The Freight Doctor

Something a little distressing has been brought to my attention recently. The appearance of a new charge on the freight bill:
The Freight Reweight Charge. When did this happen? In all my years in the freight buniness, I’ve never heard of a reweigh charge on a bill before. Evidently, this fee can range anywhere from $20-$50 depending on the freight carriers that have begun to implement this fee.
The reweigh fee on the freight bill has only recently been popping up with a few of the more bold freight carriers. I just can’t see how these freight carriers can justify this new fee. Generally when a freight reweigh is called for, it’s to correct the weight because the freight carrier believes that the shipment is heaveir than the customer stated. I haven’t ever heard of a trucking company calling for a reweigh because they felt that the shipment was estimated as being lighter than the customer stated. That said, when a reweigh is called for you can expect to be charged more on your freight bill even before paying any reweigh fee.
Now again, as I’ve said in the past, shame on the customer who ball parks the weight or dims of their shipment because of ignorance or trying to round down their shipment’s weight in the hopes of getting a better price. You’re not usualy going to get one over on these guys and you’re just asking for trouble down the line when a revised freight chage shows up in the mail, however, this isn’t grounds to double charge customers. Especially because this new re-weigh charge was never part of a freight bill until very recently.
I say to anyone who sees this new fee on their freight bill to contact their agent or broker immediately to dispute this new fee as the freight carrier will get their money from the reweigh itself. At very least demand a certified document that explains the freight reweigh for your approval.

Do you review your Freight Bill and compare it to your original Freight Quote?

If not, why aren’t you? Besides the fact that it’s just a good habit, there are a lot of things you can learn from reviewing your freight bills but more importantly, you may start to catch discrepencies that you should bring up with the trucking company or freight broker that you’re dealing with.

If you discover discrepancies between the freight quote and the actual freight bill, You always want to find out what happened. Discrepancies happen for any number of reasons but the main reason to bring it up is that you can learn more about how things work and you send a message to the trucking company that you’re watching everything.

 What are some of the reasons that your freight bill varies from your original freight quote?

·        Liftgate – Did the trucking company add on a liftgate after the fact? If the load required a residential pick up or delivery, sorry buddy, there’s no way around it unless somebody in the neighborhood has a forklift. However, if this was a business to business delivery and there were loading docks or terminal pickup and/or delivery, there should have been no need for the liftgate.

·        Fuel Surcharge – With soaring gas prices the fuel surcharge goes up every week. If you sit on a quote, be prepared to see pricing go up the longer you wait to book the load.

·        Re-Weigh – “Uh, it’s bigger than a bread box” You guessed at the dimensions and the weight and the trucking company had to re weigh the item. I go over this on my previous post about Re Weighs.  

·        Misclassification or reclassification – This is the big one. You want to know your FAK Classification for the item you’re shipping out. There are 3PL (Third Party Logistics) Companies that will list the FAK on the freight quote. It’s always a handy piece of information to have, because sometimes trucking companies will re classify or misclassify the item(s) you’re shipping.

      Let’s use a common item for an example here. Take for instance a Wooden Chest in the NMFC (National Motor Freight Classification) book.

            The NMFC lists a Wooden Chest as item #80900

1. Sub 1  SU (set up) is listed as FAK Class 125
2. Sub 2  KD (knocked down) is listed as FAK Class 85

      Even though it’s the same item, the means by which it’s shipped will effect the class      and price of the bill. Be sure to know the exact dimensions and weight and how it was packaged because the trucking company may have not accurately Classified it. It could be either honest human error or someone decided to take liberties with reclassifying your shipment. That’s why it’s always good to work with a 3PL, Freight Broker or freight carrier that lists the FAK on the freight quote so you can compare it to the freight bill. Usually, as a customer, the freight bill is the only place you’ll be able to catch if a re-class has taken place.

So what happens now? Well the first thing you want to do is ask that your bill be explained and if the answer is not satisfactory, then request that the freight bill be recalculated and get your rep to help make those corrections on your behalf with the trucking company or freiht carrier. What separates the good Third Party Logistics companies and the bad ones are that the good 3PL companies are the ones that will help you with making these adjustments.

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.