Freight Class Calculator: What It Is, Why You Need It, And?
A freight class calculator helps you classify your LTL freight accurately so that you can save both money and time on your freight shipments. It can also help accurately rate and price more complex freight shipments that involved multiple commodities that ship at different classes.
But what is freight class, and why should you care?
Imagine this. You are shipping a box of medicines that are urgently needed by your client. You pack them, tag them, and hand them over to your LTL freight partner. Your LTL shipper promptly transports the medicines to your client using multiple LTL providers. However, the medicines break down mid transport and prove useless when they arrive.
The reason? One of the LTL providers on the shipping route had used a regular truck instead of a temperature-controlled truck, which is crucial for preserving the integrity of the medicines.
This almost never happens in the logistics industry, thanks to freight shipping classification or NMFC codes and automated freight class calculator software.
Accurate identification and communication of your shipment’s freight class to your LTL carrier prevent several problems like the one described above. We’ll discuss more on this later. It’s vital to get the basics right first.
What is Freight Class?
Freight classes are numbers assigned by National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) to standardized shipment types. Therefore, the freight classes are also known as NMFC codes. Each NMFC code corresponds to a specific type of package being transported, and gives the LTL carriers all the vital information they need to ship the package with proper care.
https://www.fedex.com/en-us/shipping/freight/class-calculator.html
How are Freight Classes Calculated?
https://flowster.app/calculators/freight-class-calculator/
NMFC codes are determined based on four factors:
- Density
It’s the ratio of your package’s weight to its volume. This determines how easy or difficult it is to handle your product.
- Stow-ability
This factor measures the ease or difficulty involved in stowing your product. If it’s too bulky, hazardous, or needs special care, then it may require specialized equipment to stow. The more difficult your product is to stow, the higher is its transportation costs.
- Handling
Your product will likely be loaded and unloaded several times from different trucks before it reaches its destination. So, it matters whether it is easy to load and unload.
- Liability
Is your product susceptible to damage, or potentially damaging to other packages or property? If yes, then it will be classified under a higher freight class.
Of course, it also matters what product you are shipping. If you are shipping multiple commodities of different freight classes together as a single package, then complex freight class calculators can help your help you most accurately rate these shipments.
How To Use a Freight Class Calculator?
You can find freight class calculators in most technology-forward freight management software available in the market. Although you can find some free freight class calculators on the internet, it’s recommended that you do not use them. They tend to be outdated and do not provide accurate information.
Using a freight class calculator in your freight management software can be as easy as:
- Step 1: Log on to your freight management software
- Step 2: Click on Freight Class Calculator. It’s usually found in the navigation menu.
- Step 3: Enter the requested details. It usually includes product type, dimensions, weight, and other such details.
- Step 4: Click on Calculate Freight Class, and that’s it.
- Step 5: From there most modern Freight Management Software can easily and accurately rate shipments of multiple classes, commodities, and accessorial needs.
Example of how our Freight Management Software Makes Freight Classification Easy
Use Our Freight Class Calculator and Freight Management Software for Worry-free Logistics Management
Easy Logistics Management’s freight management software comes equipped with one of the industries best Freight Class Calculators. Our hands on and very knowledgeable team will always make sure your freight management software is loaded with your company’s products most correct class, NMFC, and product information. Thus, allowing our easy-to-use freight software’s freight class calculator to very quickly and accurately rate your freight shipments.
Regardless of how many different products or commodities you are shipping together. Nor how many complex dimensional or accessorial requirements each shipment has. If your firm needs a better more automated freight class calculator and freight management software, we would be happy to show you our best-in-class freight software. Ultimately saving your shipping team time, money, and potential freight classification and pricing hassles.