Know what your freight should cost before anyone quotes you
Independent US guidance on how LTL, truckload and parcel pricing is actually built — linehaul, chargeable weight, fuel and accessorials. We are not a carrier, broker or booking site, and nothing here reserves a truck or quotes a live rate.
What are you trying to price?
Six routes through the same subject
Pick the one that matches what you are actually trying to decide.
How a freight charge is built
Linehaul, chargeable weight, class, fuel, accessorials — in the order a carrier assembles them.
Read the breakdown →Which mode fits this shipment
Where parcel stops, where LTL wins, and the volumes at which a whole trailer is cheaper.
Compare the modes →Dimensional weight
The arithmetic that bills you for space rather than weight, and how to stop paying for air.
See the calculation →Accessorial charges
The small lines that decide the invoice, and which of them you can design out.
Read the list →Choosing a broker or carrier
What to verify, what to put in writing, and the questions that separate a professional from a salesman.
See the questions →Documents, damage and claims
The bill of lading fields that decide disputes, and what a claim file actually needs.
Get the record right →Price the shipment before anyone prices it for you
Enter your own figures. Every tool shows the all-in total, a cost per mile or per hundredweight, and the horizon it covers — never a headline number on its own.
Shipment cost estimator
Build a shipment charge the way a carrier builds it — linehaul, fuel and accessorials — then see the total per shipment and per month at your volume.
Assumptions this uses
- The base rate you enter is treated as per mile for truckload, per 100 lb for LTL, and per 50 lb increment for parcel.
- Fuel is applied as a percentage of linehaul only, not of accessorials.
- Accessorials are entered as a single figure and assumed to occur on every shipment.
- Freight class and density are not modelled — a class correction changes the base rate you enter.
Limitations: it is arithmetic on figures you supply, not a rate lookup. It cannot know current market rates, your carrier's tariff, or whether your shipment will be re-rated on inspection.
Runs entirely in your browser.
Weigh it, measure it, photograph it
Three minutes at dispatch removes most of the arguments that follow. Weigh the shipment rather than estimating it. Measure it wrapped and on the pallet, including any overhang. Photograph the loaded pallet with the bill of lading visible. Carriers measure what is presented to them, and the party with a dated record wins the re-rate conversation.
Ask about a shipment, a quote or an invoice
Five free replies a day. It explains mechanics and interprets your own figures — it does not quote rates, check capacity or book anything.
Send us the shipment that does not add up
A lane, a quote you cannot compare, or an invoice that exceeded it. The more specific the detail, the more useful the answer.
This is not a booking and nothing is reserved. We hold no capacity and we are not a broker — where a relevant provider can help, we will say so and you decide whether to contact them.
Partner link — we may be paid a fee at no cost to you. How we make money.
Compare live rates on your lane
We publish no rates, because nobody can keep them current honestly. When you want real numbers, a freight marketplace or broker prices your specific lane against live capacity.
See marketplace options →The cheap equipment that prevents expensive invoices
Four things that remove whole categories of dispute. Not a ranking, and not the point of this site — but a pallet scale pays for itself the first time it prevents a re-rate.
How we make money: some links here are partner or affiliate links and we may be paid a fee at no cost to you. It never changes what we write or how options are ordered — see our disclosure and methodology.
Pallet and freight scales
Guessed weights are the most common single cause of a corrected invoice.
Check price →Stretch wrap and strapping
Most damage claims start with how the pallet was built, not how it was driven.
Check price →Ratchet straps and load bars
Cheap next to one shifted load, and the first thing a claims adjuster asks about.
Check price →Driver log books and record folders
Records are the part of compliance and claims you control completely.
Check price →The Freight Cost & Documentation Worksheet
Everything on this site compressed into something usable at 6am on a loading dock: how a freight charge is built, what to weigh, measure and photograph, the questions that make two quotes comparable, and exactly what a claim file needs.
When you need live numbers rather than arithmetic
This site publishes no rates, because no independent site can keep them honest. These are the routes to real quotes and real tooling. Partner links are labelled; nothing here is a ranking.
How we make money: some links here are partner or affiliate links and we may be paid a fee at no cost to you. It never changes what we write or how options are ordered — see our disclosure and methodology.
Freight marketplaces and brokers
Price a specific lane against live capacity, compare carriers on the same shipment description, and book if the number works.
See marketplace options →Fleet and logistics software
Telematics, transportation management and freight audit tools — the category that makes re-rates, dwell time and reconciliation visible.
Compare software categories →Freight questions, answered straight
No hedging and no upsell. Where the answer depends on something, we say what it depends on.
Why is my freight invoice higher than the quote?
Almost always one of five things: the shipment measured larger than declared, it weighed more than estimated, the fuel surcharge moved, an accessorial service was performed that nobody priced, or the freight class was corrected after inspection. Compare the invoice line by line against the quote — the difference will name itself.
What is chargeable weight?
The greater of the actual weight and the dimensional weight. Dimensional weight is length × width × height in inches divided by the carrier's divisor. Light, bulky freight is almost always billed on dimensional weight, which is why a pallet of foam costs more than a scale suggests.
What is a good dimensional divisor?
A larger divisor produces a smaller dimensional weight, so it favours the shipper. Divisors vary by carrier, service and contract, and a divisor change is a price change even when the rate card does not move. If you ship light and bulky freight, the divisor is often worth more attention than the rate.
At what point should I stop using LTL?
As a rough pattern, around six pallets or twelve linear feet, LTL rating starts losing to a volume or partial-truckload quote, and the extra handling stops being worth the saving. Test it with your own shipments rather than adopting the number: your lane, packaging and damage rate move the break point.
Can this site tell me today's rate on my lane?
No, and neither can anything else that is not connected to live carrier capacity. Rates move weekly and by direction. We explain how a rate is constructed so you can compare quotes; the quotes themselves come from carriers, brokers or a marketplace.
What does a fuel surcharge actually pay for?
It is a percentage applied to the linehaul, indexed to a published diesel price and reset on a schedule. Because it is a percentage rather than a fixed amount, every increase elsewhere in the charge multiplies through it. Ask for the percentage and the index, not a dollar figure.