Less-than-truckload is the service for freight too big for a parcel network and too small to fill a trailer. Your pallets share space with other shippers' pallets, move through terminals rather than direct, and get priced from a classification system that most people meet for the first time when the first invoice arrives. Here is that system, in the order it hits your bill.
Everything odd about LTL pricing follows from one fact: your freight is not the only freight on the truck.
Straight answer before anything else. SMKlog sells US domestic parcel labels directly, with no account needed, and it takes LTL requests through a review where a person prices the shipment. We broker the quote; we do not own trucks, terminals or warehouses, we do not sell full truckload, and we do not handle international freight or customs. Anything on this page describing what a carrier does is describing the carrier, not us.
A local truck collects and takes the load to a terminal. It is consolidated with other freight heading the same direction, moves between terminals on line-haul runs, then goes out on a local delivery truck at the far end. More handling than parcel per piece, far less than a dedicated truck per mile, and transit measured in days rather than in a scheduled arrival.
When strangers share a trailer, the carrier needs one language for what everything is. The national classification system sorts freight by four transportation characteristics: density, or how heavy the freight is relative to the space it takes up; handling, or how easy it is to move across a dock and into or out of a trailer; stowability, or how effectively it can be stowed in a trailer for transport; and liability, or how likely the freight is to cause damage or be damaged. Those definitions come from nmfta.org, checked 2026-07-28.
Below roughly 150 lb a shipment belongs in parcel, where the doorstep is included and every piece is tracked. Above a full trailer load it belongs in truckload, where one shipper buys the whole vehicle. LTL owns the ground in between, and it is the only one of the three where you are quoted per shipment rather than per package or per truck.
The published density scale below is used by a national LTL carrier and was checked 2026-07-28. Denser freight sits at a lower class and a lower rate, because it uses less trailer for the same revenue weight.
| Density, lb per cubic foot | Class |
|---|---|
| 50 or greater | 50 |
| 35 but less than 50 | 55 |
| 30 but less than 35 | 60 |
| 22.5 but less than 30 | 65 |
| 15 but less than 22.5 | 70 |
| 12 but less than 15 | 85 |
| 10 but less than 12 | 92.5 |
| 8 but less than 10 | 100 |
| 6 but less than 8 | 125 |
| 4 but less than 6 | 175 |
| 2 but less than 4 | 250 |
| 1 but less than 2 | 300 |
| Less than 1 | 400 |
The classification authority puts the consequence in one line: the denser and easier to move, the lower the class, and the lower the cost. Density alone does not settle everything, because a specific commodity may carry its own item number in the classification, but it is the number to work out first and the one a quote will ask you for.
Accessorials are quoted on top of the freight charge and vary by carrier. These definitions are the carrier own wording, from odfl.com, checked 2026-07-28. No amounts appear on that page, so none are given here.
| Service | Published definition |
|---|---|
| Liftgate | specialized equipment used to load or unload shipments when your location does not have a dock |
| Non-commercial or residential delivery | deliveries to residences, schools, airports, or other non-commercial locations |
| Time-specific delivery | if your shipment requires delivery by a certain date or time |
| Detention | when a driver is held longer than the standard allowed time |
| Inside delivery | when freight needs to be brought beyond the dock or threshold |
| Redelivery | when a shipment can't be received on the first attempt |
| Oversized or overweight freight | charges for shipments exceeding standard dimensions or weight, plus reweighed freight |
That last row is the one that catches new shippers. Carriers reweigh and remeasure freight in their terminals, and a shipment described lighter or denser than it turns out to be gets reclassed and rebilled after delivery. Accurate dimensions at quote time are not a courtesy, they are the cheapest thing on this page.
We pushed two loads through the parcel calculator on 2026-07-28 to record the boundary rather than describe it. Both ran Newark, NJ 07102 to Atlanta, GA 30303.
| Load | Estimated volume | Parcel rates | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 x 24 x 24 in, 150 lb | 0.284 cubic metres | none | Commercial freight review required |
| 48 x 40 x 48 in, 500 lb | 1.51 cubic metres | none | Commercial freight review required |
Neither of those is a failure; it is the system declining to sell a parcel label for cargo. The details a person needs to price them are the lane, the commodity, the piece count, the dimensions, the gross weight, the packaging and the conditions at both ends.
Send those details in Or test the load as a parcel first Ask about parcel freight
Less-than-truckload: freight too large for a parcel network but not large enough to fill a trailer, moved on shared trucks through terminals. Shipments are usually palletized and are quoted per shipment rather than per package.
From the freight class, the lane, fuel, and the accessorials at each end. Class comes mainly from density in pounds per cubic foot, and the classification authority summarises the effect as the denser and easier to move, the lower the class, and the lower the cost.
Density, handling, stowability and liability. The classification authority defines them as how heavy the freight is relative to the space it takes up, how easy it is to move across a dock and into or out of a trailer, how effectively it can be stowed in a trailer for transport, and how likely the freight is to cause damage or be damaged.
No. We sell US domestic parcel labels directly and take LTL requests through a review where a person prices the shipment. We do not own trucks, terminals or warehouses, and we do not sell full truckload or international freight.