Many small businesses don’t need an entire truckload for their goods. This is because small businesses have fewer products and usually cater to a smaller demographic. LTL shipping is an excellent solution for businesses needing to move less cargo. However, it is essential to understand the LTL freight weight limit, so your business can plan accordingly.
For example, if a business uses FTL shipping, they ensure delivery arrives on time but pay more for a full load. With LTL shipping, businesses can ship goods quickly and reduce costs since they don’t need to pay for the entire truckload space.
Before we jump into LTL freight weight limits, let’s look at LTL.
What Is LTL Shipping?
LTL shipping consolidates cargo from different companies to build a full-capacity truck. So when your business operates into this service, you only pay for the space you take up rather than the entire truckload.
A shipping option like this is cost-effective without sacrificing quick deliveries.
Introducing the LTL Freight Weight Limit
If you are just learning about LTL shipping, you may be wondering what the requirements are for your goods’ size and weight limits. Within each logistics provider, you will find differences in requirements and limits for LTL shipping.
However, the basic format for an LTL freight weight limitation is 150 to 15,000 pounds. We follow this format at Beitler Logistics (BLS) when we put in our weight limitations.
In addition, we have first-hand experience in understanding the origin and destination sets, freight classes, and weight brank ranking. So, we know that the standards for freight weight limits are consistent across the board.
Some reasons for the weight limits include:
- Cost savings
- Reduces emissions
- Reduces damage
- Increased traceability
- Efficiency
Freight Limits Bring More Cost Savings
When using an LTL shipment service, you will only pay for your freight portion of the truck. As a result, you can save money because you do not need to pay for the entire truckload. Instead, you can put your freight on the truck and only pay for the space you use.
Freight Limits Can Reduce Emissions
Another reason there is a limit on freight weights is to help reduce emissions. When businesses use full truckloads but don’t need the whole trailer, they put trucks on the road that don’t need to be there.
With LTL shipping, multiple shipments share a single truck. As a result, the need for more vehicles on the road decreases, and the emission level drops.
Freight Limits Can Reduce Damages
In LTL freight, packages are loaded onto trucks using pallets, which prevents wear and tear. Using this method, you’re offering your products additional protection from potential damage, especially when using individual handling units.
Freight Limits Allows Increased Traceability
LTL shipping offers increased visibility into your shipments. You can track them in multiple ways, including:
- By the purchase order number
- Through the bill of lading identification
- With the progressive (PRO) number
- By the pickup date
The enhanced transparency allows your businesses to document the chain of custody so your audit trails stay accurate.
Freight Limits Increase Efficiency
When it comes to maximizing efficiency, LTL freight is ideal. Instead of waiting for area demand to increase to total truckload capacity, you can transport goods as soon as possible.
You can also access regional and national carrier networks so your company saves time and resources.
Is LTL Shipping Right for Your Logistics Needs?
LTL shipping is ideal for many businesses, industries, and applications. If any of the following factors apply to you, LTL shipping may be right for you:
- Shipment weights between 150 and 15,000 pounds
- Budget-conscious transportation
- Shipments concentrated in certain areas
- Less than 10 to 12 pallets of goods
Contact BLS For Your Logistic Needs
At BLS, we want to help your business with logistic needs. We are experts in LTL shipping, but we also specialize in other areas like full truckloads, final mile, and warehousing.
If you want to learn more about LTL shipping or any of our other services, contact us today.