{"id":2876,"date":"2020-06-25T04:44:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T10:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citizenshipper.com\/blog\/?p=2876"},"modified":"2026-05-15T09:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T15:07:14","slug":"what-is-residential-freight-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citizenshipper.com\/blog\/what-is-residential-freight-delivery\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Residential Freight Delivery & How it Works? | Citizenshipper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The transportation industry sometimes seems to have a knack for needlessly complicating things. We come up with terms that confuse the customers, then cling onto them thinking it makes us sound official and serious. One such term is <\/span>residential freight delivery. You may have seen it abbreviated as RFD on shipping sites, and wondered what that\u2019s supposed to mean.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And what <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> residential freight delivery? Put simply, it\u2019s the process of delivering shipments to people\u2019s home addresses (as opposed to commercial locations). That\u2019s all there is to it! It\u2019s when transporters bring the stuff that you ordered to your doorstep!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Is Residential Freight Delivery Really that Simple?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Well\u2026 all right, so there may be <\/span>a little <\/span><\/i>more to it. We\u2019ll try to outline this in layman\u2019s terms, so bear with us.<\/span><\/p>\n

In transportation, there is something known as an <\/span>LTL shipment<\/span><\/a>. This stands for \u201cless-than-truckload\u201d, which is pretty self-explanatory. When your shipment is bigger than a parcel (which can be simply mailed) but smaller than a full truckload (which costs a whole lot), it\u2019s an LTL shipment. It\u2019s somewhere in between!<\/span><\/p>\n

So you hire a transport company, and they give you a quote. They tell you how much it\u2019ll cost to get the shipment from point A to point B. And that\u2019s where things get interesting.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is a Residential Fee?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The transport company would <\/span>love<\/span><\/i> to deliver your LTL to a commercial address. This could be a loading dock or a place of business, as long as it\u2019s in a high-density urban area. Because that means they could deliver your shipment along with many others, spending less time and resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not always convenient for you, the customer. People prefer having items shipped to their home address \u2014 a residential location, not a commercial one. So the transport company does that instead\u2026 then charges you for the convenience. Big shipping businesses usually tack on a \u201cresidential fee\u201d for this type of delivery simply because it would have been easier for them to ship to a commercial address.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Cost of Residential Freight Shipping?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now, this can be tricky to estimate. The price differential between commercial and residential shipping is known as the <\/span>last-mile surcharge. In 2023, last-mile shipping makes up 53% of all total shipping costs<\/a> worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Statistic:
\nStatistic: Share of last-mile delivery costs out of total shipping costs. Source: Statista<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, the transporter may be <\/span>charging you double<\/b> simply to deliver to your doorstep and not to some warehouse downtown!<\/span><\/p>\n

If it sounds unfair that you\u2019re paying to make up the difference in the company\u2019s savings\u2026 you\u2019re not wrong. Fortunately, there are several ways of dodging the last-mile surcharge. For example, choose a transporter for whom there\u2019s little difference between commercial and residential delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Residential Freight Shipping: In Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Smaller, independent transporters don\u2019t really see the residential\/commercial split as described above. Dealing with far fewer deliveries than the giant shipping corps, they\u2019re not incentivized to ship to commercial addresses. Instead, door-to-door deliveries are their default!<\/span><\/p>\n

When you <\/span>book an independent transporter online<\/span><\/a>, they never charge you extra for residential delivery. Whether you\u2019re moving cargo or living animals, they\u2019ll deliver to your address, no questions asked. <\/span><\/p>\n

For tips on choosing the right transporter, <\/span>click here<\/span><\/a>. For additional advice or assistance, you can always <\/span>contact us directly<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The transportation industry sometimes seems to have a knack for needlessly complicating things. We come up with terms that confuse the customers, then cling onto them thinking it makes us sound official and serious. One such term is residential freight delivery. You may have seen it abbreviated as RFD on shipping sites, and wondered what<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":28000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"custom_post_schema":"