LTL Pricing Explained: With Curtis Garrett

Field Notes: Episode 01 | LTL Pricing Explained

What Distributors Need to Know About Freight Costs, Carrier Leverage, and the Future of Rating

Featuring Curtis Garrett, co-founder and CEO of Lateral, founder of uLTL, and one of the most trusted voices in LTL freight pricing.

LTL freight is one of the most important (and often least understood) parts of a distributor’s business.

In this episode of Field Notes, Curtis Garrett breaks down how LTL freight pricing actually works, why rates are often hard to understand, and what shippers can do to improve cost, service, and carrier relationships.

Rather than only chasing the lowest rate, Curtis explains why distributors need to understand the inputs behind LTL pricing: space, time, risk, freight profile, data quality, accessorials, and how carriers evaluate shippers.

Clip #1: How LTL Pricing Actually Works Today

Most shippers look at the final LTL rate, but that number is built from many different inputs: rate base, fuel, discounts, minimums, accessorials, weight, dimensions, freight class, and service requirements.

Curtis explains why understanding the pricing structure matters if distributors want to make better freight decisions.

Clip #2: The 3 Things That Actually Drive LTL Cost

According to Curtis, most LTL carrier costs come down to three things: space, time, and risk.

If shippers can reduce the space their freight occupies, the time it takes carriers to service them, and the risk their freight creates, they are in a better position to earn stronger pricing and service outcomes.

Clip #3: What Shippers With Leverage Are Doing Differently

The best shippers are not just chasing cheap freight.

They understand the total cost of service, including damage, missed pickups, invoice issues, delivery failures, customer experience, and how easy or difficult it is to resolve problems with a carrier.

Clip #4: Why LTL Rating Is a Black Box

LTL rating is still difficult because so many factors affect the final price.

Freight class, dimensions, cube rules, minimum charges, accessorials, tariffs, fuel schedules, and carrier-specific logic can all change the rate. Even software can get it wrong when the inputs are wrong.

Watch the Full Episode

In the full conversation, we cover:

• How LTL pricing works today

• Why many distributors misunderstand freight rates

• What actually drives carrier cost

• How shippers can become more attractive to carriers

• Why the lowest rate is not always the lowest cost

• How freight classification and cube-based pricing may change LTL

• Why better data and better technology are needed in freight

Final Takeaway

If there is one practical lesson from this episode, it is this:

To improve LTL pricing, stop looking only at the rate. Start looking at the freight profile, the carrier experience, and the total cost of service.

Shippers that reduce space, time, and risk for carriers put themselves in a better position to earn better pricing, better service, and better long-term partnerships.

LTL pricing may be complex, but the path to improvement starts with a simple question:

Are we making our freight easier or harder to move?