Large shipments: pallet limits, volume pricing, and splitting
Pallet, linear-foot, and cubic limits, and how to split oversized freight.
How big can an LTL shipment be, and what if mine is larger?
Mothership quotes standard LTL up to 10 pallets. Standard LTL pricing assumes your freight shares a trailer, so once a shipment gets large it re-rates under volume / linear-foot / cubic-capacity pricing. The common thresholds are more than about 10 pallets, more than about 12 linear feet of trailer space, or about 750 cubic feet or more (when density is low).
Cross any of these and standard discounts fall away. Mothership does not quote volume or partial-load LTL — when freight is larger than standard LTL, the right mode is FTL; ask us and we'll help you quote it.
Can I split a large shipment into smaller ones?
You can, but mind the same-lane, same-day rule: don't tender multiple shipments between the same origin and destination, on the same carrier, on the same day if together they cross the volume threshold — carriers can combine them and re-rate the whole thing at volume pricing. If you split, use different carriers, or send the second shipment only once the first is already in transit.