How LTL freight rates are calculated

An LTL quote looks like one number, but it is built in layers: a base rate per hundredweight, a weight break, a discount, a minimum charge, fuel and accessorials. Once you can see the layers, you can tell a good rate from a bad one and spot the invoice line that doesn’t belong.

By Ryan Poynter, SVP of LTL, Armstrong Transport Group · Updated September 24, 2026

The formula in one line

Almost every LTL price, from almost every carrier, follows the same structure:

(Base rate per CWT × weight in CWT) − discount, floored at the minimum charge, + fuel surcharge + accessorials = total

The rest of this guide walks through each piece, then puts real numbers through the whole thing. If you just want ranges, jump to what shipments actually cost.

1. The base rate per hundredweight (CWT)

LTL carriers publish base rates per hundredweight, written CWT, which is 100 lb. A 1,200 lb shipment is 12 CWT. The base rate for a shipment depends on three things:

• The lane. Origin and destination ZIP codes. Distance matters, and so does how well the carrier’s network covers both ends.
• The freight class. Higher classes carry higher rates per CWT. The freight class guide covers the current density scale.
• The weight break. Heavier shipments get a lower rate per CWT.

The base rates come from a tariff: either the carrier’s own, or an industry base rate product that many carriers and shippers use as a common starting point. The tariff number is almost never what anyone pays. It is the list price that discounts come off.

2. Weight breaks and deficit weight

Base tariffs step the rate down at set weights. The common breaks and their industry shorthand:

Because the rate per CWT drops at each break, there is a zone just below every break where it is cheaper to pretend the shipment weighs more. Carriers handle this automatically with deficit weight: they bill the actual weight plus enough phantom weight to reach the next break, at the lower rate, whenever that total is lower.

Deficit weight example

Illustrative tariff: $62.40 per CWT at M1M (1,000–1,999 lb) and $51.80 per CWT at M2M (2,000–4,999 lb), same class and lane. The shipment weighs 1,700 lb.

• Rated at actual weight: 17 CWT × $62.40 = $1,060.80
• Rated at the next break: 20 CWT × $51.80 = $1,036.00
• The carrier bills $1,036.00 and shows 300 lb of deficit weight on the invoice.

The crossover point is $1,036.00 ÷ $62.40 = 16.6 CWT, or about 1,660 lb. Anything between roughly 1,660 and 1,999 lb on this tariff prices as if it were 2,000 lb. Deficit weight is not an error, and it lowers your bill.

3. The discount

Nobody pays the full tariff. Carriers apply a negotiated discount, often in the range of 50% to 80% off the base rate. The size depends on how much freight the carrier expects from the account, what kind of freight it is, and the lanes involved. That is why a broker or 3PL with large network volume can often beat the rate a single shipper gets by calling a carrier directly. On average, shippers who quote through GetLTLRates save about 15% versus carriers’ published rates. That is the overall average across our shippers; actual savings range case by case.

A discount only means something next to the tariff it is taken from. A 75% discount off one carrier’s base can cost more than a 65% discount off another’s, so always compare net dollars, never discount percentages.

4. The minimum charge

Every carrier sets an absolute minimum charge (AMC), the least it will bill to pick up and deliver any shipment on a lane. Small shipments often calculate below it and simply pay the floor.

Illustrative: a 150 lb carton at a base of $95.00 per CWT is 1.5 × $95.00 = $142.50. After a 70% discount that is $42.75. If the lane’s minimum is $135.00, you pay $135.00, and fuel is usually applied on top. When most of your shipments hit the minimum, the minimum is the number to negotiate, not the discount.

5. FAK (freight all kinds)

An FAK agreement tells the carrier to rate a range of classes as one class. Shippers who move many different products use it to simplify pricing and to pull higher-class items down.

Illustrative: 1,200 lb of class 125 freight on a lane where the M1M base is $98.10 per CWT at class 125 and $62.40 at class 70. Without an FAK the gross is 12 × $98.10 = $1,177.20. With an FAK that rates classes 70 through 125 at class 70, the gross is 12 × $62.40 = $748.80. After a 70% discount, that is $353.16 versus $224.64, a saving of $128.52 on one shipment before fuel.

FAKs cut both ways. Freight that is truly denser than the FAK class gets no benefit, and the carrier prices the agreement knowing your mix. The freight’s real NMFC class still goes on the bill of lading.

6. Fuel surcharge

The fuel surcharge is a percentage added to the linehaul charge. Each carrier publishes a table that ties the percentage to a national average diesel price, usually updated weekly, so the same shipment costs more when diesel is up. On most tables the percentage is applied to the net linehaul after your discount, not to the tariff gross.

Fuel percentages differ from carrier to carrier, which is another reason two quotes with the same discount can land far apart. On an invoice, check that the percentage matches the carrier’s table for the pickup date.

7. Accessorials

Accessorial charges cover anything beyond a dock-to-dock move during business hours: liftgate, residential delivery, limited access, inside delivery, appointments, detention, redelivery and more. They are flat fees or per-CWT charges set by each carrier’s tariff, and they are the most common reason an invoice doesn’t match the quote. Declare them before you book and they are priced in; skip them and the driver adds them anyway.

Tariff, contract, dynamic and volume pricing

The same shipment can be priced four different ways, and a good quote compares them:

GetLTLRates quotes tariff, dynamic and volume pricing together across 50+ carriers, so you see the best of each in one search. For shipments that outgrow LTL, see LTL vs. truckload.

A full worked example

Here is one shipment taken through every layer. The tariff rate, discount, minimum, fuel percentage and liftgate fee are illustrative, chosen to be realistic, not quoted from any one carrier.

The shipment: three pallets of boxed goods, 1,200 lb total, class 70, going to a neighboring state. The receiver has no dock, so it needs a liftgate at delivery.

A few things to notice:

• The tariff said $748.80, but the freight charge was $224.64. The discount is the biggest number on the page, which is why who you book through matters.
• Fuel and the liftgate together added $147.90, roughly two thirds of the discounted freight charge. On small shipments, the extras are a big share of the bill.
• If the same freight were built looser and reclassed at 85 or 92.5, the base rate would rise and every layer after it would rise with it.

What shipments actually cost: real ranges by distance and weight

The worked example is illustrative. These are real: all-in rates Armstrong customers paid across 97,351 LTL shipments from September 2025 – August 2026, including fuel and any accessorials. Each range is the middle 50% of shipments in that group, with the median alongside. They are a reference point, not a quote.

Source: Armstrong Transport Group LTL shipments, September 2025 – August 2026. All-in paid rates including fuel and accessorials; middle 50% of shipments per group.

Two patterns jump out. Distance matters more than most people expect: a long-haul shipment under 500 lb typically costs more than a within-state shipment several times heavier. And weight is cheap at the margin: doubling or tripling weight within a distance band raises the price far less than proportionally, which is the weight-break structure at work.

For single-pallet shipments (median weight 500 lb), the middle 50% paid $255–$525 all-in, with a median of $360. See how much it costs to ship a pallet for more, or look up a specific corridor on the lane pages.

How to lower your LTL rate

• Get density right. Tighter, squarer pallets mean a lower class. Check yours with the freight density calculator.
• Consolidate. One 1,500 lb shipment almost always costs less than three 500 lb shipments on the same lane, because of weight breaks and minimum charges.
• Ship dock to dock when you can. Every accessorial you avoid is money you keep.
• Declare accessorials up front. Pricing them in beats a correction fee later.
• Compare net dollars across carriers. Not discount percentages, and not one carrier’s quote.
• Ask for volume pricing on big shipments. Around six pallets and up, volume LTL or partial truckload often wins.