Four zones, measured in driving hours.
St. Louis sits within a day's drive of about a third of the US population, which is the main reason this business works from here. Beyond that, honesty about freight matters more than a map covered in pins.
Check your lane
Give us a postal code and we will tell you which zone you are in and what it means.
9869 Meeks Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63132
Nine trailers including three drop units. Owning the equipment is what makes reverse loads and milk runs possible at all.
Beyond roughly 900 miles, LTL on low-density freight usually makes reuse uneconomic. We will tell you that rather than quote it and let you discover it.
What each zone actually gets you.
Zone 1 — Same-day & next-day
Eastern Missouri, Southern Illinois
Own equipment, drop trailers available, same-day pickup on standing accounts.
Zone 2 — Scheduled milk runs
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Western Missouri
Recurring weekly routes that collect and deliver on the same pass.
Zone 3 — Truckload lanes
Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia
Full and partial truckload, knocked down and banded for cube efficiency.
Zone 4 — Nationwide
All 48 contiguous states
Full truckload only. We will tell you plainly when freight makes reuse uneconomic for your lane.
Recurring routes you can join.
A milk run collects and delivers on the same pass, which halves the freight carbon and most of the cost. Routes run weekly; joining one is usually cheaper than a dedicated delivery.
| Route | Runs | Serves | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| STL metro loop | Tue & Thu | St. Louis city and county, St. Charles, Metro East | Dock collection, same-week delivery |
| I-55 south | Wednesday | Festus, Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Memphis | Agriculture, distribution |
| I-70 west | Monday | Columbia, Kansas City, Topeka | Manufacturing, retail DCs |
| I-70 east | Thursday | Effingham, Indianapolis, Dayton | E-commerce fulfilment |
| I-44 south-west | Tuesday | Rolla, Springfield, Joplin, Tulsa | Food processing, recycling partners |
| I-57 / I-74 north | Friday | Champaign, Bloomington, Peoria, Chicago south | Mixed, seasonal |
What actually fits in the truck.
Every cube figure we quote is calculated against these, at a realistic 72% packing efficiency rather than a theoretical 100%.
| Unit | Inside dimensions | Volume | Pallet positions | Payload | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53' dry van | 630" × 100" × 110" | 3,489 ft³ | 26 | 45,000 lb | Our standard outbound unit |
| 48' dry van | 576" × 99" × 108" | 3,100 ft³ | 24 | 44,000 lb | Older fleet, still common on LTL |
| 28' pup | 330" × 100" × 108" | 1,750 ft³ | 12 | 22,000 lb | LTL linehaul segment |
| 26' straight truck | 306" × 96" × 96" | 1,700 ft³ | 12 | 10,000 lb | Liftgate deliveries to sites without docks |
| 40' container | 474" × 92" × 94" | 2,390 ft³ | 20 | 59,000 lb | Export; corrugated avoids ISPM 15 |
| 40' high cube | 474" × 92" × 106" | 2,694 ft³ | 20 | 58,000 lb | Preferred for low-density freight |
Six things move the number, and volume is only the fourth.
Used box pricing confuses people because the obvious lever — how many you want — is among the weakest of the six. Spread is the gap between best and worst case on our own quote data.
| Factor | Spread | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Destination lane | 2.8× | Within-Midwest versus a long nationwide haul |
| Size-run consistency | 2.1× | A single matched size versus genuinely mixed sizes |
| Grade | 1.9× | Grade C versus grade A on the same size |
| Order volume | 1.3× | One pallet versus a full truckload, same lane and grade |
| Timing flexibility | 1.15× | Take-it-when-it-lands versus a fixed delivery date |
| Season | 1.1× | March versus October on the same lane |
Ten conversions we use every day.
None of these are difficult. All of them are regularly got wrong, usually by a factor of 1,728.
| From | To | Factor | Worked example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cubic inches | Cubic feet | ÷ 1,728 | 48 × 40 × 36 = 69,120 in³ = 40.0 ft³ |
| Square inches | Square feet | ÷ 144 | 13,528 in² = 93.9 ft² |
| Pounds per ft² | Board weight | × area in ft² | 93.9 ft² × 0.55 = 51.7 lb |
| Pounds | Kilograms | × 0.45359 | 51.7 lb = 23.5 kg |
| Inches | Millimetres | × 25.4 | 48" = 1,219 mm |
| Cubic feet | Cubic metres | × 0.02832 | 40.0 ft³ = 1.13 m³ |
| Short tons | Metric tonnes | × 0.90718 | 11,800 tons = 10,705 tonnes |
| Loose OCC volume | Weight | × 80 lb/yd³ | 40 yd³ ≈ 3,200 lb |
| Baled OCC volume | Weight | × 700 lb/yd³ | 2 yd³ bale ≈ 1,400 lb |
| Trailer volume (53') | Usable | × 0.72 | 3,489 ft³ → 2,512 ft³ |
By driving hours, not by map
The zones are not marketing regions. Zone 1 is what our own trailers can reach and return from inside a working day. Zone 2 is what a weekly recurring route can serve while collecting and delivering on the same pass. Zone 3 is where truckload economics still beat buying new locally. Zone 4 is everything else.
St. Louis sits within a day's drive of roughly a third of the US population, which is the main reason this business operates from here rather than somewhere cheaper.
Why milk runs are the best value on the list
A recurring multi-stop route collects and delivers on the same pass. The marginal freight cost of adding a stop to a trailer that is already running is close to nothing, which is why joining a scheduled route is almost always cheaper than a dedicated delivery — and why it halves the carbon as well as the cost.
Routes run weekly on fixed days. Joining one means accepting their schedule rather than naming your own date, and on low-density freight that trade is overwhelmingly worth making.
Where we tell you to buy locally
Beyond roughly 900 miles, LTL on low-density freight usually makes used packaging uneconomic against local new stock. We will say so rather than quote it. Trucking air across three states is not a good environmental trade, and a supplier who will not tell you that is optimising for their own invoice.
Why empty packaging rates so badly.
LTL pricing keys off density. Knocked-down corrugated weighs almost nothing and occupies a full pallet position, so it lands near the expensive end of a scale designed around weight.
| Class | Density | Typical commodity | Where packaging sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 50+ lb/ft³ | Bricks, steel bar | Rarely packaging |
| 55 | 35 – 50 | Hardwood flooring | Dense palletised goods |
| 60 | 30 – 35 | Car accessories | Heavy cartoned goods |
| 65 | 22.5 – 30 | Bottled beverages | Full case packs |
| 70 | 15 – 22.5 | Food in cartons | Typical dense distribution |
| 85 | 12 – 15 | Crated machinery | Palletised assemblies |
| 92.5 | 10.5 – 12 | Computers, monitors | Cushioned electronics |
| 100 | 9 – 10.5 | Boat covers, canvas | Light bulky goods |
| 125 | 7 – 8 | Small appliances | Void-filled cartons |
| 150 | 6 – 7 | Auto sheet metal | Erected boxes start here |
| 175 | 5 – 6 | Clothing, couches | Knocked-down heavy board |
| 200 | 4 – 5 | Aircraft parts | Knocked-down double wall |
| 250 | 3 – 4 | Mattresses, plasma TVs | Knocked-down single wall |
| 300 | 2 – 3 | Wood cabinets, tables | Erected gaylords |
| 400 | 1 – 2 | Deer antlers | Erected light bulk |
| 500 | < 1 | Gold dust, ping-pong balls | Loose void fill |
Note the two rows that matter here: knocked-down board is class 150 – 250, erected containers are class 300 – 400. That gap is the entire argument for banding everything flat.
Seven things about your dock that change the quote.
Declared before the quote these are free to plan around. Discovered on delivery day they are the single most common reason a cheap quote becomes an expensive invoice.
| Item | Specification | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Dock height | 48 – 52" typical | Below 44" a standard trailer needs a leveller or a ramp |
| Dock leveller capacity | 20,000 – 30,000 lb | Loaded gaylords on a pallet truck approach the limit |
| Door width | 8 – 9 ft | Double-stacked knocked-down bundles are wide |
| Apron depth | 100 – 130 ft | A 53-foot trailer needs room to square up |
| Liftgate requirement | If no dock | Add $75 – $150; declare it before the quote, not after |
| Receiving window | 3-day window ideal | Lets us consolidate; worth more than a volume discount |
| Forklift availability | 3,000 lb minimum | A loaded gaylord plus pallet exceeds many electric walkies |
How long each thing actually takes.
Measured from a confirmed order, not from the first email. Artwork approval and procurement onboarding sit outside these figures and are usually the real critical path.
| Item | Lead time | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Graded used shippers, stock size | Same week | Often 48 hours on Midwest lanes |
| Graded gaylords, stock size | Same week | Knocked down and banded |
| Reconditioned gaylords | 7 – 10 days | Bench time plus re-grading |
| Lids, liners and accessories | Same week | Ships on the same pallet |
| Recovered pallets, repaired | 3 – 7 days | Depends on repair queue |
| New stock-size boxes | 2 – 5 days | 60+ sizes held in St. Louis |
| New custom die | 10 – 15 working days | Includes die making and first article |
| Printed new board, 1 – 4 colour | 10 – 15 working days | Plate making included |
| Honeycomb panel, stock | 5 days | Pressed from recovered board |
| Die-cut dunnage to profile | 7 – 10 days | Tooling for non-standard profiles adds time |
| Printed retail display | 10 – 12 days | Artwork approval is usually the critical path |
| Baler placement | 2 – 4 weeks | Site survey, delivery and commissioning |