LTL freight: how less-than-truckload shipping works

What is LTL freight?

An LTL carrier picks up freight from many shippers and brings it to a local terminal. There it is sorted and loaded onto line-haul trailers heading toward the destination region, then sorted again and delivered by a local truck. Many carriers run short 28-foot “pup” trailers for this. XPO’s tariff names a 28-foot pup as its standard equipment, and Estes’ names a 28-foot pup or a 53-foot van. Because each pallet is handled at every terminal, LTL takes longer than a direct truckload and rewards freight that is packed to be moved by forklift.

The payoff is price. You do not rent a whole trailer, so one to a few pallets cost far less than a truck of their own. What you pay depends on how much of the trailer your freight uses and how easy it is to handle, and that is what the pricing rules below measure.

How an LTL rate is built

1. Freight class. Each shipment gets an NMFC class from 50 to 500. For most freight it comes from density: weight divided by cubic feet, on the 13-tier class chart in force since July 19, 2025. XPO’s own tariff uses the same table. Get yours with the freight class calculator.
2. Base rate per 100 lb. The carrier’s tariff gives a price per hundredweight (cwt) for your class and lane. Heavier shipments usually fall into cheaper weight breaks.
3. Discount. Almost nobody pays the tariff price. A contract or broker discount comes off the base rate, and a minimum charge stops very small shipments from costing too little.
4. Fuel surcharge. A percentage added on top, which moves with diesel prices. The freight shipping cost guide works one bill through, fuel included.
5. Accessorials. Fees for extra services such as liftgate, residential or inside delivery and delivery appointments. Each one is explained in accessorial charges.

Estes’ rules tariff shows the math with its own example: 2,100 lb at a class 125 rate of $67.71 per 100 lb is $1,421.91, and a 55% discount brings it to $639.86. The tariff says the numbers are only an illustration, but the steps are the same for every carrier.

The rules that change an LTL bill

Class, weight and lane are only part of the story. Every carrier’s rules tariff also has minimums for light, bulky freight, a way of measuring tall pallets, a point where LTL becomes a “capacity load”, and fees for fixing a wrong bill of lading. Here are the numbers from each carrier’s current tariff:

Two patterns stand out. First, all seven carriers use the same floor for light freight: they bill it as if each cubic foot weighed 6 lb. So once a bulky shipment passes a carrier’s cubic-foot line and falls under its density line (6 lb/ft³ at most carriers, 3 or 4 in some bands, none at Estes), its price stops following its weight. Second, pallets that nothing can be stacked on are measured at 84 to 96 inches high, whatever their real height. A “do not stack” label can push a shipment over the cubic-foot line on its own.

When LTL stops making sense

The capacity-load column is where LTL turns into something else. Once your freight takes 14 to 21 feet of a trailer, or weighs 15,000 to 20,000 lb, the carrier charges for the space as a block, not for a share. Standard 48 × 40 inch pallets loaded two across, 48-inch side along the trailer, use 4 feet per pair. Eight pallets fill 16 feet, already past FedEx Freight’s 15-foot line. Ten fill 20 feet, past R+L’s 16 feet and onto the 20-foot lines of Estes and Old Dominion. At that size, get a volume LTL quote and a truckload quote as well. The truck load calculator shows how many pallets a 53-foot trailer holds, and LTL vs FTL compares the two in depth.

Who runs LTL: carriers you will be quoted

FedEx Freight has been its own public company since June 1, 2026, and calls itself the largest North American LTL carrier. UPS no longer runs LTL under its own name: it sold UPS Freight in 2021, and that network is now TForce Freight. Old Dominion, XPO, Estes, Saia and R+L are the other national carriers in the table. Each one has its own density calculator. Our freight density calculator handles mixed pallets for any of them, and our carrier pages explain how each one measures and bills your freight.

How to ship LTL, step by step

1. Measure each pallet’s length, width and full loaded height, pallet included, and weigh it on a scale.
2. Work out your freight class. New to classes? Start with what freight class is.
3. Write a clear NMFC commodity description on the bill of lading. A vague one costs money: XPO bills class 150 first, and Estes charges $20 to inspect.
4. Decide whether the freight can take weight on top. If it can, don’t mark it “do not stack”; if it can’t, expect the carrier to measure it at 84 to 96 inches.
5. List the accessorials you need, such as liftgate or residential delivery.
6. If the freight is a sale, agree with the other side who pays the carrier and who owns the goods on the road. That is what the FOB terms settle.
7. Send the same numbers to two or three carriers or brokers with the freight quote builder, and compare the all-in price.