What Is Dimensionally Rated LTL Freight?

How Is Your LTL Freight Rating Method Determined?

Most businesses that ship LTL freight have a pricing agreement with their LTL freight provider called a "tariff". The tariff you have with your LTL freight provider will detail the rules it will use to determine your LTL freight shipment charges. Your tariff will stipulate whether your charges are billed using the NMFC (freight class) method or by shipment dimensions.

NMFC/Freight Class Rating Method

Historically, the basis of rating LTL freight shipments was based on the freight class of the commodities that comprise the shipment. The classification of commodities is governed by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA). The classification of all commodities can be found in its publication, the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC).  As of the July 19, 2025 NMFTA changes, freight class is transitioning to a density-based standard industry-wide; however, it remains in active use under many existing carrier tariffs.

Dimensional/Density Rating Method

Over recent years, many LTL freight providers have encouraged—and in some cases required—their customers to adopt tariffs that use handling unit dimensions instead of freight class as a primary rating factor. Following the NMFTA's July 19, 2025 changes, dimensional/density-based rating is now the industry's standard approach.

This method is commonly called Dimensionally Rated Freight or Density Rated Freight.

Why Is The Rating Method Important?

Eniture Technology offers a suite of LTL freight quoting applications for leading e-commerce platforms, including BigCommerce, Shopify, and WooCommerce. E-commerce merchants use them to get accurate LTL freight quotes for their shoppers during the checkout process. Using the wrong rating method, one that doesn't align with your tariff, will lead to inaccurate shipping quotes.

Using the wrong rating method, one that doesn't align with your tariff, will lead to inaccurate shipping quotes.

How To Get Accurate LTL Freight Quotes

NMFC/Freight Class Rating Method

The NMFC/Freight Class method is the simplest of the two alternatives.  In the product shipping parameters related to one of Eniture Technology's LTL Freight Quotes applications, record the item weight and freight class. If an item is subject to your provider's excessive-length or overlength surcharge, enter its longest dimension in the length field.  Refer to the application's User Guide for a full explanation of the relevant settings.

Dimensional/Density Rating Method

Since the overall dimensions of the loaded pallet (or other handling unit) are mandatory for this rating method, you need to enable the Pallet Packing feature. It will allow you to identify your pallet sizes, and it will build (load) the pallet (or handling unit) prior to sending the rate request to your LTL freight provider.

BigCommerce merchants can access the Pallet Packing feature by clicking on the navigation link labeled Pallet Packaging in the Add-ons section of the Real-time Shipping Quotes app's navigation menu. Refer to the application's User Guide for specific instructions.

Shopify merchants will find the Pallet Packing feature on the Pallets tab for all relevant apps.  Refer to the specific application's User Guide for instructions.

WooCommerce merchants need to install the add-on plugin, which can be downloaded from the eniture.com website or the WordPress plugin directory. Refer to the plugin's User Guide for instructions.