Less-than-truckload · Pricing

LTL Shipping: How It's Priced and Where the Bill Goes Wrong

Published September 13, 2026 · Rob Eller

Less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping is freight that does not fill a trailer, typically one to six pallets and 150 to 15,000 pounds, moved by a carrier that consolidates it with other shippers' freight through a network of terminals. You pay for the share of the trailer you use. The price is built in layers: a class-based tariff rate per hundredweight, a negotiated discount, a minimum charge, a fuel surcharge, and accessorials. Three of those inputs can change after pickup, which is why the invoice so often does not match the quote.

What LTL shipping is, and how it differs from truckload and parcel

An LTL carrier runs a hub-and-spoke network. Your freight is picked up on a local route, taken to the origin terminal, cross-docked onto a linehaul trailer with other shippers' freight, moved to a breakbulk hub and sometimes a second one, cross-docked again at the destination terminal, and delivered on a local route. Between pickup and delivery it is typically handled three to six times. A truckload shipment is handled twice: loaded and unloaded.

That handling is why LTL shipping is priced the way it is. The carrier's cost is driven by how much trailer space and dock labor a shipment consumes, not just by what it weighs, so the rate is keyed to density through freight class. It is also why LTL has more accessorial exposure and more damage exposure than truckload, and why the carrier reserves the right to re-weigh and re-inspect at the terminal.

How an LTL rate is built: six layers

Every LTL shipping invoice is the same six layers, in the same order. Knowing the order is what lets you read a bill.

1. Base rate. A rate per hundredweight from a tariff, looked up by freight class, weight break, and origin-destination zip pair. Weight breaks are the standard bands: under 500 lb, 500 to 999, 1,000 to 1,999, 2,000 to 4,999, 5,000 to 9,999, and 10,000 and up. The per-cwt rate drops at each break. One rule most shippers have never heard of: if rating your shipment at the next break's minimum weight would cost less, the carrier is supposed to rate it that way. It is called deficit weight rating, and it is worth checking on any shipment within 10 percent of a break.
2. Discount. A negotiated percentage off the base, commonly 60 to 80 percent for a mid-size shipper. The discount is only as good as the base it is taken from; a 75 percent discount off a base that rose 6 percent at the last general rate increase (GRI) is a 4.5 percent net increase you did not negotiate.
3. Minimum charge. The AMC, typically in the $95 to $200 range depending on lane and carrier. If the discounted rate lands below the AMC, you pay the AMC. On a program with many small shipments, the AMC, not the discount, is the number to negotiate.
4. Fuel surcharge. A percentage of the net linehaul, from the carrier's table read against the weekly diesel index. See the fuel surcharge page for the math; the short version is that it should apply to net linehaul only, keyed to the pickup date.
5. Accessorials. Flat charges for services beyond dock-to-dock: liftgate, residential delivery, limited access, inside delivery, notification, reweigh and inspection fees. Each has a tariff price and, ideally, a contract price. See accessorial charges.
6. Rules tariff. The part of the carrier's tariff nobody reads. It holds the cubic capacity rule (a low-density shipment above a cube threshold is re-rated as if it weighed more), the linear-foot rule (a shipment over roughly 12 to 16 linear feet is re-rated as a share of the trailer), the pallet weight rule, and the reweigh and inspection procedures. The rules tariff is where most of the surprises on an invoice are authorized.

Worked example: quoted at $426, billed at $700, and only $35 of it was the carrier's fault

A shipper tenders two pallets, 48 × 40 × 48 inches each, declared at 1,200 pounds and Class 70, Chicago to Dallas. The quote from the carrier's rating tool:

• Class 70, 1,000-to-1,999 lb break: $98.67 per cwt × 12 cwt = $1,184.04 gross
• 72 percent discount: $331.53 net linehaul
• Fuel surcharge at 28.5 percent: $94.49
• Quote: $426.02

The invoice arrives at $700.03. Here is what the carrier did between pickup and billing, line by line.

1. Reweigh to 1,290 pounds. The shipper's 1,200 was product weight. The two pallets weigh 45 pounds each. The carrier's certified scale said 1,290, and the reweigh certificate is on file. Legitimate.
2. Reclass to Class 85. Two 48 × 40 × 48 pallets are 106.7 cubic feet. At 1,290 pounds that is 12.1 pounds per cubic foot, which under the NMFC density scale is Class 85, not the Class 70 the shipper declared from an old product code. The inspection certificate is on file with dimensions and photos. Legitimate. New base: $118.40 per cwt × 12.9 cwt = $1,527.36 gross, $427.66 net after the 72 percent discount.
3. Liftgate delivery, $115. The consignee had no dock. The bill of lading (BOL) did not flag liftgate, so the quote did not include it, but the driver could not deliver without it and the delivery receipt notes the liftgate. Legitimate.
4. Fuel surcharge at 29.0 percent, $124.02. The contract keys fuel to the pickup week, where the table read 28.5 percent. The carrier used the invoice week. Carrier error: $2.14.
5. Fuel surcharge applied to the liftgate, $33.35. The contract applies fuel to net linehaul only. Carrier error: $33.35.

Gap between quote and invoice: $274. Caused by the shipper's own inputs (pallet weight left off, wrong class declared, liftgate not flagged): $238.52, or 87 percent. Caused by the carrier: $35.49, or 13 percent. The 13 percent is recoverable and, across a year of shipments, it is real money. The 87 percent is a process problem on the shipper's dock, and disputing it costs you credibility on the 13.

Where LTL bills go wrong: six failure modes

In rough order of dollars, across the LTL programs we have reviewed. The first three are frequently legitimate and need evidence to dispute; the last three are almost always carrier errors.

1. Reclassification. The carrier assigns a higher class than the BOL declared, usually on density after an inspection. A one-class step is worth 5 to 10 percent of linehaul; two classes, 15 to 25 percent. The carrier owes you the inspection certificate with measured dimensions. No certificate, no reclass. See freight class.
2. Reweigh. The scale weight exceeds the BOL weight. Legitimate when the shipper omitted pallet or packaging weight; disputable when the carrier cannot produce a scale ticket, or the reweigh pushed the shipment into a higher break without applying deficit weight rating.
3. Accessorials not on the quote. Liftgate, residential, limited access, inside delivery, notification. Legitimate when the delivery receipt shows the service was performed; disputable when there is no delivery-side evidence, when the address is commercial with a dock, or when the charge exceeds the contract schedule.
4. Fuel surcharge on the wrong base or week. Applied to gross instead of net, to accessorials, or keyed to invoice date. Small per shipment, systematic across the program.
5. Minimum charge misapplied. The AMC billed on a shipment whose discounted rate was above it, or the tariff AMC billed where the contract negotiated a lower one. Common after contract amendments that changed the AMC but were never loaded.
6. Tariff base drift. The contract names a base and an effective date; the carrier rates against a newer base with the same discount. Net linehaul rises 3 to 8 percent and nothing on the invoice says why. This is the hardest one to see without the contract in hand and the most valuable one to catch, because it touches every shipment.

What your LTL contract should say

Three clauses close most of the exposure above. The language is the pattern we have seen hold in disputes; adjust to your program.

Freight All Kinds (FAK) clause

“All shipments tendered under this Agreement shall be rated at Class 70 FAK, irrespective of NMFC commodity code, provided the shipment density is not less than 8 pounds per cubic foot. Shipments below that density shall be rated at actual class, supported by an inspection certificate furnished to Shipper with the invoice.” The FAK removes reclassification on everything above the density floor, and the certificate requirement governs everything below it.

Tariff base lock

“Discounts under this Agreement apply to Carrier Tariff [name], effective [date], attached as Exhibit A. Carrier shall not apply any subsequent general rate increase or tariff revision to shipments under this Agreement without sixty (60) days’ written notice and Shipper’s written acceptance.” The base is named, dated, and attached. Base drift becomes a breach rather than a surprise.

Accessorial schedule

“Accessorial charges are limited to those listed in Exhibit B at the prices stated therein. No accessorial shall be billed without documentation on the bill of lading or delivery receipt evidencing that the service was requested or required.” A price list and an evidence requirement. Anything not on Exhibit B is not billable.

What we can't tell from the bill alone

An LTL invoice shows the billed class, the billed weight, and the accessorial lines. It does not show whether the reclass was supported by measured dimensions, whether the reweigh included pallet weight, whether the consignee actually had a dock, or which tariff base version the discount was applied to. Each of those needs a document the invoice does not carry: the inspection certificate, the scale ticket, the delivery receipt or proof of delivery, and the contract exhibit.

The honest position on most LTL disputes is that the carrier might be right. A reclass on density usually is. The audit's value is not in disputing everything; it is in separating the 13 percent that is the carrier's error from the 87 percent that is your dock's, recovering the first, and fixing the second. A shipper that disputes the legitimate reclass loses the argument on the fuel surcharge that was actually wrong.

How Eller Audit handles this

Every LTL invoice line is rated against the signed contract: the named tariff base and effective date, the discount, the AMC schedule, the FAK and density floor, the fuel table for the pickup week, and the accessorial exhibit. Reclasses and reweighs are checked against the carrier's certificates and, where the shipper has them, the BOL dimensions and product weights. Findings come back sorted into three piles: carrier errors with the dispute drafted, legitimate charges caused by a shipper input with the fix named, and gray-area lines with the evidence needed to decide. Performance-based on what is recovered. The first audit is free, and it is the fastest way to find out which pile your program is mostly in. The LTL freight audit page covers the full method.

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