What Is Catch Weight in Food Distribution?
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Talk to our experts- Catch weight
- Catch weight is a food distribution and warehouse term for products priced and invoiced on their actual weight, because each unit's weight varies, such as cases of meat or wheels of cheese. The buyer orders a count, like four cases, at an agreed price per pound, and the invoice uses the weight actually shipped.
Also called: catchweight, variable weight, random weight
How it works
Catch weight items are priced and invoiced on their actual weight, because each unit's weight varies. GS1 calls these items variable measure trade items: items priced, ordered or invoiced in quantities which can vary, such as fruit and vegetables, meat and cheese. GS1 says the complete identification of a variable measure item consists of both its identification number and its variable data.
The order unit and the pricing unit differ:
- Order unit: the count the buyer orders and the warehouse picks, such as a case.
- Pricing unit: the weight, priced per pound or kilogram.
How a catch weight order is priced
The buyer orders a count of cases, and the order shows an estimate from the nominal weight at the agreed price per pound.
Fulfillment returns the actual weight of each case, captured in the ERP.
The invoice multiplies the actual weight shipped by the agreed price per pound.
Labels and selling online
NIST Handbook 130 is a compilation of model weights and measures laws and regulations that many state, local and some federal authorities adopt in various forms. Its packaging regulation defines a random package as one of a lot, shipment or delivery of packages of the same consumer commodity with no fixed pattern of net contents, and says a consumer random weight package must bear a label declaring the net weight, the unit price and the total price.
The handbook's model Uniform E-commerce Regulation covers products sold online, including non-consumer products. For random packages, it calls for the e-commerce site to show the unit price, a range of potential net quantities with an estimated maximum item net weight, and a range of potential prices with an estimated maximum item price. The delivered package must carry its net quantity, the unit price must be provided on a receipt, invoice, package label or other included documentation, and the price charged must be marked on the product or on documentation within the package.
This is general information, not legal advice. Check which version, if any, your state has adopted.
Example
A restaurant group orders 4 cases of salmon fillets at $8.00 per pound. Each case is nominally 10 pounds.
- Estimate at order: 4 x 10 lb x $8.00 = $320.00
- Actual weights shipped: 9.6 + 10.3 + 10.1 + 9.8 = 39.8 lb
- Invoice: 39.8 lb x $8.00 = $318.40
The invoice comes in $1.60 under the estimate. With heavier cases it would come in over.
On Shopify
Shopify lets you display a unit price when you sell products in quantities or measurements. The unit price is determined by the product price and the total amount and base measure values that you set, and it displays on product, collection, cart and checkout pages of any Online Store 2.0 theme and in the default order confirmation notification. Each product or variant can have only one unit price.
Uncap's food distribution pages put the rest downstream: catch weight relies heavily on the ERP, WMS and EDI layer rather than on the storefront. Uncap's food distributor software guide says the storefront needs to handle estimated pricing at order time and support invoice adjustment when actual weights are captured in the ERP.
How Uncap helps
On Uncap's food service distribution page, catch weight is handled honestly: the order carries an estimated total based on nominal weight and the agreed price per unit weight, fulfillment returns actual weights, and the invoice reflects them, with the estimate disclosed rather than discovered. The page is clear that catch weight and traceability are scoped as builds, and that the Uncap Blueprint maps the catch weight model before any build begins.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
What is catch weight in food?
It is the pricing of food items whose weight varies unit to unit, such as meat and cheese, by their actual weight. The buyer orders a count, the warehouse records each unit's weight, and the invoice charges the agreed price per pound on the weight shipped.
What does "fixed weight" mean?
A fixed weight item has the same declared net contents on every package in a lot. NIST Handbook 130's term is a standard package, such as 12 fl oz cans of carbonated soda. A catch weight or random weight item has no fixed pattern of net contents.
What is meant by catch weight?
In food distribution, catch weight means an item, such as a case of meat or a wheel of cheese, is priced per unit of weight and invoiced on its actual weight, because each unit's weight varies. GS1's name for these items is variable measure trade items.
