Your Weight Allowance: How Much You Can Ship and What Happens If You Go Over

When the military moves your household goods, it does not move an unlimited amount. Each rank has a weight allowance, a cap on the pounds the government will ship at its expense. It matters for two reasons: if you go over, you can be on the hook for the extra, and if you are doing a PPM, your allowance is the ceiling on what you get reimbursed for. Knowing your number keeps both from biting you.

How your allowance is set

Your weight allowance is based on your rank (pay grade) and whether you have dependents, straight from JTR Table 5-37. Higher rank means a higher allowance, and having dependents bumps you to the higher allowance for your grade. One thing people get wrong: the number of dependents does not change it. One dependent qualifies you for the with-dependents allowance, and ten dependents qualify you for the same number.

These are illustrative figures for orientation, not the full table. Look up your exact allowance, including the without-dependents column, with the Weight Allowance tool.

Pro-gear is on top, not inside

Here is a piece that saves people real weight. Professional gear (also called PBP&E, professional books, papers, and equipment) does not count against your household goods allowance. It is added on top, capped at 2,000 pounds net weight for the member (JTR par. 051304). Spouse pro-gear is not automatic: the member may request through the Secretarial Process that a spouse ship up to 500 pounds of professional items at Government expense, and it only rides on top if approved.

So your true shipping capacity is your household goods allowance plus your documented pro-gear. The catch is that pro-gear has to actually be professional items needed for duty at the next station (tools of your trade, reference materials, specialized equipment), it has to be declared at the origin of the shipment, weighed and documented separately, and the moving crew has to log it as pro-gear at pickup. If it is not separated and documented, it just counts as regular household goods.

What actually happens if you go over

On paper, if you ship more than your allowance, you are liable for the excess cost, meaning the government bills you for the portion of the move attributable to the overage. That is the rule in the JTR, and it is real.

JTR par. 051306 spells out how it works: the Government may pay the carrier for the whole shipment, and it must then collect the excess cost from you. Everything the Government paid to move the overage counts toward that bill, including storage and accessorial charges. The transportation office is supposed to warn you when a shipment looks heavy, but you are financially responsible for the excess even if nobody warned you, so treat the allowance as a real limit.

Staying under without stressing

• A rough rule of thumb is 1,000 to 1,500 pounds per furnished room. Add it up and compare to your allowance before you ever call the movers.
• Purge before the move, not after. The cheapest pounds to move are the ones you get rid of. Furniture you do not love and a garage full of "maybe someday" is where the weight hides.
• Document your pro-gear so it comes off your household goods total legitimately.

The bottom line

Your weight allowance is set by rank and dependency status (one dependent is enough for the higher rate), and documented member pro-gear (up to 2,000 pounds, plus up to 500 pounds of spouse pro-gear if approved through the Secretarial Process) rides on top of it. Go over on a government move and the Government collects the excess cost from you (JTR par. 051306). Go over on a PPM and it comes straight out of your reimbursement. Either way, know your number.

Find your exact allowance with the Weight Allowance tool, and see how it shapes your PPM payout with the PPM Profit Calculator.