Why having a great freight class Density Calculator and Freight Class Calculator makes your logistics life so much Easier and Less Expensive!
If your freight shipments are density rated, you will need to calculate the density of each of your products in boxed and palletized formats. Thus allowing you to get the best and most accurate freight rates every time. If your shipping team is not trained on calculating density to properly classify your freight, you run the risk of having freight adjustments or rebills. Luckily there are many great automated freight-related tools, to help with freight class density related calculations. So, read on and I will hash them out for you!
Not having an easy to use freight class density calculator can cause you a lot of headaches!
Nobody likes freight-related adjustments or rebills! They can be expensive, they are hard to bill to your customer after the fact, and they are tedious and annoying to dispute. By properly training your logistics and shipping teams and arming them with the right tools. You can avoid most or all of these annoying density-rated freight adjustments.
How do you calculated Density and then find the associated freight class anyways?
Density is calculated simply by dividing the total weight of the shipment by the total cubic feet of space the shipment takes up. Thus, giving you a final number that states the pounds per cubic foot of the commodity being shipped. Be careful to always take into account the box and/or pallet dimensions and weights also. Because these additions can throw the calculations off and earn you a dreaded freight adjustment! Generally, we help our clients calculate the density for both single box shipments and palletized shipments, just to make sure the density is within the same range and freight class has not changed.
Example of Density Calculator within a Freight Management Software System of FMS
In this example the density is between 10-12 lbs per cubic foot thus the class is 92.5
Easy Automated tools that are available to make freight class and density calculation Easy!
To make calculating density and freight classes easier, there are a host of tools for automating the process. Also, most technology forward freight companies have tools embedded in their Transportation or Freight Management Software to make the process as easy as possible. This is especially helpful when you are shipping multiple items with different densities.
Example of where density rated items and their associated freight classes can be easily added to a drop-down menu. Thus making the load booking process quick and seamless with less opportunity for errors.
Once the proper densities have been calculated your preferred freight provider should be able to help you establish the most correct freight classes. Generally, this is done with the use of freight classification sites like http://www.nmfta.org/ and their website Class IT. Anyone can get a subscription to these online services, but if your freight provider is knowledgeable and helpful, they should be able to do this for you quickly.
Conclusion
Calculating densities and freight classes can be a bit of a headache and a little tricky. However, if you don’t properly calculate your product’s density and freight class. It will inevitably lead to more headaches in the form of rebills and freight adjustments. Fortunately, there are a lot of online freight class density calculator tools to help you!
How we can help you further simplify, automate, or simply better manage this process for you and your team.
If your shipping team needs a more automated, easy, or simply better-managed way to calculate your product’s freight density and class we can help. Our technology forward Freight Management Software Carrier Rate has a built-in easy to use density calculator. Additionally, my well-trained operations team can help you load all your most freight shipped products into a simple drop-down menu to make the freight rating/quoting process fast, easy, and error-free.
