subject: What Is Ltl? [print this page] Every business needs the help of a good courier or delivery company to keep their operation running smoothly. Different types of businesses though, are going to need different types, and scales of delivery company. For a business that wants a delivery MA company that can move fairly large shipments, but not entire truck loads of cargo, the best option is probably a company that offers LTL delivery service.
LTL is a common delivery acronym that stands for less than truck load. The corollary to this type of shipping is FTL, which stands for Full Truck Load. LTL shipping is when a delivery company will put shipments from more than one company in a single truck. This is common and accepted practice in the parcel shipping industry. However, many don't realize the advantages this model can have when talking about larger cargo as well.
Semis and delivery trucks all have a certain capacity that they can be loaded to. There is obviously only so much room in any given trailer, and every truck also has a maximum weight that they can carry. Couriers make more profit the fuller a truck is, which means they can offer lower prices to their customers. That is why shipping on an LTL basis is often cheaper than other shipping models.
A rough guideline for shipping LTL is based on weight. If you're shipping something that weights more than 100lbs, you're probably going to need to truck it, rather than ship it with a parcel carrier. If you're shipping that weighs more than 10000 lbs, you might as well get an FTL truck. If you fall in the middle of that range though, LTL trucking is likely going to be your best option.
There are times even within that weight range when you might opt to ship FTL instead. Usually a company would opt to do that if the timing of their delivery was very important, as LTL shipping can take longer than FTL, because everyone's deliveries have to be accommodated.
Often, if you ship goods LTL your cargo will be transferred several times. That way, the shipping company can redistribute at terminal points to make sure their trucks are as full as possible at all times. This is an efficient shipping model. It reduces costs, but also reduces needless trips by half empty vehicles, adding to pollution, and avoiding unnecessary wear and tear on our roads.
