Measuring your freight

Measuring your freight correctly is one of the most important steps in shipping. The price you pay for a shipment essentially comes down to four factors.

1. The space it takes up on a truck
2. The effort involved in handling it
3. The distance it is travelling
4. Any special services it requires

Key to this are the dimensions and weight of your freight. Accurate measurements of these two factors allow FreightSimple to provide reliable, transparent quotes that will be the final price you pay.

If the measurements are wrong, then additional charges may need to be imposed. So it’s always better to get the measurements correct in the first instance.

Weight

It’s always best to weigh your freight yourself, if possible, to get an accurate measurement.

If this isn’t possible, it is good practice to check the weight against a source like the product catalogue, or a product page on a website.

From time to time, a carrier might inspect a shipment and re-weigh it. If there is a discrepancy found, and you believe this is incorrect, we will challenge the carrier on your behalf. Supporting evidence such as product catalogues or website product pages will be needed to make the dispute.

• Include the pallet and packaging. Remember to include the weight of the pallet and any additional packaging in your total weight. The carrier has to move it all, not just what is inside.
• Watch lift-gate limits. Lift-gates have a certain maximum capacity. If your pickup or delivery requires a lift-gate but the weight was found to be too heavy, pickup or delivery might be refused or delayed, causing complications and potentially additional costs with the shipment.

Length, width, and height

It is important to get the length, width and height of your freight correct.

• Be extra careful if the shape is irregular. If your freight is irregular, imagine a box around the freight, and measure that box. Be particularly careful about overhang on pallets.
• Take overhang into account. Any overhang beyond the confines of the pallet must count towards the dimensions.
• Round up. To ensure a correct quote, please round up to the next nearest inch.

While an inch here and there might not seem like a big deal, it can be the difference between paying the price you expect, or paying more. How an inch changes the price depends on where your freight is going and how it is rated.

• Within the US, and across the border. Your weight and dimensions give your freight's density, and density sets its freight class. A few extra inches lower the density and can move your shipment into a higher, more expensive class. See NMFC codes and freight class.
• Within Canada. Domestic Canadian freight does not use freight class. Each carrier applies its own density and cube rules instead: when freight is light for the space it takes up, the carrier can charge it as if it weighed more, based on its dimensions. Bigger dimensions mean a bigger charge.

Some of the rates available on FreightSimple are known as pallet rates. They are priced on the number of pallet spots your freight takes up on the truck rather than on its weight. Each carrier sets its own pallet spot size and weight limit. Freight that is larger than the carrier’s pallet spot takes up more than one spot, and is charged for each.