Freight shipping questions, answered

Send it whenever it suits you, day or night, and we get right on it once we have the origin, destination, weight, and dimensions or pallet count. We work around your schedule, not the other way round.

Quotes are free with no obligation. You only pay when you book a shipment, and the price is agreed up front.

Origin and destination ZIP codes, total weight, dimensions or pallet count, freight class if you know it, and your ready date. The more accurate the details, the more accurate and stable the rate.

Use LTL when you’re shipping roughly 1 to 6 pallets and can share a trailer. Use full truckload when you have about 10 or more pallets, high-value or fragile freight, or a firm deadline. Between roughly 6 and 18 pallets, volume or partial truckload is often cheaper than either.

Both cover shipments too big for standard LTL but smaller than a full truck. Volume LTL is priced by an LTL carrier at a negotiated rate for a large shipment; partial truckload shares a full trailer with one or two other loads and is priced like truckload. We quote both against each other and put you on whichever is cheaper for your lane.

Full truckload usually makes sense at around 10 or more pallets, or any shipment that’s close to filling a trailer on its own. Below that, you’re generally paying for space you don’t use. Between roughly 6 and 18 pallets, the math is close enough that it’s worth pricing both full truckload and volume or partial truckload before booking either one.

No. LTL is usually cheaper for small shipments, but the price gap narrows as pallet count grows, since LTL carriers add extra charges as a shipment gets larger and heavier. Past a certain size, often in the 10-plus pallet range, full truckload can cost about the same as LTL or less.

LTL pricing is driven by freight class (from density), total weight, the origin-to-destination lane, any accessorials, and fuel.

A fuel surcharge is a separate charge added on top of the base freight rate, tied to a national diesel price index. It’s standard practice across the LTL industry and can move between the day you get a quote and the day your shipment actually ships.

Not necessarily. LTL carriers price freight in weight bands, so a heavier shipment can sometimes land in a lower price tier per pound than a lighter one in the same freight class.

Yes, through the GlobalTranz network. We can arrange cross-border truckload and LTL to Canada and Mexico, and international air and ocean freight, and we quote them alongside the domestic leg so you see the whole move in one place. Tell us the lane and we say up front whether it is a fit.

A bill of lading is the contract that travels with your freight. It lists the shipper, consignee, freight description, weight, class, and accessorials, and it governs liability if the shipment is lost or damaged.

Yes. Every LTL shipment travels with a bill of lading, the contract that lists the shipper, consignee, freight description, weight, class, and accessorials. We generate it when we quote and book your shipment.

The shipper fills out the bill of lading, or someone on the shipper’s team does it, typically at pickup. The carrier’s driver signs it to confirm they took possession of the freight, but the shipment details come from the shipper.

Freight class is a number from 50 to 500 that LTL carriers use to price a shipment, set by the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) system. It is based mainly on density (weight per cubic foot), plus stowability, handling, and liability. Lower classes are cheaper; heavy, compact freight lands in a low class and light, bulky freight in a high one.

Multiply length by width by height in inches to get cubic inches, divide by 1,728 to get cubic feet, then divide your total weight by that number. The result is pounds per cubic foot, which you match against a density-to-class guideline.

That’s normal for a first shipment. Send us the weight and dimensions and we confirm the class for you, free, before you book.

A standard 48x40 inch pallet is the default for most LTL freight in the U.S. Stack boxes squarely on it, keep the load within the pallet’s footprint, and shrink-wrap it tightly so nothing shifts in transit.

Accessorials are add-on services beyond standard dock-to-dock pickup and delivery, such as a liftgate, residential pickup or delivery, inside delivery, or a scheduled appointment. Declaring them when you book keeps them off your invoice as a surprise later.

The most common are a liftgate for locations without a loading dock, residential delivery, inside delivery, limited-access delivery, and appointment scheduling. Flagging the ones you need when you book keeps them off your invoice as a surprise.

Dry van for general freight, refrigerated (reefer) for temperature-controlled loads, and flatbed or step-deck for oversized or non-dock freight, on both spot and recurring lanes.

The carrier’s driver arrives in the pickup window, checks the piece count against the bill of lading, signs it, and takes the freight. Have the pallets wrapped, labeled, and on the dock or ready for the liftgate before the window opens. A driver kept waiting can bill detention, and a shipment that is not ready gets rescheduled.

Ask first. Hazardous materials need the right paperwork, placards, and a carrier certified to carry them, and some commodities are restricted or excluded by carriers altogether. Tell us what it is before you book and we tell you what it takes, or whether it cannot go.

There’s no fixed rule, but the switch usually makes sense once you’re regularly sending multiple cartons to the same fulfillment center as part of one shipment plan. Palletizing and shipping as one LTL load is typically cheaper than paying individual parcel rates on each box.

LTL transit depends on the lane and the carrier’s service map, typically one to five business days for most domestic moves. Because pallets share trailers and pass through terminals, LTL is slower than a direct truckload. We give the expected transit time with every quote.

Yes. Carriers can reweigh and re-measure freight at their terminal, and if the actual class doesn’t match what was declared, the invoice changes. Getting the class confirmed accurately before you book is the best way to avoid this.

LTL carriers run freight across a certified scale and can inspect it against the declared class. If the actual weight or class is different, the carrier rebills the shipment at the correct figure. This is the most common reason an invoice doesn’t match the original quote.

The most common reason is a reweigh and inspection. Carriers routinely re-check the weight, dimensions, and freight class of a shipment at their terminal, and if the actual numbers don’t match what was declared at booking, the invoice is corrected to reflect what they found.

As early as your shipment is ready to schedule. Amazon fulfillment centers run on scheduled appointment windows, and available slots can fill up, especially around peak shipping periods.

A class or paperwork mismatch can hold up the delivery itself, since Amazon’s receiving systems check the freight against what was declared when the shipment was created. Getting the class confirmed before you book is the simplest way to avoid a delayed appointment or a rejected load.

Note the damage or shortage directly on the delivery receipt before you sign it, and take photos if you can. A clean signature makes a freight claim difficult to win later.

We stay on it. If freight is damaged in transit, we manage the claim for you from start to finish, so you’re not the one fighting a carrier.

Note the damage or shortage on the delivery receipt before signing, photograph it, keep the packaging, and email us the same day. We open the claim with the carrier and chase it to a decision; you send us the invoice for the goods and the repair or replacement cost when we ask. The full walk-through is in our guide, How to file a freight claim.

Carriers carry liability for freight in their care, capped per pound and by freight class, and a claim pays up to that cap. If your goods are worth more than the cap, tell us before booking and we tell you what the options are on that lane.

You can, but it’s usually not worth the risk. LTL freight gets handled at multiple terminals between pickup and delivery, and each touchpoint adds a chance of damage. Full truckload’s single dedicated trailer with no terminal stops is usually worth the extra cost.

Yes. Once your ocean or air freight clears customs, we move the domestic leg from the port or bonded warehouse to its final stop, including deconsolidation delivery to distribution centers, retail, and 3PLs, with appointment scheduling so the freight doesn’t sit.

Drayage is the short-haul move of a container from a port, rail ramp, or terminal to a nearby warehouse or the point where the freight is unloaded. After drayage and unloading (devanning), we handle the LTL or truckload leg to the final destination.

Drayage is the short-haul move of a container from the port, rail ramp, or terminal to a nearby warehouse for unloading. The domestic leg is the shipment that happens after that: moving the unloaded freight to its final destination.

Not exactly. Drayage is the short move of a container from the port or rail ramp to a nearby warehouse or unloading point. Regular trucking, whether LTL or full truckload, is the longer domestic leg that moves your freight from that point to its final destination.

There’s no flat rate. Drayage pricing depends on the distance from the port or rail ramp to the unloading point, chassis availability, how congested the terminal is, and whether the container risks running into per diem or detention charges.

Devanning is the industry term for unloading a shipping container. Once the container reaches its destination, workers take the freight out, often restacking it onto pallets for the next leg. You may also hear it called deconsolidation.

Demurrage is a charge from the port or rail ramp for leaving a container on their property past the free time allowed. Detention is a charge, usually from the trucking company, for holding onto their truck, chassis, or container past the agreed free time.

Yes. It’s common for a single container to hold freight bound for multiple destinations. Once devanned, each destination’s freight can be booked as its own LTL or FTL shipment.

Yes. We book LTL and truckload deliveries into Amazon fulfillment centers to FBA routing rules, confirm the correct freight class up front, and manage the appointment and paperwork.

GET Express is a freight brokerage. We match your shipment to vetted carriers in the GlobalTranz network of 75+ LTL and 45,000+ truckload carriers, then manage booking, tracking, paperwork, and claims on your behalf.

Less-than-truckload (LTL), full truckload (FTL), expedited and hot-shot, and volume or partial truckload freight for general commodities across most industries, anywhere in the continental United States.

GET Express does not invoice you or take payments. The freight platform we ship through bills you for the shipment, on the terms agreed when your account is set up. We never ask for card or bank details by email, and we never change payment instructions by email alone.