Line picker
Rank the lanes that exist for your destination against two weights you set.
Choosing a line is usually done by asking which one is fastest, which ignores that the fastest lane on a light parcel can be the worst value on a heavy one.
Basis. Lanes are scored on their reported window and their per-kilo rate band, weighted by the two sliders you set. Cautions are added from the lane’s own choke point and sample count. Parameters last confirmed 2026-09-20.
Line picker
01Air economy
score 0.19 · 10–20 days · 187 reports- Well-reported lane (187 arrivals), so the window is not guesswork.
- Billed on the greater of gross and volumetric weight — pack tightly or the quote moves.
02Rail
score 0.021 · 22–34 days · 52 reports- Sits in the lower half of the per-kilo range for this destination.
- Billed on gross weight, so bulky-but-light parcels are not penalised.
- Rail lines hand over between operators, and the handover is the noisy part.
- Tracking on this mode updates in blocks, not step by step.
The picker ranks the lanes that exist for your destination against two weights you set yourself. It does not invent a lane that nobody reported.
The two weights are yours, not the desk’s
Speed weight and cost weight are the only two inputs that change the ranking. Setting both to ten does not produce a compromise; it produces a ranking that is honest about being undecided, so pick which one actually matters before you look.
Cautions are not disqualifications
A caution means the lane has a specific way of going wrong. A volumetric penalty matters on a bulky parcel and not at all on a dense one. A thin sample matters if the deadline is tight and not if it is not.
- Read the cautions before the ranking, not after.
- If two lanes score within a few hundredths of each other, treat them as tied and decide on the caution you can live with.
- Re-run the picker after the parcel is built: chargeable weight is an input, and it changes.
What the score is not
The score is a ranking device, not a prediction of satisfaction. It cannot see whether a line handles a claim well, and it deliberately does not include anything a line could pay to change.
Questions this gauge gets asked
| # | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Can I add my own lane? | Not on the public desk. The lane set is fixed so that every lane carries a report count and a choke point; an unlisted lane would carry neither. |
| 02 | Why is sea freight discounted? | Because tracking updates in blocks and the whole window moves with port conditions. The picker applies a small penalty and states the reason rather than hiding it. |
| 03 | Does the picker handle restricted goods? | No. Liquids, magnets and cells need a specialist line and the packing bench flags that before the picker is relevant. |
These are written as ordinary headings and paragraphs rather than as marked-up questions, because marked-up questions no longer produce a richer result in search.
Entries this gauge pairs with
- How do you compare two shipping lines fairly?
Compare three things on identical inputs: chargeable weight and the greater-of rule, the transit window with its sample count, and the handling fee added per parcel. Anything else on the label is a preference, not a comparison.
- How do you choose a line when a date is fixed?
Work backwards from the date. Add your own buffer, add the build cut-off, then subtract each line's upper window and keep only the lines whose implied dispatch date is still in the future. The rest is not a choice.
- How do you trace a parcel whose tracking stopped moving?
First work out whether the lane updates in steps or in blocks, because a quiet page on a sea or rail lane is ordinary. Then ask the carrier for an internal trace rather than a status read. File only when the trace comes back empty or the lane window has clearly closed.
Other gauges on the bench
- Landed-cost ladder
Three ways to move the same parcel, priced side by side.
- Border cost bench
Duty and tax assessed on the landed value, as a band.
- Parcel weight bench
Which of volume and mass is actually paying for the flight.
- Slip cross-check bench
Compare what the slip claims against what you measured.