Freight class 300
Enter length, width, height, and weight to see the density and the density-based class.
Freight class
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- Volume
- — ft³
- Density
- — lb/ft³
- Subprovision
- —
This is a density-based estimate using the 13-subprovision density scale from NMFC Docket NMFC-2025-1. Actual classification is also affected by handling, stowability, and liability characteristics, and the density scale applies only when those issues are absent. Your carrier makes the final call.
| Sub | Density (lb/ft³), as published | Class |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Less than 1 | 400 |
| 2 | 1 but less than 2 | 300 |
| 3 | 2 but less than 4 | 250 |
| 4 | 4 but less than 6 | 175 |
| 5 | 6 but less than 8 | 125 |
| 6 | 8 but less than 10 | 100 |
| 7 | 10 but less than 12 | 92.5 |
| 8 | 12 but less than 15 | 85 |
| 9 | 15 but less than 22.5 | 70 |
| 10 | 22.5 but less than 30 | 65 |
| 11 | 30 but less than 35 | 60 |
| 12 | 35 but less than 50 | 55 |
| 13 | 50 or greater | 50 |
Class 300 covers freight from 1 lb/ft³ up to but not including 2 lb/ft³, which makes it the narrowest band in the 13-subprovision scale. It is exactly one pound per cubic foot wide, and the five bands that follow it are each twice that, so a small packing change moves a shipment out of this band faster than out of any other.
Class 300 by the numbers
Class 300 is subprovision 2 of 13 in the current scale, and NMFTA's published wording for it is "1 but less than 2".
The band one step lighter is class 400 (density < 1.00 lb/ft³). The band one step denser is class 250 (2.00 ≤ density < 4.00 lb/ft³).
It spans 1.00 lb/ft³, the narrowest of the 10 bounded bands in the scale.
In a handling unit measuring 40 × 48 × 48 in — about 53.33 ft³, an illustrative size rather than a standard pallet specification — class 300 covers shipments weighing 53.33 lb or more but less than 106.67 lb.
The narrowest window in the scale
A one-pound window is narrow enough that ordinary packing decisions cross it. Adding or removing a layer of dunnage, or consolidating two cartons into one, changes a density by more than this band is wide, and the class moves from 300 to 250 or from 300 to 400.
Half-open intervals matter more here than anywhere else, because both boundaries are one pound apart. A density of exactly 1.00 lb/ft³ is class 300, since the lower bound belongs to the band; a density of exactly 2.00 lb/ft³ is class 250, since the upper bound does not.
Frequently asked
Why is this band so much narrower than the others?
Because the published scale says so. NMFTA's wording for the first two subprovisions is "less than 1" and "1 but less than 2"; from 2 lb/ft³ upwards the bands widen to two, three, and then much larger spans. The narrow start is a property of the published table, not a choice made here.
Is exactly 2.00 lb/ft³ class 300 or class 250?
Class 250. Each interval includes its lower bound and excludes its upper bound, so 2.00 lb/ft³ belongs to the band that starts at 2 rather than the band that ends there.