Freight Guides

Freight class & NMFC

• Freight Class & NMFC Codes: The 2025 Density Guide — Start here. What class is, the density math, the 2025 change, and the multi-pallet trap — the full picture in one page.
• Why Was My Freight Reclassed? — The three causes of a reclass, what a W&I back-bill costs, and how to dispute it with documentation.
• The 2025 NMFC Density Change — What the NMFTA overhaul changed, the docket timeline through 2026, the pallet-height mistake, and how to prepare your BOLs.
• How to Dispute an LTL Reweigh — The 200 lb / 5% tolerance, why forklift weights fail, what a reweigh costs, and how to win the dispute with a certified scale ticket.
• Density to Freight Class Chart — The full 2025 NMFTA scale, 50 to 500, with every class’s pounds-per-cubic-foot range. Look up any density.
• Freight Class for Multiple Pallets — Why a mixed shipment isn’t classed pallet-by-pallet, with a worked aggregate-density example.
• What Is PCF (Pounds per Cubic Foot)? — The density unit behind freight class: PCF to kg/m³, pci to PCF, and how density sets your class.

Freight class by commodity

• Freight Class for Furniture — Light and bulky, so it classes high — typically 100–200. The density math and a worked dresser example.
• Freight Class for Mattresses — Almost pure air — usually class 200–300. Why roll-packed mattresses class lower.
• Freight Class for Appliances — Bulky but heavy, so class 92.5–150. Why a fridge classes higher than a washer.
• Freight Class for Electronics — Protective packaging drives it to class 100–175. Why flat-panel TVs class so high.
• Freight Class for Clothing — Light and compressible — class 100–175. How packing density moves the number.
• Freight Class for Tires — Heavier than they look — class 70–150 depending on how densely they nest.
• Freight Class for Auto Parts — A huge range: dense boxed metal at class 65–110, light body panels much higher.
• Freight Class for Lumber — Dense and solid — class 60–70 at the cheap end. How moisture moves it.
• Freight Class for Steel — The densest LTL freight there is — class 50–60, the lowest rates on the scale.

Warehouse — inventory planning

• Inventory Planning: Safety Stock, Reorder Point & EOQ — The three numbers that keep stock available without over-ordering — the formulas, worked examples, and how they fit together.
• How to Calculate Safety Stock — Both methods (min/max and statistical), the Z-table, and why lead-time variability can triple the buffer.
• How to Calculate the Reorder Point — Demand during lead time plus safety stock, with worked examples and the unit-consistency trap.
• Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) — The EOQ formula, a worked example, and why the cost curve is forgiving enough to round to a pack size.

Warehouse — cost & space

• Warehouse Cost & Space Planning — How many pallet positions a floor holds, how full they are, and what each one really costs once labor and equipment are counted — not just rent.
• How to Calculate Cost per Pallet Position — The four cost buckets, a worked example, per-year vs per-month, and why cost per occupied position is the number that matters.
• How Many Pallet Positions Does a Warehouse Hold? — The capacity formula, a rack-type density table, and the levels-and-usable-area levers, with a worked example.
• What Is a Good Warehouse Utilization Rate? — How to calculate it, position vs cube utilization, and why the healthy target is about 85% — not 100%.
• Dock Door Throughput: How Many Trucks Can You Turn? — Trucks per shift per door, why dwell time is the biggest lever, and when the dock becomes the bottleneck.
• Units per Labor Hour (UPLH) — The core labor metric, how it converts straight to labor cost per unit, and what moves it.

Import / Export

• Landed Cost: What It Really Costs to Import — The customs value → duty → landed cost chain, worked end to end, so you price on your real per-unit cost.
• Customs Value: FOB vs CFR vs CIF — The dutiable value, how the basis swings it, which basis your destination uses, and the additions that are always dutiable.
• How to Calculate Import Duty — Duty = rate × customs value, why VAT/GST usually dwarfs it, the tax-base trap, and the effective rate.
• Incoterms 2020 Explained — All eleven rules in plain English, who pays, where risk passes, and the cost-versus-risk trap.
• Chargeable Weight: Air vs Ocean — How carriers bill the greater of weight and space — air volumetric weight and ocean revenue tons, worked through.

Pallet loading & configuration

• Pallet Calculator Guide: Cases Per Pallet & Loading — Start here. How Ti-Hi works, the height and weight limits that cap a stack, and how finished pallets fill a truck.
• How Many Boxes Fit on a Pallet? (Ti-Hi) — Divide the 48×40 footprint for cases per layer and the height for layers, with a worked example.
• Pallet Configuration & Layout Patterns — Column, brick, pinwheel and interlocked stacking — which is most stable, and when to use each.
• How Many Pallets Fit in a Truck or Container? — 26 in a 53′ van, 24 in a 48′ trailer, 10–11 in a 20′ container — and why the real number varies.

CBM & volume

• How to Calculate CBM (Cubic Meters) — Start here. The formula in every unit, CBM to chargeable weight, and how much fits in a container.
• CBM to KG: Cubic Meters to Weight — 167 kg per CBM by air, 1 CBM vs 1,000 kg by ocean — the conversions worked through.
• The CBM Formula (cm, Inches & mm) — The exact divisor for every unit — 1,000,000 for cm, 61,024 for inches — with examples.
• What Is CBM in Shipping? — The plain-English definition, why freight is quoted in CBM, and where it shows up on a quote.

Freight rating & cost

• What Is CWT (Hundredweight)? — CWT means 100 lb. Convert CWT to pounds, kg and tons, and how per-CWT (per-100-lb) freight pricing works.
• What Is Truck Detention? — The charge for holding a truck past its free time: rates, how to calculate it, and detention vs. demurrage.