The National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) created the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC). It is used for all interstate, intrastate, and foreign commercial movement of LTL cargo. NMFC codes provide standardized freight classes to determine the transportability of the large variety of commodities that are shipped together in LTL shipments every year.
The class determines the cost of the shipping. The lower the class, the lower the cost.
Some items, such as car transmissions, have a specific class no matter how heavy or big they are. This is called a fixed class. Items can be assigned a fixed class if the value and transportability very rarely change.