Rate Farm is built by Jacob Rhoads, drawing on a background in customer service, domestic and international logistics, shipping operations, and warehouse coordination.
That operations background surfaced the same pattern again and again: a shipment would go out for a freight quote with incomplete or unclear information, and the real cost, timeline, or classification wouldn't become clear until well after the fact — a liftgate nobody mentioned, a density that put the shipment in a different class than expected, an address a driver couldn't actually get a truck into. None of that is a carrier problem. It's a preparation problem, and it's avoidable.
What Rate Farm actually does
Rate Farm is a freight-intelligence and shipment-preparation tool. Before you request a quote, it helps you work out the shipment's density, an estimated NMFC freight class, the accessorial requirements that commonly affect LTL pricing (liftgate, residential delivery, limited access, appointment requirements), and whether the shipment involves hazardous materials that need documentation. It packages all of that into a Shipment Brief you can hand directly to a broker or carrier.
What Rate Farm is not
Rate Farm is not a freight broker and doesn't book carriers. It doesn't determine your final freight price, guarantee a freight classification, or determine legal Hazmat compliance — those remain the carrier's and broker's responsibility. Rate Farm's job is narrower, and more useful for it: make sure you show up to that conversation with the right information already worked out.
Where this is going
Rate Farm is currently in beta. The classification engine, accessorial logic, and Shipment Brief are real and actively maintained — not a prototype — but the product is still young, and feedback from people actually shipping freight directly shapes what gets built next.
Have a question, or feedback on the tool?
Contact Rate Farm