Shipping freight for the first time, or tired of surprise charges on your invoice? In this video, we break down the seven mistakes we see shippers make most often — and why none of them come from carelessness. They come from nobody explaining the rules up front.
The short version: measure your freight’s exact length, width, height, and weight instead of guessing, since a couple of inches can turn a legal load into a permitted one. Know how it loads and unloads on both ends before you book. Give us at least two to three days of lead time, more for permitted heavy haul freight. Confirm your cargo’s value against the standard $100,000 insurance carried on most trucks. Treat suspiciously cheap rates with caution unless a real pickup date is attached to them. Crate valuable freight moving common carrier LTL, and ask about air-ride suspension for anything fragile. And work with a carrier that actually answers the phone when something goes wrong — that’s us.
Who I Am and Why Shippers Keep Making the Same Mistakes
We’ve been Great Western Transportation since 1993, headquartered in the Bay Area of California, handling flatbed, heavy haul, refrigerated, dry freight, and power-only — LTL and truckload — across the continental U.S. and into Canada. Between us, our team has spent decades in this industry and moved just about everything, from frozen freight for national bakery accounts to vintage tractors bound for someone’s barn.
The mistakes we see shippers make aren’t born of carelessness — they happen because nobody ever explained the rules. Shipping freight is one of those things you’re expected to already understand, and almost every mistake on this list traces back to the same root cause: information. Good information up front gets you an accurate rate and a truck that actually shows up. Bad information costs money and time.
Mistake #1: Guessing Your Freight Dimensions and Weight
The most common mistake we see, by far, is guessing on dimensions and weight. Someone eyeballs the load and gives us a number that’s “close enough.” Then our truck arrives and the freight is bigger or heavier than reported. On an LTL shipment, that freight just took up space we sold to somebody else. On a truckload, a legal load can become an over-dimensional load that our driver isn’t permitted to haul — which means rescheduling, re-rating, and losing the quoted price. A couple of inches can do that.
Height catches people the most. A standard flatbed deck sits around five feet off the ground, so a nine-foot-tall piece is already close to the legal limit before the truck moves an inch. Knowing that in advance lets us bring in a different trailer to accommodate the height — two inches over on your end can be the difference between a normal load and a permitted load with a route survey. Weight has the same problem in a different direction: it’s not just how much freight weighs, but where the weight sits, since a machine heavy on one end has to be positioned carefully to keep the axles legal. Measure it, weigh it, don’t estimate — length, width, height, and weight, all four. A spec sheet or drawing takes five minutes to send us and can save a week.
Mistake #2: Not Knowing How Your Freight Loads and Unloads
We get calls every day asking for a flatbed with a forklift attached, because somebody saw one driving around town — but in long-haul transportation, that’s not a thing. Hauling a forklift everywhere is weight we can’t sell and space we can’t use, so we won’t run that lane. Before you book, tell us the plan on both ends: is there a forklift, a crane, or a loading dock, on the shipping end and the receiving end, and is that forklift actually rated for the weight of the freight?
The other overlooked detail is whether your freight needs to be covered. If it can’t get wet, it needs to be tarped, and tarping takes our driver time, costs money, and has to be arranged in advance — not discovered at the dock. If the answer to any of this is “I’m not sure,” tell us that up front. There are always ways for us to solve it, but we need to know before the truck is sitting there.
Mistake #3: Not Giving Enough Lead Time Before Pickup
Same-day and next-day pickups draw from a much smaller pool of trucks. Instead of matching you with our best carrier, we’re stuck choosing whoever happens to be empty and nearby — which costs more and leaves you fewer equipment options. Two or three days of notice on a standard load changes everything. On heavy haul or permitted freight, more lead time matters even more, since permits take time for us to issue and some states are slower than others. The moment you know something is shipping, even before details are final, giving us a call costs you nothing and buys a lot of flexibility.
Mistake #4: How Much Cargo Insurance Do Trucks Actually Carry?
We ask every customer what their freight is actually worth — and most tell us nobody has ever asked them that before. A typical truck carries $100,000 in cargo insurance. If your freight is worth more than that, there’s a coverage gap, and the worst time to discover it is after something goes wrong. Knowing the value, telling us, and getting it confirmed in writing is a two-minute conversation that protects your shipment completely.
Mistake #5: A Cheap Rate With No Truck Behind It
A great rate sounds wonderful — but if whoever quoted it doesn’t actually have a truck, what did you really buy? If it takes two weeks for someone to cover a load you needed picked up Monday, the rate wasn’t worth much. Often, a quoted rate is one the broker can’t actually cover, hoping to find a cheap truck later; when that doesn’t happen, either the rate goes up or your load just sits with no call back. Here’s what we’d tell you to do: when someone gives you a rate, ask them to confirm an actual pickup date — not a window, not “we’ll get you covered.” A real rate comes attached to a real truck.
Mistake #6: Is Common Carrier LTL Safe for Valuable Freight?
Common carrier LTL is where we hear the most freight-damage horror stories. A big, odd-shaped piece or high-value machine gets a great rate, and then it’s loaded and unloaded repeatedly — terminal to terminal, truck to truck — and every handoff is a chance for damage. LTL is a great option and we use it constantly, but if your freight is valuable or fragile, look for a carrier like us who can keep it on one truck, or at minimum keep transloads to a bare minimum. If you do go common carrier anyway, crate it — it will save you enormous grief.
One more detail applies to both LTL and truckload: air-ride suspension gives your freight a noticeably smoother ride than non-air-ride equipment. Most common LTL carriers don’t run air-ride by default, so if you’re shipping delicate machinery, ask us for it specifically — don’t assume you’re getting it.
Mistake #7: Why Customer Service Matters More Than the Rate
Possibly the most important mistake: can you get a human being on the phone? If you leave a voicemail, does anybody call you back? If you send an email, do you get an answer? And when you do reach somebody, how do they sound? It doesn’t show on the easy loads — anybody can handle those. It shows the day a truck breaks down, a receiver refuses delivery, or freight arrives damaged. That’s when you find out what you actually bought. We’d rather you pay a little more and work with somebody who knows how to walk you through the process, than take the bottom-dollar rate and spend your week chasing answers. Every time.
Recap: The Checklist Before You Book a Truck
Measure your freight — all four numbers. Know how it loads and unloads on both ends. Give yourself lead time. Know what it’s worth, and confirm the coverage with us. Confirm the truck, not just the rate. Protect fragile freight from transloads. And work with people who pick up the phone. None of this is complicated — it’s just the stuff nobody tells you until it’s already gone wrong.
Need to ship something? Get a freight quote from us and get a real person on the phone, quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much cargo insurance do trucks actually carry?
Most trucks carry $100,000 in cargo insurance. If your freight is worth more than that, tell us up front and we’ll get the additional coverage confirmed in writing before pickup.
How much lead time should I give before a freight pickup?
Two to three days of notice on a standard load gives us access to more carriers and gets you better pricing. Permitted or heavy haul freight needs even more lead time, since permits can take days for us to issue depending on the state.
Is common carrier LTL safe for valuable or fragile freight?
Common carrier LTL gets handled at multiple terminals, so it’s more prone to damage. If your freight is valuable or fragile, ask us about a carrier option that limits transloads, crate the freight, and request air-ride suspension.
How can I tell a real freight rate from one with no truck behind it?
Ask whoever quotes you the rate to confirm an actual pickup date, not just a rate or a vague window. A real rate comes attached to a real truck; if they can’t commit to a date, the rate isn’t real yet.
