Less-than-Truckload Shipping – The Best and Cheap Option of Shipping Goods

Author: Austin Drouin

LTL (commonly known as less than truckload) is a type of freight shipping which includes less than a full truckload. LTL shipping gained popularity after the deregulation of the trucking industry, and it is becoming more and more popular as the competition is increasing day by day. LTL transportation is very reasonable as compared to any other type of freight shipping, as the shipper only pays for the space he uses on the truck, rather than the entire trailer.

LTL Shipping – How It Works?

In an LTL setting, the drivers have designated routes on which they travel each day and on certain days of the well. The truck is loaded in the morning with different shipment goods, and then deliveries are made on the route.

If there is any new cargo that needs to be shipped, they make their way back to the terminal to load it. One of the major advantages of using LTL transportation is that the expenditure gets reduced and you pay for the space you have used in the truck. The carriers also have a facility of supplying additional services like pre-delivery, residential delivery and inside delivery. LTL freight charges use software through which it can be determined as to how much you have to pay for the goods as well as provide additional cost savings that you can do on each shipment load.

LTL Shipping – The Major Advantages of Using It

The major advantages of using a LTL shipping to ship your goods are,

  • LTL shipping ships small amounts of freight that can weigh anywhere in between 151 to 20,000 pounds. This volume is less than the full amount of the goods that are shipped through air or ocean freight shipping. These LTL shipments are usually submerged together with other people's shipment to form full load, so that it can be shipped easily.
  • The main advantage that comes while using LTL transport is the cost saving factor as LTL shipping is usually less than full truckload shipping. Apart from all this, the load is always less, so you pay only for the space that you use on the trucker or trailer for the shipment. You pay the cost of the exact weight of the goods that are being transported.
  • Companies can take benefit of the lower trucking rates by LTL carriers as they don't have to pay the higher rates of parcel carriers. LTL carriers give lower rates as the shipment cost comes out to be less when they have different amount of goods to be shipped, which eventually becomes cheaper than parcel shipping.
  • LTL companies offer same day pickup service, which is typically available when booked before noon. They also offer other extended services like lift gates and inside gallery for residential locations or business loading docks.
  • The rates offered by LTL companies are highly competitive as these companies offer affordable means of shipping goods and often offer special ancillary services like insurance, BOI generation, discounts, etc.