Box truck trucking for shipments that need their own truck

The truck and what it holds

A box truck, also called a straight truck, has its cargo box mounted on the same frame as the cab, so there is no trailer to hook or drop. The ones that haul freight run from about 16 to 26 feet. The 26 foot truck is the usual pick: a box close to eight feet wide and eight feet tall inside, room for about 12 standard pallets loaded two across, and a payload that typically lands around 10,000 pounds, depending on the truck.

Many box trucks carry a lift gate, a powered platform at the back that lowers pallets from the floor of the box to the ground. With one, the truck can deliver where there is no dock: a store, a restaurant, a job site, a school or a home. Not every truck has a gate, so tell us when there is no dock at either end, and we will book one that does.

When to choose a box truck

Choose a box truck when the shipment is too big for a van but nowhere near a full trailer, roughly 4 to 12 pallets, and you want it on its own truck rather than passing through freight terminals. It is also the answer for narrow city streets, buildings whose docks are too small for a trailer, and receivers that will not take a tractor trailer at all.

When the freight outgrows the box, step up to a 53 foot dry van, the only trailer type in our own fleet. For a few cartons, a sprinter van is the better size. And for pallets that can share space with other freight, look at partial and LTL shipping.

Where box trucks run for us

In our own records, box truck freight is clustered around Las Vegas: small shipments up Interstate 15 from the Los Angeles area, and short moves between addresses inside the valley. Partner carriers haul those loads, since our own trucks are tractor trailers.

The same approach works on other short and regional lanes, such as Los Angeles to San Diego, the Inland Empire to Phoenix, or local deliveries across the Los Angeles basin. A straight truck makes a good fit wherever the receiver is a store, a showroom or a site without a dock.

How we quote a box truck

A box truck is priced for the whole truck, not by the pallet. Distance matters most, then the size of truck, whether it needs a lift gate, the pickup date and delivery window, and any waiting time or extra stops. Tell us all of it when you ask, so the quote matches the move. We need:

• Pickup and delivery addresses, and whether each one has a dock
• How many pallets, what size, and whether they stack
• Total weight, and a short description of the freight
• Whether the driver needs a lift gate, a pallet jack or to bring the freight inside
• Pickup date and the window the receiver can take it