Fast & safe shipping
DIMENSIONS OF THE EQUIPMENT
TYPE OF TRANSPORTATION - LTL VS. FTL
LTL stands for Less than Truckload. It simply means you only require part of the truck for your shipment. Standard freight shipments are LTL shipments. A carrier picks up an item, adds it to their truck, returns it to the carrier terminal, and your shipment travels through the carrier hubs across the country until it is delivered to you.
LTL CAN BE BROKEN DOWN INTO TWO SUBSECTIONS – DEFERRED AND DIRECT.
Deferred LTL is cheaper than direct LTL; however, it has its pitfalls. We are not a fan of deferred LTL as the shipment is handled by more people and may travel by truck and rail to get to you. It can also take weeks to receive your shipment.
Direct LTL is the standard way to go. Although the shipment must travel from hub to hub with the carrier, it goes by truck through the logistics system without waiting for it to be consolidated with other freight and delaying the process.
There is also Volume LTL which means you are part of the LTL process; however, you take up more room on the truck based on the item’s dimensions. When this happens, we will explore shipping to you with a dedicated truck to save on costs.
FTL stands for Full Truckload. In this method, a dedicated truck picks up your items and transports your items directly to you. The equipment does not leave the truck or travel from terminal to terminal. Instead, the truck is loaded and driven to your location with no additional equipment or handling of the freight.
TRUCK SIZES
TYPE OF DELIVERY LOCATION
ACCESSORY CHARGES AND PRICING
Several factors play into the cost of shipping an item via freight. First, the distance an item needs to travel will impact the price. Next, how popular is the “lane” that you are in? For example, fewer trucks are traveling to and from Oregon than to New York, and therefore the cost will rise as the “lane” is less popular and less traveled. This also affects the number of shipments they will deliver to that part of the country and the rates.
The next factor will be the delivery location. As freight trucks have most of their pick-ups and deliveries in commercial areas, they will charge additional fees to go “out of their way” to a residential property.
Finally, any additional accessories needing to be delivered will also affect the price. They will charge extra if the truck must have a liftgate to unload the pallet at your commercial or residential location. They will charge extra if the company must make an appointment with you for delivery.
The cheapest option for freight is typically to ship dock to dock. This means the truck can arrive at our warehouse, back up to our dock, load the truck, and leave. They can back up to the customer’s commercial location dock and unload for delivery.
When no dock is available, you can save money if you have a forklift, tractor, or another way to receive a truck where no liftgate is needed. The other option is to go to the local carrier terminal and pick up your item from their dock. The logistics company will load the equipment for you with a forklift or pallet jack.