The Freight Doctor

One good question I like to give people to ask about with whom they should choose as a their freightbroker or 3pl company is, “Do you use major freight carriers?” If the company you are working with uses major trucking lines, such as Yellow, Saia, Con-Way, Estes, ABF to name but a few, then you should be comfortable working with the freight broker or 3pl. This is because these trucking companies are huge operations with great tracking systems of your freight when in transit and chances are, even in this down economy, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Also, if the logistics company has accounts with these trucking companies or similar sized trucking outfits, they probably move a lot of freight with them. How does this help you? Well, if they move a lot of freight, then they’ve probably been able to negotiate and justify to these large trucking companies for amazingly cheap shipping rates. They’ve probably also negotiated having an FAK which means better rates for you. You, as Joe Customer, will not be able to come in off the street and demand the best rates with little to no volume and no track record. If the freight broker or 3pl has been around for awhile they’ve done all the hard work in getting freight rates down so all you have to do is swoop in and take advantage of their great rates. It’s just up to you to shop around and find the best freight quote!

When you’re in the process of obtaining freight quotes from freight brokers and 3PLs one thing to ask for is the
FAK of your commodity. It’s important to find out for two reasons:

The first reason is so for your own information should you ship the same or similar item out in the future.

The second and more important reason is to find out who is willing to give you this information. Any freight broker who is hesitant to give you the FAK is someone trying to hide information from you. The FAK is not priviledged information and you have the right to know what FAK your load is being classified at. This way, if you get multiple freight quotes, you can correct any company that is rating you at a higher FAK so you can bring your freight rate down to an accurate level and save yourself from being over charged.

So to sum up, ask for the FAK when shopping for the best freight quote.

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Today I wanted to go over the “Limited Access” accessorial fee you may see on your freight quote. Limited Access ( or LTD Access for short ) refers to a location that is difficult for the truck driver to get to. Locations that fall under limited access would include: Amusement Parks, Construction Sites, Farms, Mines, Mini Storage, Places of Worship, Schools, Correctional Facilities and Military Bases.

Due to the inconvenience of getting freight in and out of these types of locations, which slows down the driver on their overall route, you will be charged a Limited Access accessorial fee on your freight quote. Depending on the freight broker or carrier you’re dealing with, you can expect to see a fee of anywhere from $50-$80. Again, as I say with any over priced accessorial charge,  if it’s any more than this, I would suggest at least attempting to negotiate this fee down.

In an effort to help you find the best freight quote last week, I decided to pick 4 freight companies online and have them give a freight quote for the same item. Some companies I used their online instant freight quote. Others I phoned in an spoke with an agent.  Here were the parameters I used:

Boxed item rated as FAK Class 125 at 250 lbs.

Origin: San Diego, CA 92101 Commercial Location with Forklift and/or dock

Destination: Atlanta, GA 30303 Residential Location with Liftgate

I discarded any quote that didn’t offer freight insurance or was covered for less than $5/ lb.

Here are the numbers:

FreightShippingDirect.com - $313.88

FreightShippingCenter.com - $433.90

FreightCenter.com - $460.34

Freight101.com - $468.12

Once you’ve received your freight quote, you may see what are referred to as Accessorial Charges that are additional fees listed on the freight quote. In an effort to clarify your freight quote I will begin a series of posts that will explain what each of these fees mean and how they effect your delivery or pick up.

The Liftgate Charge is a fairly common accessorial fee. What is a liftgate? A liftgate is a hydraulic  accessorial device used to lower the pallet to from the end of the truck to the ground level.

Typically this is used for items leaving from or going to residential locations or those locations where there is no loading dock or there is no forklift available.

If you do not opt for a liftgate, the driver is only responsible for taking your shipment to the end of the truck and you must take care of gettig the pallet off of the truck.

You can expect to be charged anywhere from $50-$125 for the liftgate fee depending on your freight rate structure. If the liftgate accessorial charge is any higher than this, you shoud consider attempting to negotiate for a lower liftgate charge.

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Freight Carriers will charge you for storing your shipment roughly 48 hours after they first attempt delivery.   If for some reason you are not available past that first 48 hours storage charage will begin to accrue. After the typical 48 grace period, you can see a fee of anywhere from $100-$130 depending on the freight carrier. The next day $130-$160. The day after that, anywhere from $200+ and so on.

However, there may be a perfecty understandable reason that you were unavailable. Possibly some sort of emergency. If you know that no one will be able to receive the shipment within the first 48 hours, the best thing for you to do is to get on the phone and call the local terminal where yourshipment is coming into. The idea is that you can speak to a real person there and you can negotiate to have the charges waived or at least reduced as long as you can give them a definite reasonable time for a postponed delivery.

Freight Carrier Trucking Companies, try to fill their trucks as efficently as possible to maximize the amount of loads for each trucks delivery route. This is accomplished by trying to fill as much space as possible within the truck’s trailer by stacking lighter items on top of heaver palletized items.

Shipping items of excessive length also known as Over Dimension Shipments presents a challenge when attempting to fill up dead space within the trailer as the the freight carrier would like. Due to the fact that the trucking company will need make up for having less loads because your shipment is of excessive length, the freight carrier will make up the difference by charging you an Over-Dimension Shipment Charge.

The length that falls into Over-Dimension Shipments varies from Trucking Company to Trucking Company, but it will usually reside anywhere from 12 feet to 14 feet in length.

So how much should you expect to be charged for an Over-Dimension Shipment? Look for your freight quote to have an additional charge of anywhere from about $75-$150 depending on the freight carrier and the type of commodity that you’re shipping. If you’re asked to pay any more than that, then it’s a good idea to negotiate this fee down to fall into a more reasonable price range as noted above.

When you’re in a rush to get a freight quote so you can book your load, you may think it’s okay to give guesstimated shipping weight and dimensions just to get your freight quote, BIG MISTAKE. When you try to cut corners like this, all this does is give the freight carrier wiggle room to tack on hundreds of pounds to your order. And to put it in its simplest of terms more weight amounts to more money.

Although a re weigh sounds professional competant and accurate, most of the time they end up being way off. Never ever give the freight carrier the opportunity to give you a reweigh. It’s just not in your best interest.

When a re-weigh is called for, you need to be aware of how the reweigh was done. Was it re-weighed by floor scale or by forklift? 

You should always be cautious a forklift re weigh. Why? Because forklift re-weighs are notorious for adding hundreds of pounds to your loads. This is because the forklift scale can be extremely innacurate.

If there needs to be a re weigh, a floor scale reweigh is always the most accurate choice because they have to be certified. However, I have seen with my own eyes, loading dock personnel add boxes or even stand on the scale to boost the weight in order for the truck company to boost your bill. While I don’t claim that this is standard practice by any means, it DOES happen! It’s a lot like the classic “butcher puttin’ his finger on the scale” routine.

So what can you do to protect yourself from a re-weigh?

• Know your freight’s dimensions and weight before you even call for a freight quote. 90% of all products already list the shipping weight and shipping dimensions on the box. If you don’t have the item, ask the shipper if they have this information. Someone needs to get out that measuring tape and scale and if at all possible do it yourself.
• If your freight is based on a density calculation (size of box and weight) have the truck driver verify and initial the box dimensions on your bill of lading before he loads it onto the truck. Give him a measuring tape if he needs one. The driver won’t be able to weigh it, but at least you’ll have the dimensions variable nailed down on record.

 If you want to challenge the weight, call the trucking company ( Good idea to follow up with an e-mail ) and request a reweigh at the destination terminal.  Make sure that when you have this conversation that you request that the trucking company take a photo of the item on the scale for verification and as proof that there wasn’t anything added to the scale at the time of the re-weigh. And to take it a step further, if the item makes it to the delivery destination and they have a scale at that location, have the receiving party reweigh the item before they sign for it. It there are any discrepancies, they should be sure to note it on the bill of lading and delivery receipt.

Bottom Line: Do yourself a favor. Know your shipping dimensions and weight at the time you request for a freight quote.

Over the past few weeks I watched the Fuel Surcharge rapidly creep up to an alarming 37.90% with some freight carriers! With the price of oil skyrocketing, it’s only to be expected that the freight carriers will pass along their increasing costs to you. The good thing is, that even with all the fuel surcharge price increases, you’ll still be able to find a 3PL that will be able to secure incredibly low rates. All you have to do is call around. Don’t settle on one company. No matter what discounts they give you, it’s the bottom line price that counts!

You as a customer will never be able to negotiate directly with a main freight carrier unless you are part of a large business that can negotiate volume discounts for better shipping rates. Well, sure you can go direct, but you’ll be charged astronomical freight rates so it doesn’t make any sense for you to go direct without any volume and frequency to command better freight rates.

Whether you have the volume or not, the best thing to do is to use a Third Party Logistics Provider. The 3PL is a business that has accounts with large freight carrier companies or uses independent owner/operator trucks. 3PLs have a number of customers and that gives them the negotiating power with the freight carriers or truck drivers to negotiate better freight rates than someone just coming in off the streets such as yourself. This way they can pass along a better price than if you were to go direct with a freight carrier. Some logistics companies pass along their savings to you while many keep margins strong for themselves. The farther they are removed from directly negotiating with the freight carrier, such as in the case of an independent agent or broker, the less margin they have to pass along to in order to tack on their own charges to turn a profit.