What are linear feet in freight?
What are linear feet in freight? Linear feet measure how much trailer length your shipment occupies, and past a certain point they matter more to the price than weight does.
What are linear feet in freight, counted properly
Standard 48 by 40 inch pallets load two across in a 53 foot trailer. So every pair of pallets uses about four linear feet, and ten standard pallets that cannot be stacked take roughly twenty.
Stackable freight changes the answer. Ten pallets that stack two high occupy the floor space of five, which is why carriers ask whether a shipment is stackable and why the honest answer is worth money.
Why carriers watch the number
LTL tariffs carry linear foot rules. A shipment that takes up a large share of the trailer stops behaving like LTL, because the carrier can no longer fill the space around it. Past the threshold in the tariff, the shipment is repriced, often as volume or as a partial truckload.
That is not a penalty so much as a signal. When your shipment is long enough to trip the rule, volume LTL or a partial truckload is usually cheaper than forcing it through standard LTL anyway.
Related terms
Quick answers
How many linear feet is a standard pallet?
A 48 by 40 pallet loaded two across uses about two linear feet per pallet, so a pair takes roughly four.
Does stacking reduce linear feet?
Yes, if the freight genuinely stacks and you say so on the bill of lading. Freight marked stackable that cannot be stacked gets rebilled.
Not sure which mode fits?
Our sizer takes pallet count and weight and answers what are linear feet in freight worth on your shipment, then tells you the mode.