You cannot apply the same minimum to both branches. These amounts are floors for the qualifying inside-service charge, not flat prices for the whole shipment. In this headline, “everyone else” means the ordinary branch of this particular ODFL rule, not every carrier, every territory, or every customer agreement.
Choose the service location before choosing the minimum
Start with the address where the inside pickup or delivery was performed. An invoice can also show a shipper's office, a third-party payer, and a billing contact; those addresses serve different purposes and should not silently replace the service address during this check.
Read the prefix from the relevant postal code rather than searching the invoice for any occurrence of the same digits.
Do not substitute a city name for the postal condition. The page gives a prefix test, so a review that records only “New York delivery” has not preserved the actual test being applied. Keep the complete service postal code in the private shipment record, then note the prefix used to select the branch.
A single shipment can have different locations at its ends, so the presence of a qualifying prefix somewhere on the paperwork does not by itself explain which inside-service line was rated under the special branch.
Read both branches on the same source page
The source is PDF page 66 of ODFL 100-Q, Item 566, paragraph 5. Its ordinary branch, paragraph 5(a), lists a rate of $7.70 per hundredweight, a $125 minimum, and a $605 maximum. Paragraph 5(b) lists $16.50 per hundredweight, a $200 minimum, and an $800 maximum for service at the specified ZIP prefixes.
Keep each branch together when making a reference sheet. Copying the special minimum beside the ordinary rate would create a combination that the page does not publish. Geographic selection comes before checking the individual components of the selected row.
The source page also states the assessment basis for service involving more than one vehicle. This guide does not create a new way to split or combine those assessments; the actual applicable provision must remain attached to the shipment being checked.
Reproduce the comparison without inventing a quote
The following calculations are hypothetical tests of the two published rows, not customer invoices or an offer to provide service. Each test assumes one qualifying inside-service assessment, a weight expressed in whole hundredweight, and no contractual override, additional vehicle, territorial exception, or other charge.
For the ordinary row, this worksheet calculates C(a) = min(605, max(125, 7.70 × W)), where W is the assumed chargeable weight in hundredweight. For the postal exception, it calculates C(b) = min(800, max(200, 16.50 × W)), using the same assumed weight and changing only the published branch. The rates, floors, and ceilings are from Item 566 paragraph 5 on PDF page 66; the worksheet arithmetic was run independently for this guide.
One hundredweight in these US-weight examples means 100 pounds, so 1,000 pounds enters the worksheet as 10 cwt rather than as the number 1,000. All example weights below are deliberately divisible by that unit, avoiding any claim about how the carrier rounds fractional hundredweight or determines chargeable weight under other tariff items.
What changes at five different weights?
A light assessment: both minimums control
For a hypothetical 1,000-pound assessment, the ordinary multiplication is 10 × $7.70 = $77, which the $125 floor raises to $125. At that same weight, the special multiplication is 10 × $16.50 = $165, which the $200 floor raises to $200. Subtracting the two worksheet outputs gives $200 − $125 = $75, so this particular comparison measures the difference between the floors rather than the difference between the raw rate products.
The example does not say every shipment receives either floor, and it does not treat the postal exception as a separate surcharge added after the ordinary calculation.
An intermediate assessment: the ordinary floor still controls
For an assumed 1,500 pounds, the ordinary product is 15 × $7.70 = $115.50, and the resulting worksheet amount remains $125. The special product at that weight is 15 × $16.50 = $247.50, which lies above its floor and below its ceiling, producing $247.50. The difference becomes $247.50 − $125 = $122.50, demonstrating a case where adding the light-shipment $75 difference would not reproduce the special row.
The arithmetic has changed because the two rows leave their minimums at different weights, even though the location-selection rule itself has not changed.
A middle-weight assessment: neither bound controls
For an assumed 2,000 pounds, the ordinary product is 20 × $7.70 = $154, which lies between $125 and $605 and therefore remains $154 in this worksheet. The special product is 20 × $16.50 = $330, which lies between $200 and $800 and therefore remains $330. Subtracting those outputs gives $330 − $154 = $176, a rate-driven difference rather than a difference between minimum charges.
In this case, merely locating the correct minimum on the source page is insufficient to reproduce the comparison, because neither minimum is the selected result.
A heavier assessment: one ceiling controls
For an assumed 5,000 pounds, the ordinary product is 50 × $7.70 = $385, which remains $385 because it does not reach that row's $605 ceiling. The special product is 50 × $16.50 = $825, which the $800 ceiling reduces to $800 in the isolated worksheet. The resulting difference is $800 − $385 = $415, so retaining the special rate while forgetting its maximum would overstate this particular comparison by $25.
This test illustrates a different error from choosing the wrong postal branch: a reader can choose the correct row and still omit one of its bounds. The source must therefore be read as a charging provision, with rate, minimum, and maximum connected, rather than as a directory of independently interchangeable dollar amounts.
An assessment above both ceilings
For an assumed 8,000 pounds, the ordinary product is 80 × $7.70 = $616, which the $605 ceiling reduces to $605. The special product is 80 × $16.50 = $1,320, which the $800 ceiling reduces to $800. The difference at those capped outputs is $800 − $605 = $195, which is smaller than the preceding example's $415 difference despite the higher assumed weight.
That comparison is possible because the ordinary row continues increasing after the special row has already reached its ceiling, before the ordinary ceiling also takes control. It is not a prediction that a heavier shipment has a lower overall freight bill.
Locate the mathematical transitions
Dividing the ordinary floor by its rate gives 125 ÷ 7.70 = 16.233766… cwt, or approximately 1,623.38 pounds, as the mathematical point where its raw product meets its minimum. For the special row, 200 ÷ 16.50 = 12.121212… cwt, or approximately 1,212.12 pounds, is the corresponding mathematical floor crossing. These are derived continuous-weight intersections, not published billing breakpoints or instructions to round a shipment to the displayed hundredth of a pound.
The special ceiling intersects its raw product at 800 ÷ 16.50 = 48.484848… cwt, or approximately 4,848.48 pounds. The ordinary ceiling intersects at 605 ÷ 7.70 = 78.571428… cwt, or approximately 7,857.14 pounds. Because the special ceiling is reached first, there is a mathematical interval in which the special worksheet output stays capped while the ordinary output continues increasing.
The floor-to-floor difference is $75, while the ceiling-to-ceiling difference is $195, so neither difference can be substituted for the other across all weights. The raw-rate difference is $16.50 − $7.70 = $8.80 per cwt, which applies to the difference between unbounded products rather than automatically to the difference between the bounded outputs.
Diagnose a mixed-row calculation
At 1,000 pounds, incorrectly combining the special rate with the ordinary minimum produces max(125, 165) = $165 before the ceiling check, instead of the correct special-row worksheet result of $200. At 5,000 pounds, incorrectly combining the special rate with the ordinary maximum produces min(605, 825) = $605, instead of the special row's $800 result. Those two deliberate error tests show that mixing published components can understate a result even when every individual input number can be found on the source page.
These are intentionally incorrect formulas for comparison, not alternatives offered by the tariff. A reproducible check records which row supplied every input, then reruns the complete selected formula without swapping components to match a preferred amount. If the service-location record or applicable pricing basis is missing, the worksheet can show both hypothetical branches but cannot choose one as the actual amount owed.
Why the same minimum at another carrier is not the same calculation
An independent source check helps distinguish a postal exception from a carrier-wide service row. The FedEx Freight 100-Y PDF retrieved October 23, 2026 has a January 5, 2026 cover effective date and publishes its US inside-service rule in Item 566 on printed page 15, PDF page 22. That row gives $18.92 per cwt, a $200 minimum, and a $1,999 maximum per pup or vehicle, per shipment; those figures are FedEx Freight's inputs, not replacements for either ODFL branch.
For a hypothetical single-assessment comparison, the FedEx row produces min(1999, max(200, 18.92 × W)) when the same whole-hundredweight assumptions are used. At 1,000 pounds, its raw product is 10 × $18.92 = $189.20, leaving a $200 bounded output that happens to equal the ODFL postal exception's light-weight result. At 2,000 pounds, the FedEx product is 20 × $18.92 = $378.40, which exceeds the ODFL special-row result of $330 by $48.40 despite the two rows sharing a published minimum.
At 5,000 pounds, the FedEx product is 50 × $18.92 = $946, below its own ceiling but $146 above the ODFL special row's capped $800 output. At 8,000 pounds, its product is 80 × $18.92 = $1,513.60, still below its ceiling and $713.60 above the ODFL special row's capped output. The FedEx mathematical ceiling crossing is 1999 ÷ 18.92 = 105.655391… cwt, approximately 10,565.54 pounds, which is different from either ODFL crossing calculated above.
This is a comparison of stated formulas under identical hypothetical inputs, not a claim that the carriers offer interchangeable services or that either will quote these isolated amounts. It excludes other tariff provisions and any fuel, linehaul, location, vehicle, or customer-specific pricing treatment, so no displayed difference is presented as savings on a complete shipment. Retaining the carrier name, geographic branch, applicable publication, and assessment basis prevents a shared floor from being mistaken for a shared price schedule.
The FedEx source link is 100-Y Rules Tariff, US Item 566, PDF page 22. Its item contains service conditions beyond the three monetary inputs, and the document's cover date does not convert a research comparison into a shipment-specific quote.
Trace the applicable version without inventing a price change
The relevant page is marked revised October 5, 2026. The tariff cover has an earlier effective date, April 14, 2025. Those dates describe different levels of the publication and should not be collapsed into a single “effective today” label. This guide checked the available page on October 23, 2026; that is a research date, not another tariff effective date.
A revision stamp alone does not prove that either minimum increased on that date. Establishing an increase would require the earlier applicable text and a comparison of the same provision.
For an older shipment, preserve the service date and identify the publication and agreement that governed that move. The date an invoice arrives does not, on its own, prove that the currently downloaded page governed the service.
The geographic exception does not expand the service
Paying the special minimum does not, by itself, purchase unrestricted handling inside a building. ODFL Item 566's treatment of floors above or below vehicle access depends on elevator availability, and its residential provisions limit where freight may be moved.
The item also directs readers to separate provisions for Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The ordinary branch is a branch within the applicable rule, not permission to ignore a territorial provision or another governing term.
Nor does a postal match compel the carrier to provide unsafe or impracticable service. Establish service feasibility separately from the branch calculation; a correctly selected minimum cannot make an unsuitable delivery arrangement workable.
For a separate equipment-service question, I use the liftgate requested but not used guide to distinguish a request from service performance.
To separate this accessorial floor from a different rating mechanism, I refer to the freight class calculator vs cubic capacity minimum comparison.
Keep density calculations separate from this fee
Use the freight density calculator when you need to check packed volume and mass per unit of volume. That calculation is a different task from selecting an inside-service geographic branch. A density result does not determine which postal prefix was served, and a postal prefix does not determine the physical density of the handling unit.
Source and scope
Source: ODFL 100-Q, Item 566, PDF page 66, marked revised October 5, 2026 and checked October 23, 2026. The ODFL prices and service conditions above come from that page; the separate FedEx comparison identifies its own primary source. The review sequence is this site's proposed method for examining those provisions, not a carrier-required form or a record of a completed shipment dispute.