Below a certain size, a pallet costs the same as a smaller one.
The floor: absolute minimum charges
Every LTL carrier publishes a number no shipment is billed below, however small or light it is. For a first pallet this is usually the most useful figure on the whole tariff, because it tells you when shrinking the load stops saving money. Two carriers publish theirs in the open.
| Carrier and item | Situation | Absolute minimum charge |
|---|---|---|
| FedEx Freight, item 404 | Priority service, unless otherwise provided | $254.00 |
| FedEx Freight, item 404 | Economy service, unless otherwise provided | $243.00 |
| Old Dominion, item 180 | Intrastate | $141.00 |
| Old Dominion, item 180 | Interstate, 699 miles or fewer | $159.00 |
| Old Dominion, item 180 | Interstate, 700 to 1,199 miles | $195.00 |
| Old Dominion, item 180 | Interstate, 1,200 miles or more | $245.00 |
Read that as a rule about behaviour, not a price list. Under the floor, a lighter pallet costs exactly what a heavier one costs, so trimming 80 lb off a small shipment buys nothing. Above it, weight and class start to matter again. Old Dominion also states that charges will not be reduced below the applicable minimum after any discount is applied, which is why a percentage off a published tariff can stop mattering entirely on small loads.
The stack: what sits on top of the linehaul
The transport charge is one line. These are the lines that arrive with it, and none of them are optional once the conditions are met.
Fuel, set by a government index
FedEx Freight ties its fuel surcharge to the weekly national average diesel price published by the U.S. Department of Energy, effective each Monday, and applies the matching percentage from a ladder printed in its tariff. At a fuel index of 180 the ladder shows 22.80 percent, and it climbs from there. You cannot negotiate the index and you can look up next week’s reading yourself.
A charge for a truck that came back empty
When a carrier dispatches a driver and nothing is handed over, FedEx Freight charges $97.00 under item 619 and Estes charges $222.55 for a vehicle furnished but not used under item 985. Both are billed to whoever asked for the pickup, which is a good reason not to book a collection until the pallet is actually wrapped.
Accessorials decided at the kerb
Liftgate, inside delivery and limited-access charges are assessed on what the driver finds, not on what you ticked. They are covered one page each on this site, because the trigger, the arithmetic and the way out are different for all three.
Terminal handling on a held shipment
If freight sits in a carrier’s building at your request, the meter starts. FedEx Freight bills a handling charge of $14.05 per cwt with a $110.00 minimum under item 565 for temporary storage up to 24 hours, and separate storage rates beyond that.
The traps: reweigh, reclass and cube
A pallet is weighed and measured again after you have handed it over, and the tariff says plainly what happens next. These are the mechanisms that turn a quoted number into a different invoice.
| Mechanism | What the tariff says | Charge |
|---|---|---|
| FedEx Freight weight validation, item 981 | No fee when the reweigh is less than 50 lb over the bill of lading | No charge |
| FedEx Freight weight validation, item 981 | Fee applies when the reweigh is 50 lb or more over, or 200 lb or more under | $40.00 |
| FedEx Freight inspection, item 981 | Fee applies to any bill adjusted after an inspection, one fee per shipment | $40.00 |
| FedEx Freight density fallback, item 640 | Inspected shipment described inaccurately is rated by density: under 1 pcf becomes class 400, 1 to 2 pcf class 300, 2 to 4 pcf class 250 | Recalculated freight |
| XPO reweigh, item 239 | Weighing or reweigh of shipments | $45.50 |
| XPO cubic capacity, item 233 | Freight taking 350 to 749 cubic feet under 3 pcf, or 750 cubic feet or more under 6 pcf, is multiplied by 6 lb per cubic foot and rated class 125 | Recalculated freight |
The cube rule is the one that catches sellers of light bulky goods. A pallet of foam, empty cases or plastic housings can weigh very little and still occupy a large slice of trailer, and the tariff simply invents a heavier weight for it. Measure the wrapped pallet, work out cubic feet, divide the real weight by it, and if the answer is under 6 lb per cubic foot, expect the carrier to rate it on space rather than on the scale.
Where cartons still beat a pallet
A pallet is not automatically the cheap answer. On 2026-07-28 we pushed the pieces of a typical 500 lb load through our own calculator as separate cartons and as one unit, and the split shipment stayed inside the parcel network.
| Shipment | Size and weight | Destination | Cheapest rate returned |
|---|---|---|---|
| One carton off the pallet | 24 x 18 x 18 in, 83 lb | Chicago, IL 60607 | $93.57 UPS Ground, 2-3 business days |
| Same carton, three-day air | 24 x 18 x 18 in, 83 lb | Chicago, IL 60607 | $135.30 UPS 3 Day Select |
| Same carton on the other network | 24 x 18 x 18 in, 83 lb | Chicago, IL 60607 | $159.84 FedEx Ground, 5-6 business days |
| Skid-mounted machine | 60 x 48 x 48 in, 600 lb | Los Angeles, CA 90021 | No parcel rates: freight |
One carton at that price sits well under any absolute minimum charge in the first table, so a single-box shipment should never be tendered as freight. Six of them is a different sum entirely, and comes to more than double the FedEx Freight floor before that carrier has added a penny of fuel. On this lane the crossover falls at roughly three cartons against the bare freight floor, and higher once fuel and accessorials are counted. Anything that will not fit the parcel envelope at all, like the 600 lb skid in the last row, has no parcel answer to compare.
Getting an actual number
We do not publish pallet prices, because an honest one needs the class, the two addresses, what equipment is waiting at each end and when the dock is open. A freight carrier quotes it from those details; SMKlog sells parcel labels only. If you are still deciding whether the shipment is freight at all, the calculator will tell you within a minute.
Pallet rate questions
Is there a minimum price for shipping a pallet?
Yes, and each carrier publishes it. FedEx Freight names an absolute minimum charge of $254.00 for Priority and $243.00 for Economy in item 404 of its rules tariff, and Old Dominion publishes a scale in item 180 running from $141.00 intrastate to $245.00 for interstate moves of 1,200 miles or more. Below those points a smaller pallet does not cost less.
Why did my pallet invoice arrive higher than the quote?
The usual causes are a reweigh, a reclassification after inspection, or a cube rule. FedEx Freight charges a $40.00 validation fee when a reweigh comes in 50 lb or more over the bill of lading, and XPO charges $45.50 for a reweigh, in both cases plus the recalculated freight.
How is the fuel surcharge on a pallet worked out?
FedEx Freight sets it from the weekly national average diesel price published by the U.S. Department of Energy, effective each Monday, and applies the percentage its tariff prints against that index. Other carriers use the same index with their own ladders, so the figure moves week to week without anyone renegotiating.
Is it cheaper to send cartons than one pallet?
Only for small shipments. On 2026-07-28 a 24 x 18 x 18 in carton at 83 lb from Newark, NJ 07102 to Chicago, IL 60607 returned $93.57 as its cheapest rate in our calculator, comfortably below any freight minimum charge. Three or four of those cartons already pass that floor, and a full pallet of them costs far more as parcels than as freight.