Freight is the movement of goods in bulk by truck, rail, sea, or air, along with the charge levied for that transport. It usually applies to shipments that are too large, heavy, or numerous to go through standard parcel carriers like UPS or FedEx ground. In practice, freight covers everything from a single palletized order to a full container crossing an ocean.
How it works
Freight is priced on the physical realities of a shipment: weight, dimensions, distance, mode, and how quickly it needs to arrive. Common structures include less than truckload (LTL) for palletized goods that share a trailer, full truckload (FTL) for a dedicated truck, and ocean or air freight for international moves. Carriers often bill on dimensional weight, so a light but bulky load can cost as much as a dense one. Accessorial charges (liftgate, residential delivery, inside delivery) get added on top.
Why it matters in B2B quoting
Freight is rarely a flat number, which is exactly why it belongs in a quote rather than a fixed storefront shipping rate. A wholesale order of 40 cases going to a loading dock in another state carries a very different freight cost than a single case to a small shop. Because the amount depends on the final order, sellers typically quote freight as a line item after the cart is built. This is where a quote-based workflow fits: you can price the goods, add the freight charge you calculated, and send one number the buyer accepts and pays through checkout. See the B2B quoting glossary for related terms.
Example
A buyer requests 12 pallets of shelving. You get an LTL rate of $680 including a liftgate for their dock, add it as a freight line on the quote, and the buyer approves and pays the full total in one step.