Resources / LTL Pricing & Tariffs
LTL pricing runs on tariffs — and tariffs are built so the discount looks generous while the base does the work. Here's the machinery underneath your rate: base tariffs, weight breaks, minimums, FAK, and fuel — and how to compare pricing that's actually comparable.
Every LTL invoice is assembled from the same parts, in the same order:
| Layer | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1. Base rate | The tariff's per-hundredweight (CWT) rate for your lane, freight class, and weight tier. This is the number everything else modifies. |
| 2. Discount | The negotiated percentage off the base rate. Sounds decisive; is actually the least informative number in the stack. |
| 3. Minimum charge (AMC) | The floor. If the discounted rate falls below the absolute minimum charge, you pay the minimum. Small shipments live here. |
| 4. Fuel surcharge | A percentage added to the net linehaul, from the carrier's fuel table indexed to national diesel prices. Adjusts weekly. |
| 5. Accessorials | Liftgate, residential, limited access, and friends — per the tariff's fee schedule. Covered in our accessorials guide. |
Here's the part carriers don't advertise: every carrier owns its own base tariff, and no two are alike. One carrier's base rates on your lane might run 40% higher than another's — so "85% off" carrier A can cost more than "70% off" carrier B on the same pallet. Some pricing uses neutral third-party bases; most nationals use their own. Either way, the discount percentage tells you nothing without knowing what it discounts.
And the base doesn't sit still. Carriers apply a general rate increase (GRI) — typically annual, typically mid-single-digits — to the base tariff. Your discount stays "the same" while your costs rise underneath it. A pricing program that looked sharp two years ago and hasn't been re-shopped since is quietly funding someone's margin.
Tariff rates step down at weight breaks — commonly at 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, and 10,000 pounds. The per-CWT rate drops at each tier, which produces a quirk worth knowing: near a break, it can be cheaper to rate your shipment as if it weighed more. Carriers apply this automatically as deficit weight rating — a 480-lb shipment may rate as 500 lbs at the lower tier rate. Good rating engines (and good brokers) check every break, every time.
For one- and two-pallet shippers, the discount barely matters — the absolute minimum charge is the real price. Discounts generally don't penetrate the AMC, so two programs with identical discounts and different minimums produce very different invoices for light freight. If your typical shipment is small, negotiate the floor, not the percentage.
FAK (freight all kinds) pricing rates your shipments at one agreed class regardless of what's on the pallet — everything moves as class 70, say, even when the actual commodity is class 100. It simplifies rating, reduces reclass friction, and can meaningfully cut costs for shippers whose freight skews high-class. It's also only as good as the agreed class: FAK at your average class saves you nothing. (Refresher on classes: the freight class guide.)
We hold negotiated programs across 50+ vetted LTL carriers, each with a differently shaped tariff — which means the job is matching your freight to the carrier whose math likes it, lane by lane. FoxIQ Price goes further: it builds your actual shipping profile and takes it to carriers to negotiate customer-specific pricing shaped to how you really ship, then tracks the market so the program stays sharp after the GRI lands. No discount theater — just the lowest landed cost we can defend on an invoice you won't have to argue with.