LTL is an acronym that stands for less than truckload. What this means to small businesses and to individuals such that have items that are heavy and overly expensive to ship via conventional methods is that even without a full truck load the items can get shipped. This is especially important for small to medium leveled companies that ship items frequently but never enough to fill an entire truck. Most often loads over one hundred pounds will be shipped in this method. A truck load fills up with a bunch of smaller shipments to form an entire load. Once the freight carrier collects the shipment they are consolidate on one freight trailer for transport to its desired locations.
Learning about LTL shipping is important to help ensure that when shipping items that don’t fill an entire truck load but are over one hundred pounds that your shipment is handled appropriately getting to the proper location. LTL shipping is not only meant for companies. Individual residential clients can also be served by LTL shippers. Consider shipping a large handmade china cabinet or toy box to grandchildren that live far away; you will need to use a shipper that handles small, heavy loads to get it where it needs to go. That is where LTL shippers come in.
The first step in shipping through a LTL carrier is to determine the weight of your freight. Freight is defined as packages over one hundred pounds. It is in your best interest to know the dimensions as well. Write down the width, height and length of the package as well as the weight. This will help when pricing different LTL shippers.
Nest you will need to find a local shipper of light loads in your area. This is most easily done by searching LTL freight carriers in Google, Bing, Yahoo or the search engine of your preference. Once you have determined local shippers that you are interested in shipping with fill in the online freight information to get an estimate price on shipping. Doing this online you will find it easier to compare between different freight carriers without the hassle of moving your freight from one carrier to another.
Once you have settled on a rate and shipper that you have decided to go with call a sales representative from the carrier. You can sign up for an account online and a rep from the company will contact you or you can contact the company directly.
When you are in contact with the sales representative from the shipping company that will ask you what the rate was that you have been quoted from the online application. The information will be taken down and confirmed. If you will need help with the freight let the carrier know that you will need a forklift. At this point the carrier representative will book and confirm a date and time that your freight will be set to ship.
The carrier will most likely send preparation guidelines on how your freight needs to be packaged for shipping. Often times a carrier will require that the shipment is secured to a pallet to help ensure for ease of movement during the shipping process. You will be able to track your freight as it moves through the process of meeting its final destination and so may the recipient so that when the shipment arrives they are able to pick it up. Remember that LTL shipping most often refers to shipping domestically. Foreign freight may need to go through a different process depending on customs and carriers.
Jefferson Diversified Group, LLC is a Global Logistics expert offering LTL shipping and more. Check out available rates today at http://www.detroitltl.com/.
Jefferson Diversified Group, LLC is a Global Logistics expert offering LTL shipping and more. Check out available rates today at http://www.detroitltl.com/.