/equipment's own capacity separately — see the loading guide and, if towing, the trailer compatibility checklist.
Weigh the empty vehicle or container before you load anything, keep the configuration the same for the full weighing, and get both tickets for every segment. Military OneSource says your payment is based on the actual weight you transport, verified with weight tickets (read the fact sheet yourself). Without valid tickets your payment may be delayed, reduced, or denied — ask your TO now what they will accept.
Military OneSource's PPM fact sheet adds a few points worth knowing up front: you need empty and full weight tickets from a certified scale for each segment of your PPM (including multiple trips), the requirements follow your service branch, and if you hire a commercial mover you should make sure they provide weight tickets too. If you use a portable storage container, tell the delivering company to weigh it empty before drop-off.
Questions to settle before you load
Rather than one universal scale procedure, ask your transportation office these questions for your specific move:
- Which empty/full ticket pairs are required for this move, and for each separate load if you're making multiple trips?
- What equipment and personal identifiers does the office require on the ticket, and through which secure submission channel?
- What must stay consistent between the two weighings — trailer configuration, passengers, fuel level, and any non-HHG items in the vehicle?
- How should professional equipment, medical equipment, or other separately eligible property be documented?
- Does your chosen scale provide the certification and ticket format your office accepts?
- How are electronic tickets accepted, and how should you back them up?
- What should you do immediately if a ticket turns out to be missing or incorrect?
Keep personal information off this website and off informal channels. Official requirements may call for identifiers like a full SSN on a ticket or form — follow your office's instructions and use their official secure submission channel for that, not email, not a general inquiry form, and not this site.
If you're combining a government-arranged shipment with a partial PPM
Keep the two shipments' weights and expenses clearly separated in your records. Duplicate or overlapping claims across a combined move are a documentation error to avoid, not a shortcut — ask your office how to keep the two portions distinct before you weigh or claim anything.
Check it yourself
Weight-ticket requirements vary by service and move type. Rules, prices, and instructions change and differ by service, installation, and provider — open the sources below, confirm the current details for yourself, and get your move's specifics from your transportation office in writing.
Helpful Hints
- Get your weight-ticket instructions before loading day, not after. Some requirements (like a specific empty-weighing order) are much easier to satisfy if you know them in advance.
- Photograph every ticket the day you receive it as a backup to the physical or electronic original.
- Missing or wrong ticket already happened? See problems and claims for the recovery path — contact your office promptly rather than assuming the claim is lost.