Pallet Shipping Rates: How to Get the Best Price for Your Freight

Pallets are the backbone of commercial freight. Whether you're shipping finished products to customers, raw materials to factories, or inventory between warehouses, chances are your goods travel on pallets. Getting competitive rates for pallet shipping directly impacts your margins and competitiveness.

Yet many companies don't approach pallet shipping strategically. They call the same carrier they've always used, accept the quoted price, and move on. This convenience comes at a cost—often 15-25% more than what competitive sourcing would yield.

This guide covers what determines pallet shipping rates, how to evaluate your options, and practical strategies for securing better prices without sacrificing service quality.

What Determines Pallet Shipping Rates?

Understanding the factors that drive pricing helps you make better decisions and negotiate more effectively. Pallet shipping rates aren't arbitrary—they reflect real cost drivers that carriers must account for.

Distance and Route

The most obvious factor: longer distances cost more. But it's not purely linear. Popular routes with regular traffic in both directions tend to offer better rates than unusual lanes where carriers struggle to find return loads. A shipment from Milan to Munich might cost less per kilometre than Milan to a remote destination with limited freight activity.

Weight and Dimensions

Carriers price based on the space and weight your pallets consume. Standard EUR pallets (120×80cm) are easiest to handle and price. Oversized pallets, excessive height, or unusually heavy loads affect pricing because they limit what else the carrier can load alongside your freight.

Volume: FTL vs LTL vs Groupage

How much space your shipment needs relative to a full truck determines your options and pricing tier. Full truck loads (FTL) offer the best per-pallet rates but require enough volume to justify dedicating an entire vehicle. Partial loads and groupage services let you ship smaller quantities but at higher per-unit costs.

Timing and Flexibility

Urgent shipments cost more. If you need a truck tomorrow, you'll pay a premium compared to booking a week ahead. Similarly, flexibility on pickup and delivery windows can unlock better rates—carriers can optimise their scheduling when they're not constrained to exact time slots.

Special Requirements

Temperature control, hazardous goods certification, high-value cargo handling, tail-lift delivery—any special requirement adds cost. Standard dry freight on standard pallets to standard delivery points is cheapest. Each added complexity increases the rate.

FTL vs LTL vs Groupage: Choosing the Right Option

The shipping method you choose significantly impacts both price and service. Understanding when each option makes sense helps you optimise costs.

Full Truck Load (FTL)

When you have enough pallets to fill (or nearly fill) an entire truck, FTL offers the best economics. You're paying for the whole vehicle regardless, so maximising utilisation makes sense. FTL also provides faster transit times since there are no intermediate stops for consolidation or deconsolidation.

A standard curtain-sided trailer fits approximately 33 EUR pallets (non-stackable) or up to 66 if goods are stackable. If your shipment approaches these volumes, FTL likely beats alternatives.

Less Than Truckload (LTL)

For shipments too large for parcel carriers but too small for a full truck—typically 1-15 pallets—LTL services consolidate multiple shippers' freight onto shared vehicles. You pay for your portion of the truck space.

LTL rates are higher per pallet than FTL, but total cost is lower for smaller shipments. The trade-off is longer transit times (due to consolidation activities) and potentially more handling of your freight.

Groupage

Similar to LTL, groupage services combine shipments from multiple customers. The term is more common in European markets. Groupage networks operate scheduled routes, collecting and delivering along established corridors.

Groupage works well for regular, predictable shipments where transit time flexibility exists. For urgent or time-sensitive freight, the schedules may not align with your needs.

How to Get Competitive Pallet Shipping Rates

Knowing what drives costs is useful. Actually securing better rates requires specific actions.

Get Multiple Quotes

This seems obvious but many companies don't do it consistently. For each shipment—or at least for new lanes and significant volumes—collect quotes from multiple carriers. The spread between highest and lowest quotes often exceeds 30%.

Freight platforms make this easy. Post your load details once and receive quotes from multiple interested carriers. Compare not just on price but also on carrier credentials and service history.

Benchmark Regularly

Even if you have established carrier relationships, periodically test the market. Rates fluctuate with fuel costs, capacity availability, and competitive dynamics. A rate that was competitive six months ago might now be overpriced—or underpriced, meaning your carrier might be cutting corners.

Consolidate Shipments When Possible

If you're shipping multiple smaller loads to similar destinations, consolidating them into larger shipments often reduces total cost. A weekly FTL might cost less than daily LTL shipments totalling the same volume.

Provide Accurate Information

Accurate weight, dimensions, and requirements in your quote requests get you accurate pricing. Surprises at pickup—heavier than declared, additional pallets, special handling needed—lead to surcharges and strained relationships.

Build Carrier Relationships

While competitive quoting keeps rates honest, consistent volume with reliable carriers often yields better service and priority treatment. Carriers value predictable business and may offer better rates for steady customers.

Common Mistakes That Cost Money

Several common practices lead to overpaying for pallet shipping.

Not Shopping Around

Loyalty to a single carrier without periodic benchmarking is expensive. Markets change, new carriers enter, existing ones adjust pricing. What was competitive last year might not be today.

Inaccurate Specifications

Underestimating weight or dimensions to get lower quotes backfires. Carriers weigh and measure at pickup. Discrepancies trigger surcharges—often more than accurate initial pricing would have been.

Last-Minute Booking

Urgent shipments cost more. Building lead time into your operations where possible reduces transport costs. Even a few days' advance notice often yields meaningfully better rates.

Ignoring Total Cost

The cheapest quote isn't always the best value. Late deliveries, damaged goods, or poor communication create costs that don't appear on the transport invoice. Consider carrier reliability alongside rate.

Manual, Fragmented Processes

Managing pallet shipping through phone calls, emails, and spreadsheets wastes time and loses information. Digital platforms that centralise quotes, bookings, and documentation reduce administrative burden and make rate comparison easier.

Using Freight Platforms for Better Rates

Freight exchanges and digital platforms have transformed how companies source pallet shipping. The benefits for rate optimisation are significant.

Instant Market Access

Rather than calling carriers individually, posting a load on a platform exposes it to multiple carriers simultaneously. Competition drives rates toward market levels.

Rate Transparency

Seeing multiple quotes for the same shipment reveals the actual market range. You understand what competitive pricing looks like for your specific routes and volumes.

Verified Carriers

Good platforms verify carrier credentials—insurance, operating licences, company status. This lets you compare rates confidently, knowing the carriers meet baseline standards.

Historical Data

Over time, platforms accumulate data on your shipping patterns and rates. This intelligence helps identify optimisation opportunities and benchmark new quotes against historical performance.

Getting Started

Improving your pallet shipping rates doesn't require dramatic changes. Start with these practical steps:

Audit your current spending. What are you paying per pallet on your major routes? How do rates compare between carriers? Understanding your baseline reveals where opportunities exist.

Test the market. For your next few shipments, collect quotes from multiple sources rather than defaulting to your usual carrier. See what competitive rates actually look like.

Consider platform options. If you're not already using a freight exchange, explore what's available. Truckscanner lets you post pallet loads and receive quotes from verified carriers—a simple way to access competitive rates without lengthy procurement processes.

Build competitive pressure into your process. Even if you prefer working with established carriers, periodic market testing keeps everyone honest. Your existing carriers will offer better rates if they know you're monitoring alternatives.

Pallet shipping is a significant cost for most product businesses. Small percentage improvements in rates translate to meaningful savings. The effort to source competitively pays for itself many times over.

Sources: European road freight market pricing data; industry cost structure analysis; Truckscanner platform rate comparisons.