The Freight Class Setting: Selecting The Right One

Understanding your choices for the Freight Class setting in the LTL Freight Quotes products.

If you're using one of Eniture Technology's LTL Freight Quotes products, you'll need to make a choice for the Freight Class setting.  The Freight Class field is a dropdown list of valid freight classes.  Appended to the end of the list is an option for "Density Based".

You should make every effort to choose one of the valid freight classes.  If you're unfamiliar with freight classes, please familiarize yourself with the following document:

What Is A Freight Class?

If you select a freight class for the Freight Class setting, then only the Weight and Freight Class settings need to be populated. However, you should also populate the dimension settings if the item will be subject to an overlength or excessive length fee.

If you choose the "Density Based" option, then you're relying on an industry-accepted method to calculate the freight class.  To use this method, you must populate the product settings for Weight, Length, Width, and Height.  These parameters are required inputs for the density-based calculation.

The "Density Based" option should be your second choice for the Freight Class setting.  There are four factors that determine a commodities freight class.  Density is one of the four.  The other three factors can influence the final determination of a commodity's freight class.  If the actual freight class differs from that identified by the density-based calculation, then your actual charges will differ from the amount quoted by the LTL Freight Quote product.

The "Density Based" option for the Freight Class setting is not the same thing as what is commonly referred to as "Dimensionally Rated" or "Density Rated" freight shipments.  The "Density Based" option for the Freight Class setting is one of the four inputs that the National Motor Freight Transportation Agency (NMFTA.org) uses to identify a commodity's freight class recorded in the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) directory. "Dimensionally Rated" or "Density Rated" methods of pricing freight shipments uses the total weight and the overall dimensions of the shipment to identify the cost of transportation.

You are solely responsible to identify the correct freight class of your product(s). If you need assistance, contact your LTL freight provider or refer to the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) directory published by the National Motor Freight Transportation Agency (NMFTA.org).  You can also refer to the other resources identified in the What Is A Freight Class? document.