I have written in this blog on a number of occasions about the shift in ground freight to dimensional pricing among many national and regional L.T.L companies. and today I wanted to focus on the importance of packing items for safe shipping while receiving the best freight rate.
Lets start by looking at the picture of the un-boxed oven above. The actual size of which is 29 inches wide by 27 inches deep by 29 inches high. When shipping this in a class rated structure, you could box this oven and strap the box to a standard 48 X 40 pallet and send it on its way.
Here's why: The N.M.F.C has this oven as a density based class with the density breakout at 6 and 10. So if the density is less than 6 this would ship as a class 200 if the density is between 6 and 10 then it would ship at class 110 and if the density is greater than 10 then this ships at a class 77.5
Before we could understand the density breakout of this shipment we need to know a little more info about the shipment like how much it weighs and how it is to be packed. This Oven weighs 208 lbs so with pallet and packaging the shipping weight would come to 250 lbs.
This particular oven fit in a 30 X 30 X 30 double corrugated box just fine with some 1" plank board on its sides and the rest of it wrapped in sheet foam.
The picture above shows the oven with white sheet foam wrapped around the machine and 1" plank board on each side. After some more packaging the oven fit into our box and the box was closed. The box was then turned to the side.
When we package items for L.T.L Transport we understand the item may be loaded and unloaded a few times. Keeping the aesthetic side free of damage, especially when the display side includes glass, like in this oven, you never want the weighted pressure on the front.
Turning the ovens front to the side of the pallet that has no forklift entry ensures the pressure from picking this item up is put on the sides of the machine not the front.
So lets get back to our shipping scenario. Strapping this box to a standard sized pallet and shrinking wrapping it, would give us a DIM of 48 X 40 X 34 and a weight of 250 lbs this would qualify as a class 110 because our density is just above 6 (6.62 L X W X H/Weight)
Now, even though this would be the easiest way to package this item and submit it into an L.T.L system, it is not the best for its protection. a 30 X 30 box on a 48 X 40 pallet leaves a lot of space from other freight but does not supply the best protection, nor give you the best freight rate.
At Gateway Crate and Freight facilities we have the materials and knowledge to properly pack any item so that we increase its protection and decrease its dimensions. We don't fully crate everything but a little wood in the right places makes all the difference in the world.
For instance, for this oven we put around the box four 1 x 4 slat corners, we then took scrap plywood left over from previous crating jobs and attached it the slats to completely cover the facing of the oven. Notice the O.S.B boards only cover the oven facing.
The pallet entry for forklifts and pallet jacks are on the side of the machine, it is protected by the 1 X 4 slat corners and 1" foam plank board inside the box. This box is then strapped down to the pallet.
You probably noticed that our 30 X 30 box is not on a 48 X 40 pallet as described above. That's because we made a custom pallet that is 34 X 34. This allowed us to reduce our density while increasing the protection to the oven.
So what happened when we used a custom pallet? Well first thing is our shipping size went from 48 X 40 X 34 to 34 X 34 X 34, the smaller sized pallet though weighs a little less but by adding the four 1 X 4 corners and the plywood over the facing we got our weight back to 250 lbs which now means our oven will class at 77.5 because (34 X 34 X 34/250) gives us a density of 10.99 much higher than 6.62, and our item is better protected.
We actually ended up shipping this under a density based rate with one of our preferred carriers. Not shipping at class, even at a low class like 77.5 saved our client money even after the extra packing costs. Also I want to mention that we would never recommend shipping this item on this small of a pallet just in a box. This size will only safely protect your shipment with the extra packing measures mentioned here.
This oven was successfully shipped to the client and received in perfect condition. Adding more protection to smaller DIM items is the future of L.T.L Shipping and Gateway Crate and Freight is leading the way. Saving money on transportation costs and increasing the amount of protection on your item can help you save money and improve customer service.
Gateway Crate and Freight can provide the Optimum mix of packaging and freight rates to help you save money. Looking to improve your success rate at shipping L.T.L give us a call today 855-474-4685.
Comments
Post a Comment