Si el contexto no corresponde al transporte de bienes, "tonnage business" se refiere al volumen de un negocio pero no necesariamente medido en unidades de masa.

También se usa como expresión de cantidad abrumadora o relativamente grande de algo, por ejemplo "In his early days at DC, Mr. Levitz worked for Joe Orlando, an editor who helped hone his writing and taught him the craft of editing. They handled almost 30 scripts a month, many of which involved rewriting. "It was a tonnage business," Mr. Levitz recalled. "It was all page rate. It was mostly uncredited. It was a tough way for guys to make a living."