What is LTL freight?
Quick answer
LTL (less-than-truckload) freight is shipping that uses part of a truck rather than all of it. Your skid or pallets share the vehicle with other shippers' freight heading the same direction, and you pay for the space and weight you use instead of the whole truck. It's the standard, economical way to move one to a few skids that don't need to arrive the same day — in a regional operation, typically on a next-business-day window.
If your business has a skid to move and someone quoted you “LTL,” this page is the plain-language version of what you’re buying: a share of a truck instead of the whole thing, at a share of the cost, on a next-business-day rather than same-day timeline.
How LTL works
LTL works by combining freight from multiple shippers into one truck travelling a common direction. The carrier picks up your skid, groups it with other freight moving the same way, and delivers each shipment along a planned route. Because the vehicle, the driver and the kilometres are shared across everyone on board, each shipper pays a fraction of what a dedicated truck would cost.
The unit of LTL is the skid: freight stacked on a pallet, stretch-wrapped into a single stable piece that a forklift or pallet jack can move. One skid is a perfectly normal LTL shipment — so is a group of three or four. What you give up in exchange for the shared cost is exclusivity: the truck serves other shippers too, so delivery happens within a window rather than at a promised hour, and the freight is handled more than it would be riding alone.
LTL vs. FTL vs. courier
The three main ways B2B freight moves are easiest to see side by side:
| Mode | The vehicle | Timing | Typical shipment |
|---|---|---|---|
| LTL | Shared with other shippers | Delivery window (e.g. next business day) | One to a few skids |
| FTL / dedicated | Entire truck for one shipper | Direct, schedule set by the shipper | Large loads, or freight needing exclusive use |
| Direct courier | Dedicated vehicle, sized to the job | Same-day, straight to destination | Urgent freight of almost any size |
FTL — full truckload — is the opposite arrangement to LTL: one shipper books the whole vehicle and the freight rides alone, covered in detail in what FTL shipping is. A direct courier run is effectively a small-scale dedicated move bought for speed. LTL sits in the economical middle: too big for a parcel, not urgent enough to justify a truck of its own.
Regional next-day LTL: the Southern Ontario version
LTL comes in two structural flavours. National LTL networks move freight across the country through terminals, where shipments are unloaded, sorted and reloaded between legs of the journey. Regional LTL keeps freight on short lanes inside one service area — which typically means fewer handling events and a tighter delivery window, because the whole journey fits within a single operating region.
In Southern Ontario, the regional version is what most shippers actually need: a skid picked up in Mississauga today and delivered in London or Barrie the next business day never requires a national terminal relay. That’s the model behind Sonic Transport’s next-day LTL service, which runs across the GTA, Golden Horseshoe and Southern Ontario — direct service up to roughly 350 km one way from the GTA, with tailgate available on every truck and proof of delivery closing out each run. For the full regional picture, lane by lane, see our guide to next-day LTL in Southern Ontario.
One honest note about timing: “next business day” is a service window, not a guarantee. It’s what a regional operation is built to hit day after day, but shared-truck freight runs on windows by nature.
What an LTL shipment looks like start to finish
The lifecycle of an LTL shipment is short and predictable. You book with the shipment’s real facts — dimensions, weight, both addresses, and anything the delivery needs, like a tailgate where there’s no dock. The skid is picked up against a bill of lading that records the piece count and description, travels with other freight on its lane, and delivers within the window. At the far end, the receiver checks the count and condition and signs, and that signature becomes the proof of delivery that closes out the run.
Two moments in that lifecycle do most of the work: the booking, where declared details determine whether the right truck shows up, and the signature, where any shortage or damage should be noted on the spot rather than discovered later.
What an LTL shipment costs depends on
No standard rate card exists for LTL, because the price is assembled from the shipment itself: distance, the space and weight the freight occupies, and any extra requirements — a tailgate where there’s no dock, an appointment at the receiver, wait time at a busy dock. Carriers price the standard dock-to-dock move as the base and add for what a specific shipment needs beyond it. That’s why accurate dimensions, weight and delivery details produce accurate quotes, and vague ones produce invoices that don’t match.
When LTL is the right choice
LTL fits when three things line up: the freight is palletized (or can be), the receiver can take delivery within a next-business-day window, and nothing about the shipment demands a dedicated vehicle — no hard deadline today, no fragility that rules out shared handling. When those hold, LTL is usually the most economical way to move the freight, and preparing the skid properly makes the shared ride uneventful; our LTL prep checklist covers the wrap, labels and paperwork that matter in a shared truck. When they don’t hold — the deadline is today, or the freight can’t share — a direct run is the honest recommendation, and the decision logic is laid out in when next-day LTL beats a same-day courier run.
If you’ve got a skid or a few pallets moving anywhere in the GTA, Golden Horseshoe or Southern Ontario and next business day works, request a quote — a real person will price the lane and put your freight on it.
Related questions
What does LTL stand for?
LTL stands for less-than-truckload — freight that occupies less than a full truck. The term describes the shipment size, and by extension the service model where multiple shippers' freight shares one vehicle.
How big is a typical LTL shipment?
Most LTL shipments are one to a handful of skids or pallets — palletized freight too large for parcel networks but nowhere near filling a truck. Once a shipment grows to fill most of a vehicle, a dedicated truck or full truckload usually makes more sense.
Does LTL freight have to be on a pallet?
Not strictly, but palletized freight is what LTL handles best. A wrapped skid can be moved by forklift or pallet jack, stacked and secured predictably, and counted cleanly on the paperwork. Loose cartons and unpalletized pieces are harder to handle in a shared truck and easier to misplace.