When are parcel vs. LTL freight rates displayed?

A description of the rules used to determine when to display parcel and/or LTL freight rates to online shoppers.

The Small Package Quotes and LTL Freight Quotes products are engineered to work together to display accurate and relevant rate estimates to your shoppers during the checkout process. The following is a summary of the rules that govern which rates are displayed when both products are installed and properly configured.

The rules reference a weight threshold for LTL freight. By default, the weight threshold is set to 150 LBS, although many of the LTL Freight Quotes applications/plugins have a setting that will allow the merchant to specify a different threshold value.

Only small package (parcel) rates will be displayed if:

  • All items in the cart are defaulted to parcel;
  • The total weight of the cart is less than the weight threshold for LTL freight;
  • The shipment will contain 10 or fewer packages;
  • None of the carrier's dimensional restrictions are violated.

Both small package (parcel) and LTL freight rates will be displayed if:

  • All items in the cart are defaulted to parcel;
  • The total weight of the cart is equal to or greater than the weight threshold for LTL freight;
  • No package in the shipment weighs more than 150 LBS;
  • None of the carrier's dimensional restrictions are violated.

Only LTL freight rates will be displayed if:

  • The cart contains one or more items defaulted to LTL freight. In this case, it is assumed that all of the items in the cart will be consolidated into the same LTL freight shipment.
  • All items in the cart are defaulted to parcel but one or more of the parcel carrier's service restrictions is being violated. These include restrictions on package weight, dimensions, and the maximum number of packages permitted per shipment.