What makes casework hard freight
Commercial casework (lab and clinic cabinets, school storage, reception desks, retail fixtures) and architectural millwork (wall paneling, wainscot, custom trim, solid-surface and quartz tops) share three traits that matter to a carrier.
- Low density. An assembled base cabinet is a plywood or particleboard box around empty space. Crated with others on a 96 × 48 in skid, a load typically runs 3.5 to 4.5 PCF, straddling the 4.0 PCF boundary between class 250 and class 175.
- Finished surfaces. Laminate, veneer and painted fronts show every forklift tine and strap edge. A cabinet that arrives with a crushed corner is a field repair or a remake, and remakes stall the job, not just the invoice.
- No top load. Countertop decks and cabinet tops are not structural. Casework is almost always non-stackable, so it gets cubed to 96 in.
Each terminal cross-dock is another forklift move, another set of hands, another chance for a pallet of steel to be set on your crate. That is why most of our casework tenders end up on a direct partial truckload rather than standard LTL, even when the LTL number looks lower on paper.
Typical casework and millwork handling units
| Unit | L × W × H (in) | Lbs | Cu ft | PCF | Class | Cubed to 96 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base cabinets, crated on skid | 96 × 48 × 60 | 620 | 160.0 | 3.88 | 250 | 2.42 PCF · 250 |
| Tall cabinets, laid on back | 96 × 30 × 48 | 520 | 80.0 | 6.50 | 125 | 3.25 PCF · 250 |
| Reception desk, crated | 96 × 40 × 48 | 420 | 106.7 | 3.94 | 250 | 1.97 PCF · 300 |
| Wall panels, flat crate | 120 × 48 × 24 | 950 | 80.0 | 11.88 | 92.5 | 2.97 PCF · 250 |
| Quartz tops on A-frame | 120 × 40 × 72 | 2,600 | 200.0 | 13.00 | 85 | 9.75 PCF · 100 |
The pattern is worth noticing. Laying tall cabinets on their backs (with blocking under the face frame) roughly doubles their density compared to shipping them upright. Flat-crated panels are dense, but a flat crate that cannot take weight is still cubed to 96 in and falls from class 92.5 to class 250. Quartz and solid-surface tops are the heavy part of any millwork order, and they stand on edge in A-frames, so they are imputed too, though the effect is smaller because they are dense to begin with.
Run six casework crates against ODFL Item 610-1
- Safe — tariff cube, density and linear feet stay under the carrier's cube and linear-foot rules.
- Tier 1 — 350 cu ft or more under 3 PCF (XPO, Saia, ABF, Estes): synthetic weight of 6 lbs per tariff cubic foot.
- Re-bill — 750 cu ft or more under 6 PCF, or linear feet at the carrier's rule: book volume LTL or direct partial truckload.
Worked example: six crates of base cabinets on Old Dominion
A casework plant ships six crates of base cabinets 640 miles to a medical office build-out. Each crate is 96 × 48 × 60 in and weighs 620 lbs with its skid. The crates have finished tops under cardboard and are marked do-not-stack. The shipper's LTL carrier is Old Dominion, whose ODFL 100 Item 610-1 applies at 750 cu ft and under 6 PCF.
Actual cube = 160.0 × 6 = 960.0 cu ft · Weight = 620 × 6 = 3,720 lbs
Density = 3,720 ÷ 960.0 = 3.88 PCF → Sub 3, class 250
On actual cube alone the shipment already trips Item 610-1: 960 cu ft is over 750, and 3.88 PCF is under 6. The do-not-stack mark makes the re-rate bigger:
Imputed density = 3,720 ÷ 1,536.0 = 2.42 PCF
Synthetic weight at 6 PCF = 1,536.0 × 6 = 9,216 lbs
Linear feet = 3 rows × 96 in ÷ 12 = 24.0 LF (ODFL linear-foot threshold: 15 LF)
| Option at 640 miles | Indicative linehaul |
|---|---|
| Class 250 LTL as booked | $1,319 |
| After Item 610-1 re-rate, non-stackable | $2,189 |
| After re-rate, if crates were stackable | $1,392 |
| Spot volume LTL on 24 LF | $815 |
| Direct partial truckload on 24 LF | $930 |
| Dedicated 26 ft box truck | $1,504 |
Two things fall out of the numbers. First, the shipment is only 120 lbs short of 4.0 PCF and class 175, which works out to 1.9 in of crate height. Heavier crate decks or trimming dunnage would get there, but it would not clear Item 610-1, because the rule keys on 6 PCF, not 4. Second, the direct partial at about $930 is below the class-rated LTL figure and well below the re-rated one, and the six crates load once and come off once. On finished casework that is the tender we would recommend.
Crating and loading guidance
- Skid every unit. Cabinets set directly on a trailer floor get pushed with a pallet jack nose and split their toe kicks. Use a skid with full-length runners so tines can enter from either side.
- Protect fronts and corners. Cardboard corner boards, foam or felt pads on finished faces, and shrink-wrap over the pads, not directly against lacquer that is still curing.
- Decide on stackability honestly. A crate with a ½ in plywood lid on a frame can usually carry another crate of casework. Bare shrink-wrapped cabinets cannot. A crate at or under 60 in that can genuinely take weight avoids the 96 in imputation; see crated vs. palletized freight.
- Lay tall units down when the design allows. Pantry and tall storage cabinets ride better on their backs with blocking under the face frame, and they cube far better.
- Load heavy at the nose, tops last. Quartz A-frames go against the bulkhead and are strapped to E-track. Cabinet crates go behind them with load bars between rows. On a partial, the carrier loads to a floor plan we send with the tender.
- Label by room and install sequence. The installer unloads in the order rooms get built. Room labels on two faces of each crate save a day of sorting on site.
Equipment and accessorials
| Need | Why it comes up with casework | How we tender it |
|---|---|---|
| Air-ride suspension | Reduces vibration on veneer and glass doors over long hauls | Requested on the tender; most modern 53 ft vans have it |
| Liftgate | Tenant build-outs often have no dock | Fine for crates up to the gate rating, roughly 2,500–3,500 lbs; not for quartz A-frames |
| Inside delivery | Cabinets to a specific floor or suite | Quoted per stop with elevator and door sizes confirmed |
| Blanket wrap | Uncrated reception desks and fixtures | Pad-wrapped on a partial or dedicated truck; no terminal handling |
| Delivery appointment | Installers scheduled for a set day | Built into partial and dedicated rates |
Check commercial door sizes before you crate. A standard 3070 door is 36 in wide and 84 in tall; a 96 × 48 × 60 crate goes through on a pallet jack only if the 48 in side can turn. If the cabinets need to be uncrated on the dock and wheeled in, tell us so the carrier brings dollies and a second person.
Which mode Cubic Transport tenders casework on
One or two crates under 350 cu ft go standard LTL with exact dimensions and the stackability written on the bill of lading. From about four crates up, or any time the load is finished casework going to an active job site, we quote a direct partial truckload and compare it against a volume LTL rate. When the two are close, the partial usually wins on damage risk alone. For multi-floor fit-outs with uncrated pieces, a dedicated 26 ft box truck with a liftgate and a two-person crew is often the cleaner answer despite a higher linehaul.
Mixed millwork orders need one more decision. Quartz and solid-surface tops are dense, heavy and fragile on their edges, while the cabinets they sit on are light and bulky. Putting both on the same partial is usually right, because the tops ride at the nose on A-frames and the cabinets fill the space behind without anything stacked on them. Splitting them across two LTL shipments doubles the terminal handling for the most breakable piece in the order. If the tops are fabricated at a different shop, a two-pickup partial with both stops on one trip is the next best option, and we quote it as one load.
