The acronym LTL can be at times confusing. It stands for LESS THAN TRUCK LOAD. Ok, so what exactly does that mean? LTL is not to be confused with a “Partial Truck Load”. LTL is most commonly associated with the business model of an LTL carrier that is defined as moving mostly palletized or crated freight from origin to destination. A FTL (Full Truck load) or Partial Truck Load is a carrier that gives the customer exclusive use of that truck from point a to point b. An LTL carrier will pick up your palletized freight and bring it to the local terminal and cross-dock with other customers' freight and transfer it to the final cross dock for final delivery. It will cross dock a minimum of 2 times before reaching its destination. What determines how many pallets can go LTL before determining to utilize an exclusive truckload carrier usually is anywhere from 10 linear feet on up.
LTL shipments and carriers are subject to complicated pricing under different class codes and densities as well as different tariffs with different types of discounts. Add in the different accessorial categories, and understanding the pricing platform can get extremely complex.
Relying on a 3PL such as Premier Logistics takes all the headaches out of all of this. Moreover, we can save the customer time and money by addressing the billing errors that LTL carriers are notoriously known for. A 3PL will audit each bill, hold the LTL carrier accountable for crediting the billing errors and consolidate the invoices for easier payment.
Call Premier if you have any questions about LTL. We are always here to help!
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