In article ,
Larry Jaques wrote:
On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 05:24:17 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm,
"Thomas Bunetta" quickly quoth:

Thanks Larry... after moving it from it's present location I knew it was
gonna be heavy, I was surprised at the weights posted here, though.
What does LTL stand for?

Less Than (a full truck) Load.

soapbox mode="department of nit-pickers department"

It started out as "Less than Trailer Load".

contemporary acronym expansions include:
Less than Total Load
Less than Truck Load
Less than Truckload Lot

Regardless, the acronym describes a shipment that is not large enough to
require a dedicated truck for shipment. i.e. something that can be combined
with other "LTL" shipments, in filling up a _single_ truck going to that
destination.

/soapbox


Trivia: for shipment by rail, the common term is "LCL" -- Less than Car
Load. It similarly describes shipments that do not require a dedicated
railroad car.