Cost Per Pound / Cost Per Pallet

Cost per pound and cost per pallet translate freight charges into units that map directly to how products are sold, inventoried, and margin-analyzed. Cost per pound divides the total shipping cost by the shipment weight; cost per pallet divides it by the number of pallets shipped. These metrics matter most in industries like CPG, food and beverage, and consumer goods where product margins are thin and transportation cost is a meaningful percentage of the landed cost of goods.

A truckload shipment costing $3,000 that carries 40,000 pounds runs $0.075 per pound. The same $3,000 load carrying 20 pallets costs $150 per pallet. These numbers become powerful when tracked over time and compared across lanes, carriers, and order profiles. A shipper might discover that a particular customer's order patterns – small, frequent orders instead of full truckloads – are driving cost per pallet 30% higher than average, pointing to a consolidation opportunity.

Cost per pallet is especially relevant for load optimization conversations. When a shipper knows their average cost per pallet on a lane, they can immediately quantify the savings from adding two more pallets to each load through better consolidation or pallet configuration. It also supports internal conversations with sales and finance teams – "shipping to this customer costs $180 per pallet versus our average of $140" is a more actionable statement than quoting total freight spend.

The key to making these metrics useful is accurate weight and pallet count data at the shipment level, which requires either a well-maintained item master or consistent capture at the warehouse. Without that foundation, the calculations are estimates at best.