What is general freight?
Ordinary packaged goods that load into a standard enclosed trailer and need no special equipment, permits or handling.
What is general freight, in practice
General freight is the everyday cargo of U.S. trucking: boxed, crated or palletized goods that ride in a dry, enclosed trailer and need nothing else. Retail stock, shelf-stable food and drink, consumer products, paper and packaging, auto parts and machine parts all ship this way.
You can tell general freight by what it does not need: refrigeration, hazmat placards, an oversize permit, a tank or an open trailer.
What is not general freight
Freight that needs special equipment, paperwork or authority sits outside the category. Food and medicine held at a set temperature ride in a reefer. Loads too tall or wide for a van go on a flatbed or a step-deck. Hazardous materials need placards and a certified carrier. Bulk liquids and grain go in tankers and hoppers. Household moves, cars and livestock each have carriers of their own.
Federal carrier registration draws the same line. A motor carrier lists the cargo it is set up to haul, and general freight is its own entry, separate from refrigerated food, hazardous materials and household goods.
How general freight ships and is priced
A few pallets go LTL, sharing a trailer and priced by freight class, weight and lane. A trailer’s worth goes truckload in a 53-foot dry van, priced by the lane and the market that day. Because it needs no special trailer, general freight has the widest choice of carriers.
On LTL, freight class still drives the price. Two general freight shipments of the same weight can price very differently, because the class follows density: the heavier a pallet is for its size, the lower its class.
Related terms
Quick answers
What are examples of general freight?
Boxed retail stock, shelf-stable groceries and drinks, paper goods, packaging, cleaning products, apparel cartons, auto parts and palletized machine parts.
Is general freight the same as dry van freight?
Mostly. General freight is the cargo, and a dry van is the trailer it usually rides in. Freight that needs a different trailer tends to take that trailer’s name: reefer, flatbed or tanker freight.
Do you ship general freight?
Yes. GET Express books general freight LTL and truckload across the U.S. We do not offer hazmat service.
Shipping general freight?
Send the ZIP codes, the pallet count and the weight, and we come back with rates you can book.