LTL freight is handled differently than parcel, and packaging that survives a UPS truck can fall apart on a less-than-truckload lane. Your pallet is not going door to door. It gets loaded, unloaded, and re-staged at two or three terminals along the way, usually alongside freight that is heavier, taller, and less forgiving than yours. Prep for that reality and damage claims mostly disappear.
Here is the sequence we walk Chicagoland shippers through when they start moving freight instead of parcels.
1. Start with a pallet that is actually sound
Inspect before you build. Cracked stringers, protruding nails, and broken deck boards are the cheapest possible cause of a rejected or damaged shipment, and carriers will note pallet condition when they assess a claim. Match the pallet size to the load, not to whatever is closest to the door. A load that overhangs the pallet edge loses the structural support of the corners and is the single most common reason cartons arrive crushed.
2. Build the stack so it carries its own weight
- Heaviest items on the bottom, lightest on top. Obvious, and still the most frequently skipped step.
- Keep the load square and within the pallet footprint. No overhang on any side.
- Column stack for maximum compression strength when boxes are uniform; interlock only when you need lateral stability and can accept losing some stacking strength.
- Fill gaps in the layer. Voids let cartons lean, and a leaning stack becomes a fallen stack after two terminal transfers.
- Keep the height reasonable. Tall, narrow loads tip. If you are near the tipping ratio, split it into two pallets.
3. Protect the corners before you tension anything
Edge protectors go on before the film and the strapping. They spread strap tension across the top layer instead of letting it bite into corrugated, and they add vertical rigidity that helps a stack resist crushing when something gets set on top of it in the trailer. On LTL specifically, assume something will get set on top of it.
4. Wrap for containment, not for looks
Stretch film holds individual cartons together as a unit. The technique matters more than the film. Start at the base and wrap the bottom layer to the pallet itself, several turns low and tight, so the load and the deck become one piece. Work up the stack with roughly half-overlap on each pass, then come back down. Finish with a clean tail tucked into the wrap rather than a loose streamer that can snag on a forklift.
Gauge and prestretch matter for cost, but on LTL the priority is bonding the load to the pallet. Most damage we see traces back to a load that was wrapped nicely but never anchored at the base.
5. Strap when the load is heavy, dense, or shifting
Film contains; strapping restrains. Anything heavy, rigid, or unusually valuable should get strapping across both axes over the edge protectors. Polyester holds tension as the load settles and is the right default for most palletized freight. Steel is for rigid, sharp-edged, or very heavy loads only.
6. Label so it survives the terminal
- One label on at least two adjacent sides, at eye level, never on the top surface where a stacked pallet hides it.
- Do not wrap film over the barcode. Apply labels on the outside of the wrap or use a pouch.
- Remove old labels and placards from reused pallets and cartons. Conflicting labels cause misroutes.
- Mark orientation or fragile handling clearly if it genuinely matters, and keep it to the marks that matter so they get respected.
7. Get the paperwork and freight class right
The bill of lading needs accurate piece count, weight, and dimensions. Carriers re-weigh and re-measure, and a mismatch triggers reweigh fees and slows the shipment. Measure the finished, wrapped pallet including any overhang, and record the actual scale weight rather than the sum of your carton weights.
8. Photograph the finished pallet
Take a photo of every side of the completed pallet before it leaves your dock, with the BOL number visible. It takes thirty seconds and it is the difference between a paid claim and a denied one. If freight arrives damaged, the consignee should note it on the delivery receipt before signing, not after.
Where most LTL damage actually starts
In our experience it is rarely one dramatic failure. It is a load that overhangs by an inch, wrapped without anchoring to the pallet, with no edge protectors, stacked a little too tall. Each shortcut is survivable alone. Together they produce the leaning pallet that shows up on a receiving dock with three crushed cartons.
Right-sizing your cartons helps upstream of all of this, because boxes that fit the product stack squarely and settle less in transit. We quote custom boxes and bulk orders by phone so we can look at the actual load and pallet pattern. Stretch film, strapping, edge protectors, and labels are all available in our online catalog.
Shipping LTL out of Chicagoland? Call KMS Distributing at (847) 630-7502 for custom boxes, custom printed tape, and bulk pricing, email orders@kmsdistributing.com, or browse 20,000+ products at kmsdistributors.com/Shop. Free Chicagoland delivery on orders over $1,000, and most in-stock orders placed before noon arrive the next business day from our Prospect Heights warehouse at 15 E Palatine Rd, Suite 103.
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