The key differences between parcel and pallet shipping
Safety
Parcels are generally more fragile than pallets, shipped in higher volumes, and handled at many checkpoints, making them more susceptible to getting lost and damaged.
Tracking
Better tracking is a huge advantage of many checkpoints of parcel shipping. On all of these checkpoints, parcel carriers get updates of the shipment location.
Cost
Pallets are larger and heavier than parcels, and therefore more expensive, but are nevertheless a more cost-effective option if you’re shipping large amounts of freight to the same place.
Speed
LTL shipments are more likely to encounter unexpected delays while traveling from a terminal to a terminal, via truck or train. Also, a human error can play a larger role in LTL shipping. If a carrier comes to pick up two pallets and finds out there are twice as many, loading time is dramatically increased, and if the carrier ends up with no room in the truck, pickups scheduled for the same day may get pushed to the next.
This doesn’t typically happen with parcel shipments. Several unexpected parcels will not make that much of a difference when it comes to loading and pickups.