Every year—or sometimes a few months shy of a year—most less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carriers that handle general commodities implement a general rate increase, or GRI. This past year was no exception.

Carriers that publicly announce their GRIs typically express them as an "average" percentage rate increase, which is to say that some increases are below that number and others are above it. Most LTL carriers this year announced average increases of 5.9 percent, with a few at 5.95 percent.

Many carriers that institute general rate increases also take the opportunity to tweak their base class rates—some to become more competitive and others to cut losses on certain unprofitable lanes, many of which are to small, out-of-the-way towns.

I'm sure most of you have wondered how many points get hit with above-average increases and how much higher than the average increase they are.

Recently, a contact of mine compared a major LTL carrier's 2002 class rates (those in effect after last summer's GRI) with the carrier's 2001 base class rates. His study looked at outbound Class 70 rates from Pittsburgh, Pa., (ZIP code 15210) to all ZIP codes in the continental United States.

After doing all of the calculations, he listed each destination ZIP code or group of ZIP codes covered by a single rate. There were 49 lines per page and a total of 99 pages. That amounted to at least 4,851 individual ZIP codes—far, far more if you consider that many of those lines included rates that cover two or more ZIP codes. Then he listed the year-to-year increase for shipments of various weights, including minimum charges, less than 500 pounds, 500 to 999 pounds, and so forth, for each of those lanes.

Needless to say, a lot of points were hit with increases that were well above the announced average. With this particular carrier, my contact's analysis found that for points that were subject to above-average increases, the average increase for minimum charges was 11.5 percent. The average increase for general LTL shipments was 6.64 percent.

It was not uncommon, though, to see increases of 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 percent—particularly when it came to off-line points. Some increases were even higher: For service to the towns of Kenneth, Magnolia, and Lynd in Minnesota, for example, minimum charges rose by 40.06 percent, while general LTL rates skyrocketed by 35.53 percent.

Even some suburbs of major metropolitan areas were saddled with higher-than-average increases. The Boston suburb of Natick, Mass., for example, saw its minimum charge go up by 13.33 percent, while general LTL rates rose by just under 8.0 percent.

A key issue raised by this study is the importance of comparing each of your major carriers' GRIs with their prior year's base rates, particularly if you have customers located in small, rural towns. If you are absorbing the freight costs, you may not be coming out whole if you only factor in the announced average rate increase. Over the course of a year or so, it could cost you plenty in unanticipated additional costs.