When is it Best to Use an LTL Trucking Company?

When it comes to shipping your precious cargo, you have many options available to you. Not all of them will be the right for your particular situation, however. If you are looking for the cheapest way to ship large items or have a lot of items that need to go out but not a full truckload, then using an LTL trucking company is probably the best way to go. LTL shipping stands for less than truckload. It differs from FTL (full truck load) shipping and Parcel Post in that it is for cargo weighing between 151 – 20,000 pounds.

LTL shipping is an option for small businesses who don’t want to pay the expense of Parcel Post but who doesn’t have enough items to fill a whole truck. Although the LTL trucking company packs the truck full in order to save money and maximize profit, you only pay for the amount of space you use on the truck. For example, if your products only take up a quarter of the truck, you only pay a quarter of the cost for the truck. The rest of the truck is packed with shipments from other companies who also want to save money on their smaller shipments.

Although cargo between 151 – 20,000 pounds is accepted for LTL shipping, the ideal range is really 100 pounds to about 10,000 pounds. At around 100 pounds, the cargo becomes too heavy and expensive to be shipped through Parcel Post and at 10,000 pounds the expense of using LTL shipping gets close to the expense of FTL shipping. The main difference between LTL and FTL shipping is the speed. Of all the shipping options, sending cargo through LTL trucking companies is the slowest mostly because they are also picking up and dropping off cargo for other businesses using the service.

LTL shipping is available at most local shipping companies including flatbed trucking companies. When shopping around for an LTL trucking company, do your research. Choose a company based on their customer service, reputation, availability, and lastly pricing. Although cost may be an issue, don’t make it the only thing that you judge the companies on. A trucking company may be cheap but if they do not provide good customer service you could end up losing more time and money than you save. If you are not sure where to begin looking for a good company, ask business associates for recommendations about companies they use.