The Freight Doctor

As a continuing part on my series explaining accessorial charges, today I’ll go into Residential Pickup and Delivery Charges.

The reason for Residential Delivery and / or Pickup Charges for non commercial locations is due to the fact that there are a number of factors that impede a prompt delivery or pickup to the location. The reasons can vary from there being no loading docks or forklifts, the streets may be narrower and harder to negotiate in and out of for the truck driver and as general rule of thumb it’s simply just more difficult to pick up and drop off shipments in non commercial environments. Typically you can also expect a liftgate charge attached because there isn’t a loading dock for the driver to back into as discussed in my previous post.

You can expect fees for residential charges to range anywhere from about $50-$100 tacked onto your total freight quote or bill.

If you missed my previous post about protecting yourself with freight damage or freight claims here’s a reminder:
Always Be Sure To Write Down Any Damage On The Delivery Receipt And Have The Driver Sign Off On That As Well Before You Take Receipt Of The Item.
A clean Delivery Receipt is basically telling the trucking company that the item was delivered in perfect condition and they’ll stick to that. I recommend that not only do you insepct the box, but you open the item as well while the driver is there. Make note of the outside of the box at very least no matter how trivial or minute it may seem. Even the most minor of blemishes on a box may be an indication of much bigger damage on the inside i.e., scratch on box, tear in corner, missing shrink wrap. So be sure to write this down on the Delivery Reciept and have the driver sign off on it as well.
This will give you the leverage to make a freight claim should any problem be discovered after the fact. If you don’t make any note on the delivery receipt, you have 15 days to make a claim, but don’t even rely on this. Do yourself a favor and make sure to make some notation on the delivery receipt for your own protection.
If you don’t you will lose 100% of the time against the freight carrier.
Don’t let the driver rush you or intimidate you, and if you feel like this is happening, call your freight agent immidiately and have them speak to the driver on the phone at the time of delivery about what you need to do in terms of making any notation on the delivery receipt.
If you don’t have time to do this, then get someone who is there that does have the time to receive the shipment. What takes a few extra minutes could potentially save you a ton of greif and money!

I’ve had a number of readers bring up instances where a freight company revises their bill after they’ve agreed to the freight quote. I’ll address several situations that seem to be the most common in terms of revising or adding to the initial freight quote.

When is it fair for a Freight Company to charge you AFTER the Freight Quote has been agreed upon?
When you have given them inaccurate or “ball park” information with regards to the weight and dimensions of your load or incorrect information about the type of delivery or pick up location is. Guessing at the shipping dimensions is a gamble. On the one hand, if it appears close enough, then it may go through without a hitch, however, if it’s obviously not what you told the broker and the freight carrier gets suspicious, it will call for a re-weigh (I’ll talk about re-weigh issues in another post) and if it proves to be different than what you told the broker, than the difference will be charged to you and rightfully so. This brings up the question how much more will I be charged?
Here’s just one example: If you guessed that the item was 500 lbs and it is reweighed at 600 lbs., expect roughly to be charged an additional $50 - $100. Again this is just one example, and the type of commodity the item is will play a factor as well.

When is it NOT appropriate to be charged AFTER the Freight Quote has been agreed upon?
It is NOT appropriate for a Freight Company to charge you for an Interline or Agent Transfer (when there is a hand off to another freight carrier that finishes the last leg of the delivery.) How it gets there is something that should have been worked out before the freight company ever issued you a quote. The freight company already has their lanes figured out and should an Interline or Agent Transfer occur, you should never be involved in this detail. It’s not your problem as a customer. You are paying the Logistics Company to take care of the logistical issues.