Schedule of Unrealized Loss on Available-for-Sale Investments (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 30, 2017
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Less than 12 months, Fair Value	$ 67,587	$ 43,186
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Less than 12 months, Unrealized Loss	961	224
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, 12 months or longer, Fair Value	9,931	14,648
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, 12 months or longer, Unrealized Loss	177	116
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Fair Value, Total	77,518	57,834
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Unrealized Loss, Total	1,138	340
Asset-backed securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Less than 12 months, Fair Value	1,870	1,864
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Less than 12 months, Unrealized Loss	8	4
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, 12 months or longer, Fair Value		632
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, 12 months or longer, Unrealized Loss		1
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Fair Value, Total	1,870	2,496
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Unrealized Loss, Total	8	5
Corporate bonds and direct obligations of government agencies
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Less than 12 months, Fair Value	65,717	41,322
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Less than 12 months, Unrealized Loss	953	220
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, 12 months or longer, Fair Value	9,931	14,016
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, 12 months or longer, Unrealized Loss	177	115
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Fair Value, Total	75,648	55,338
Available-for-sale investments with unrealized losses, Unrealized Loss, Total	$ 1,130	$ 335

Amount of accumulated unrealized loss on investments in debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale that have been in a continuous loss position for twelve months or longer.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-Subparagraph (a)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27290-111563

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27337-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesContinuousUnrealizedLossPosition12MonthsOrLongerAccumulatedLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of accumulated unrealized loss on investments in debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale in a continuous loss position.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27337-111563

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-Subparagraph (a)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27290-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesContinuousUnrealizedLossPositionAccumulatedLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This item represents the aggregate fair value of investments in debt and equity securities in an unrealized loss position which are categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading securities.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesContinuousUnrealizedLossPositionFairValue
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of accumulated unrealized loss on investments in debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale that have been in a continuous loss position for less than twelve months.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesContinuousUnrealizedLossPositionLessThan12MonthsAccumulatedLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This item represents the aggregate fair value of investments in debt and equity securities categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading securities that have been in a continuous unrealized loss position for less than twelve months.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27337-111563

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27290-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesContinuousUnrealizedLossPositionLessThanTwelveMonthsFairValue
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27290-111563

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27337-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesContinuousUnrealizedLossPositionTwelveMonthsOrLongerFairValue
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfAvailableForSaleSecuritiesLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_MajorTypesOfDebtAndEquitySecuritiesAxis=us-gaap_AssetBackedSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_MajorTypesOfDebtAndEquitySecuritiesAxis=lstr_CorporateBondsAndDirectObligationsOfGovernmentAgenciesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: