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PPM weigh stations near your base

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Doing a PPM move? Weigh your vehicle empty and full at a certified scale to get paid. [2] [3]

Find a scale near you

Opens catscale.com in a new tab. CAT Scale is a company, not the government.

  1. Weigh your vehicle empty.
  2. Load up and weigh it full.
  3. Turn in both tickets.
More details

Doing your own move? The government pays you based on how much your stuff weighs. To prove the weight, you need two weight tickets from a certified scale: one with the truck empty and one with it full. [1] [2]

The short version

  • Get approved for a PPM before you move anything. [2] [3]
  • Weigh your vehicle empty and weigh it again full. Get a ticket each time. [2] [3]
  • Use a certified scale. [2] [3] The Navy also says the weigh master must sign the ticket. [3]
  • Keep the original tickets. Most scales can reprint a lost one. [2]
  • Branches ask for slightly different things on the ticket. Ask your transportation office. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Words you will see

PPM (personally procured move)
A move you do or arrange yourself instead of a government-arranged shipment. It can be a full or partial move. [2] It used to be called a DITY (do-it-yourself) move. [1]
DPS (Defense Personal Property System)
The online system used to start a household goods shipment, including a PPM. [2]
MilMove
A newer system that the DoD is moving PPM requests and paperwork into as it phases in new moving contracts. [2]
Transportation office (TO) or personal property office
The base office that approves your PPM and takes your paperwork. The sources below call it a transportation office or a personal property office. Names differ by branch. [2] [3]
Weight ticket
An official certificate that states the weight of a vehicle and the household goods in it (and pro gear, if you declared it). [3]
Empty ticket and full ticket
The empty ticket is the vehicle with nothing of yours loaded. The full ticket is the same vehicle loaded. [2] [3] Full weight minus empty weight, for the same vehicle, is the net weight of what you loaded. That is our plain math, not a quote. Your office may count part of it differently, such as professional gear, so use the ticket weights it accepts. The Navy also says no passengers can be in the vehicle when it is weighed, and the fuel tank must be full at each weighing (or no fuel may be added between the two weighings when the empty weighing comes first). [3]
Certified scale and weigh master
A certified weigh station is one the rules accept for tickets. The Navy says tickets must come from a certified station and be signed by the weigh master. [3] The Coast Guard names a public weigh master or government scales as places to weigh. [4]
GCC (government constructed cost)
What the government would have paid a moving company. Your PPM pay is based on it. [2]
DD Form 2278
The application and counseling form that your transportation office uses to approve and process a PPM. [1]

Why you weigh

Your PPM pay depends on the actual weight you moved. The Army says your first job is to get full and empty weight tickets so you get full pay. [1] The Navy says the final payment depends on the actual weight once you turn in valid tickets. [3]

A DoD-wide MilMove fact sheet posted by Marine Corps Installations and Logistics (Jan 2025) says most service members are authorized a Member Elected PPM that pays 100% of the government constructed cost (GCC), minus taxes. The rate is set in the Joint Travel Regulations and has changed before, so confirm the current rate with your transportation office. This is a DoD-wide fact sheet, not a Marine Corps rule. [2] [6]

Your pay is based on the weight you moved, up to your authorized weight allowance. (Source: Joint Travel Regulations, par. 051502.) [6] Professional gear and some items such as a gun safe may be counted separately. (Source: My Coast Guard News, “How-To: Move your household goods,” May 8, 2023.) [4] Ask your transportation office.

The Coast Guard says a claim sent in without proper weight tickets is paid only for actual costs shown on itemized receipts. That is the Coast Guard's rule; ask your office what applies to you. [4]

How weighing works, step by step

  1. Get approved first. Do not move or store goods before you have orders. [1] [3] The Marine Corps fact sheet says pre-approval is mandatory for a member-elected PPM. [2]
  2. Find a certified scale. Privately owned scales are available for getting tickets. Check with your transportation office about weighing your vehicle. [2] Your base page on this site shows how to search for scales near you.
  3. Weigh empty. Weigh the vehicle, and any trailer, with none of your goods in it. Ask for a ticket. You can weigh at the start, the end, or a mix of both. [3]
  4. Load and drive. Get empty and full tickets for each segment (part) of your PPM, including any TDY trips on the way. [2]
  5. Weigh full. Weigh the loaded vehicle. Ask for a ticket. [2] [3]
  6. Check the tickets before you leave the scale. Make sure they are legible and signed. [3] Make sure each shows which vehicle it is for and whether it is empty or full. [4] [5]
  7. Keep the originals. Keep original documents and give copies when you file. If something is missing, explain why. For example, if a ticket is missing because of an accident, send the accident report. [2] [3]

What the official sources say

These rules come from the branch or base named in each box. Yours may be different. Ask your transportation office.

DoD-wide MilMove fact sheet, posted by Marine Corps Installations and Logistics [2]

Source date: Jan 2025. Checked Oct. 26, 2026.

  • Get empty and full weight tickets, based on your Service branch's rules, from a certified weigh station for each part of your PPM. This includes any TDY trips on the way.
  • If you hire a commercial moving company, make sure it also gives you weight tickets.
  • Privately owned weight scales are available for tickets. You can search the internet for the closest one.

Navy (NAVSUP handout) [3]

Source date: Aug 2024. Checked Oct. 26, 2026.

  • Get an empty and a full weight ticket, at the start, at the end, or any mix of the two.
  • Tickets must be from a certified weigh station and signed by the weigh master.
  • No passengers can be in the vehicle when it is weighed.
  • The fuel tank must be full at each weighing, or no fuel may be added between the two weighings when the empty weighing comes first.
  • If you tow your own vehicle behind a rental, detach it before you get tickets.
  • RVs and fifth wheels are not household goods, but you can use one to carry them. An empty ticket is required.
  • You need two certified tickets for each vehicle that carries household goods: one empty and one full.

Coast Guard (My Coast Guard News, May 8, 2023) [4]

Source date: May 2023. Checked Oct. 26, 2026.

  • Provide certified empty and full tickets from a public weigh master or government scales near the start, the end, or both.
  • Both tickets must show your name and employee ID, which vehicle was weighed, and whether it was empty or full.
  • A vehicle registration cannot take the place of an empty ticket.
  • Weighing fees are listed as an allowed expense.
  • The Coast Guard also says your payment is based on what the government would have paid, not on your receipts, so ask your office whether and how a weighing fee counts.

Army (Fort Hood handout) [5]

Source date: Aug 2025. Checked Oct. 26, 2026.

  • Each ticket must show your name, rank and last 4 of your SSN, and be marked EMPTY or FULL along with the vehicle type.
  • Turn in original empty and full tickets for each vehicle.

This is one installation's handout. Other Army offices may ask for different things.

CAT Scale's military move page (company advice, not a government rule) [7]

The page shows no date. Checked Oct. 26, 2026.

CAT Scale says you can weigh at any CAT Scale with no appointment, and that the weighmaster must sign the ticket. It tells you to check what your branch needs on the ticket. This is a company's advice, not a government rule.

Find a scale near your base

We do not list scales ourselves. Each base page below shows how to use the CAT Scale locator to search near your base, and reminds you to call ahead. It also reminds you to ask your transportation office about on-base or government scales.

Sources

Every page below was opened and read on Oct. 26, 2026. We only state rules that appear in these pages. Numbers in brackets above point here.

  1. Military OneSource: Army PCS Moving AssistanceMilitary OneSource (DoD). Checked Oct. 26, 2026.Used for: PPM was formerly called a DITY move; get full and empty weight tickets to be paid for the actual weight; DD Form 2278; do not move goods before orders.https://www.militaryonesource.mil/moving-pcs/plan-to-move/army-pcs-moving-support/
  2. Personally Procured Moves Using MilMove (fact sheet, Jan. 2025 file), U.S. Marine Corps Installations and LogisticsU.S. Marine Corps (DoD). Checked Oct. 26, 2026.Used for: What a PPM is; empty and full tickets from a certified weigh station for each segment; privately owned scales; lost-ticket reprints; pre-approval; how pay works.https://www.iandl.marines.mil/Portals/85/Docs/LPD/Fact%20Sheet%20PPM%20Using%20MilMove.mil%20GHC%20JAN%202025.pdf
  3. Conducting a Navy Personally Procured Move (PPM) handout, v.11 (dated 8/14/2024), NAVSUPU.S. Navy (NAVSUP). Checked Oct. 26, 2026.Used for: Weight ticket definition and the Navy's weighing rules (certified station, signed by the weigh master, no passengers, fuel, towing, RVs).https://www.navsup.navy.mil/Portals/65/HHG/Documents/PPM/PPM%20Handout%20V.11.pdf
  4. How-To: Move your household goods (May 8, 2023), My Coast Guard NewsU.S. Coast Guard. Checked Oct. 26, 2026.Used for: Coast Guard rules for weight tickets: public weigh master or government scales, what the ticket must show, registration is not a substitute. Also: professional gear and gun-safe weight are counted apart from the allowance.https://www.mycg.uscg.mil/News/Article/3386612/how-to-move-your-household-goods/
  5. Personally Procured Move (PPM) Packet Turn In handout (Aug. 2025), Fort Hood transportation officeU.S. Army (Fort Hood). Checked Oct. 26, 2026.Used for: What an Army installation asks to see on each ticket and in the packet.https://home.army.mil/hood/5817/5494/7369/PPM_PACKET_TURN-IN_HANDOUT_AUG_2025.pdf
  6. Joint Travel Regulations (JTR), Defense Travel Management OfficeDoD (DTMO). Checked Oct. 26, 2026.Used for: The page that publishes the JTR, the rulebook for military moving and travel pay. We link it and name paragraph 051502 for the weight-allowance cap; we do not quote JTR text.https://www.travel.dod.mil/Policy-Regulations/Joint-Travel-Regulations/
  7. DITY Move Tips, CAT ScaleCAT Scale (a company, not the government). Checked Oct. 26, 2026.Used for: Company advice, not a government rule: what CAT Scale says about weighing for a military move.https://catscale.com/dity-move-tips/

CAT Scale is a trademark of its owner. MilUnlocked has no relationship with CAT Scale, earns nothing from these links, and does not endorse any scale.

MilUnlocked is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense (which the executive branch also calls the Department of War) or any military branch. Rules change. Confirm with your transportation or personal property office before you move. Written by The MilUnlocked Team. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.

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