For the majority of situations and even for most businesses, you do not need to fill an entire truck or container to send the product to a location. However, sending a partially filled container is not cost-effective and can reduce the efficiency of your business. To solve this problem, you can invest in LTL freight or Less Than Container Load shipping. When you choose this method, you pay for only space in a container along with other businesses, filling an entire truck without needing to pay for everything. This reduces costs, improves efficiency, and ensures your goods get where they need to be.
How LTL Freight is Priced
It is easy to invest in LTL freight. All you need to do is contact a shipping industry at your storage location and request their price for space. The majority of cargo freight is cubed for the price, meaning you pay based on the weight, length, width, and height of your product.
Usually, the shipping business you work with will figure out the price of your goods without you having to pull out a calculator. However, shipping costs can be easy to determine if you know what you want to send and how much of it you have.
For example, let’s say you want to transport three boxes of books in containers measuring 3 cubic meters and weighing 20 lbs. Your shipping company requests $50 per cubic meter and charges $2 per pound. To figure out your LTL freight weight, you just have to calculate the cost of the total occupied space and the cost of the total weight. You then add the numbers together.
So, to transport your books, you will pay:
50 x 3 = 150; 2 x 20 = 40
150 + 40 = $190
How to Pack Your Freight
When you need to ship your product and share space with other businesses, you want to make sure you pack your freight safely. Your goods will need to withstand the rigors of transport. This means they need to be able to survive temperature changes, vibrations from the movement of the transport vehicle, and regular movement from being lifted, stacked and stored.
To pack your freight, invest in sturdy materials. This means strong cardboard boxes, plastic and bubble wrap, soft foam to protect more fragile products, and maybe even climate-controlled containers. If you are unsure of how to pack and store your freight, consider speaking to your transporter. They can give you suggestions based on their vehicle and where they are going.
How to Get LTL Freight Services
The majority of transporters work for larger companies. If you hire one of these businesses, you often will not meet the truckers personally but can ensure you receive quality services. You can also hire a provider of third-party logistics like American Manufacturing Solutions. We are a 3PL company capable of optimizing your supply chain by integrating your business into our larger network of transporters, warehouses, and other services, if this sounds perfect to you, contact us.
