How to Make a Handy Homemade Postage Scale

Face it, sometimes you are in a hurry! Going to the post office and waiting in a line to weigh your letter is no longer an option. You have to do the drive-by drop box, but have no clue how much postage it needs! Using this how to, you’ll learn how to create a homemade postage scale using nothing but quarters, a ruler, and rubber bands. Check it out:

Step 1:
Tie a knot in the middle of a rubber band, placing one of the two loops around the end of the ruler. Be sure to tape the rubber band down around the ruler so that it doesn’t move around when you are weighing your envelopes. With the dangling loop from the rubber band, attach a large paper clip. On to step two!

Step 2:
Find a table or other flat surface that has a sharp edge. Let the rubber band/paper clip simply hang off the side of the table. You’ll want to move the ruler to where the rubber band and paperclip just barely make it off the table. Next, stack up 5 quarters on top of the taped down part of the rubber band. 5 quarters is the equivalent of one ounce of weight. Be sure you balance the quarters perfectly atop the rubber band. If it happens to hang off either side and touches the ruler, then your scale won’t be accurate all. Once that is done, simply start moving the ruler off the table. Go slowly until you find the sweet spot where it is about to fall off but is not quite there yet. When you find it, grab a marker and put a line on the ruler where the sweet spot is. Repeat this process now with 10 quarters so you will have a mark for where the weight was two ounces.

Step 3:
Remove the quarters from the ruler and line up the ruler’s one ounce sweet spot mark with the edge of the table. Now, place your envelope with the letter inside in the paper clip and see what happens. If your ruler doesn’t fall, but stays put, then your package weighs less than one ounce. This means that your letter only needs one stamp.

If, however, your envelope and ruler falls to the ground, that means it weighs more than one ounce. Simply line your ruler’s two ounce sweet spot mark up to the edge of the table and give it another go. If your envelope stays put this time, then you will need to add an additional $0.17 stamp.

This is how you make a homemade postage scale.