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Freight for bulky goods: the truck fills before it loads up

Furniture freight is sold by volume, not weight, which changes what a cost reduction is worth. How to cost it per product, and why flat packing is a costing decision before it is a design one.

Updated

In most trades freight is a small line that scales with weight. In furniture it is a large line that scales with **space** — a trailer or a container runs out of room long before it runs out of payload.

That single fact changes which improvements are worth making, and it is why a shop that costs freight by weight consistently undervalues the one change that matters most.

Costing freight per product

Two numbers: the cost of one shipment, and the number of products that shipment carried. Divide.

The second number is the one to get right, and it is decided by packed dimensions rather than by the product. A product that packs slightly flatter may fit another layer in the container, and the freight cost per unit falls by the whole ratio.

Record the assumed distance or lane in your notes. Freight per unit on a short domestic run and on an export lane are different numbers, and a comparison between them says nothing about either operation.

Flat packing is a costing decision first

Shipping a product knocked down trades manufacturing cost against freight cost, and both sides are measurable:

  • Assembly labor moves out of your plant — that line falls or disappears.
  • Packaging usually gets more complex and more expensive — that line rises.
  • Hardware and instructions are added — a new line appears.
  • Freight per unit falls, often sharply, because packed volume falls sharply.

Cost the product both ways and compare. That is a complete improvement case with numbers on both sides — not a design preference, which is how this decision usually gets made.

Damage in transit belongs on the sheet

Furniture damages easily and the loss is real. If you carry the cost, record it as scrap with the cause noted as transit — because it leads to a packaging improvement, not a production one.

Kept in a general scrap figure it points the whole shop at the wrong problem, and people spend months improving a process that was never at fault.

Where freight cost actually falls

  1. Reduce packed volume — flat packing, nesting components, thinner but adequate protection.
  2. Match packed dimensions to the container or trailer so fewer gaps are shipped as air.
  3. Consolidate shipments so trucks leave full, which is a scheduling change rather than a product one.
Point two is the one most often left on the table. A package a few centimeters smaller can change how many fit across the width of a container, and that is a step change rather than a gradual gain — the sheet shows it immediately once freight is costed per product.

Related guides

Freight for bulky goods: the truck fills before it loads up | costdown.org