Install on ShopifyLTL means less than truckload. Your freight, usually on one or more pallets, shares a trailer with other shippers' freight, and you pay for the part of the truck you use. It's how businesses move shipments that are too big or heavy for parcel carriers but nowhere near a full truck.
Parcel vs LTL
Parcel carriers move individual boxes, each with its own label, through sorting hubs to the regular delivery route. They have limits per box:
- USPS: Ground Advantage and Priority Mail take packages up to 70 lb.
- UPS: packages up to 150 lb and 108 inches long, and up to 165 inches in length and girth combined.
UPS describes LTL as typically pallet freight weighing over 150 lb. LTL moves handling units, such as pallets or crates, that are loaded by forklift and moved through carrier terminals on the way to the destination.
| Parcel | LTL | |
|---|---|---|
| What moves | Single boxes | Pallets or crates |
| Weight per piece | Up to 70 lb (USPS) or 150 lb (UPS) | Typically over 150 lb |
| Price based on | Weight or dimensional weight, and distance | Weight, freight class and distance, plus extras |
| Paperwork | A label on each box | A bill of lading and a label on each pallet |
| Handling | Sorted by machines and hand | Moved by forklift through terminals |
When to switch from parcels to LTL
- The item is over parcel limits. A single piece over 150 lb can't go as a UPS package, and anything over 70 lb can't go USPS.
- Many boxes are going to one address. A wholesale order, a restock of a warehouse, a delivery to a retail store. On a pallet, the boxes travel as one unit instead of being handled one by one.
- The receiver asks for freight. Some warehouses and stores only take pallets at a dock, often with a delivery appointment.
There's no fixed weight where LTL becomes cheaper than parcels. When you're close, price both: the boxes as parcels, and the same boxes on a pallet as LTL.
Freight class, in one paragraph
LTL carriers price by weight, distance and freight class, which runs from 50 (dense) to 500 (light and bulky). Since July 19, 2025, many items are classed by density: pounds per cubic foot. The full scale and a worked example are in freight class and the 2025 density scale, and the freight class calculator does the math for several pallets.
How to prepare an LTL shipment
- Build a solid pallet. Stack boxes squarely, heaviest on the bottom, and keep them inside the pallet's edges. Stretch-wrap the load to the pallet.
- Measure and weigh the whole unit, pallet included. Carriers re-weigh and re-measure, and a different result can mean a corrected bill.
- Label every pallet with the shipper and delivery addresses.
- Fill in the bill of lading (BOL). It's the shipping document for freight: who's shipping, who's receiving, what's on the pallets, the weight and the class.
- Ask for the extras up front. If the delivery address has no loading dock, is a home, or needs a set time, ask for liftgate, residential or appointment delivery when you book, not after.
When it has to be there by a date
LTL moves through terminals, and transit times are estimates. If a late delivery would cost more than the price difference, a dedicated truck that drives straight there may be the better fit. See LTL vs expedited freight.
Freight in Muvo
Muvo Freight sits next to your parcel shipping, on the web and in the phone app. Quote a dedicated Expedite truck from Baltic Global as you type, and see the freight page for the LTL pallet options on each plan. Every freight price shows before you book, with transparent freight pricing.
Need a pallet held between trucks? The Muvo Hubs in Tampa and Ohio cross-dock pallets, quoted on request.
Parcel labels in Muvo have no monthly fee on the Free plan; see pricing for plans and the freight booking fee, or create a free account.
Sources: UPS, Package dimensions, size limits and weight guide; USPS, USPS Ground Advantage and Priority Mail. The class and price on a freight bill come from the carrier, not this guide.
