Every shipper learns the LTL-vs-FTL decision the expensive way: either paying for a whole truck they didn't fill, or watching a "cheap" LTL shipment arrive late, re-handled, and dinged. The rules of thumb below are how dispatchers actually make the call.
The difference in one minute
FTL (full truckload): the entire trailer is yours. One pickup, one delivery, nobody else's freight on board. LTL (less-than-truckload): you pay for the space you use, and the carrier fills the rest of the trailer with other shippers' freight, routing everything through cross-dock terminals along the way.
When LTL wins
- 1–6 pallets, under ~5,000 lbs. This is LTL's sweet spot — you'd be paying for 40 feet of empty deck on an FTL.
- Flexible delivery windows. Terminal routing adds days and variability; if the date is soft, the savings are real.
- Durable, well-packaged freight. LTL freight gets forklifted at every terminal. Crated and banded survives; shrink-wrap-and-hope doesn't.
When FTL wins
- 10+ pallets or 15,000+ lbs. At that volume the per-pallet math usually flips to FTL outright.
- Tight deadlines. FTL is door-to-door with no terminal stops — the transit time is the drive time.
- Fragile, high-value, or hard-to-replace freight. Zero re-handling means dramatically less damage risk. If a damaged shipment shuts your line down, FTL is cheap insurance.
- Anything that can't be stacked or mixed — hazmat combinations, overlength pieces, freight that needs the doors opened once.
The middle path: partial / volume loads
Got 6–12 pallets? A partial truckload shares a trailer like LTL but skips the terminals — your freight stays on one truck with one or two other direct shipments. Cheaper than FTL, gentler and faster than LTL. It's one of the most underused options in freight.
The hidden LTL costs people forget
LTL pricing runs on freight class, dimensions, and accessorials — and the surprises live in the accessorials: liftgate fees, residential delivery, limited-access pickups, reweigh corrections, and detention. A quoted LTL rate can grow 30–40% by the time it hits your invoice. When you compare against FTL or partial, compare landed cost, not the base quote.
How we run it
Our freight moving service quotes FTL, LTL, and partial side by side, in dry van, reefer, and flatbed — and tells you straight which one the math favors for your lane. If it's oversized, it graduates to heavy haul. Either way you get one answer instead of three vendors.
Send us the pallet count, weight, and lane — we'll price it both ways.