Most truckload accessorial charges are given to you as part of your final bill, and they can vary widely from carrier to carrier. By reading on and making yourself aware of some of the most common accessorial charges, you can prepare your budget accordingly and avoid any nasty surprises on your final freight bill.
Key Takeaways:
We’ll show you the inner workings of accessorial charges to ensure you can avoid these horrible expenses.
The cost of accessorial charges will vary from company to company. The charge may be presented as a flat fee included in the overall cost of a shipment or a percentage that is based on the overall cost of a shipment.
Some companies may also charge for some accessorials, while others may not charge for the same things. It all depends on the company, so discussing this with them beforehand is key to figuring out how much you’ll likely spend when the invoice comes through.
There are numerous accessorial charges to choose from when you ship freight using truckload transportation. We’ll cover each one in the following section
A detention truckload accessorial charge is one of the most common accessorial charges given today. This charge is given when a carrier is delayed for any reason at a shipper/receiver. Most shipping contracts allow for a standard amount of detention time. However, any time that a driver is held up beyond the time specified in the contract will likely incur a hefty detention fee.
It's worthwhile to determine the allowable detention time, as well as the cost of detention fees when booking a freight shipment. If you know that a shipment may be held for longer than allowed, you may be able to negotiate an increase in the allowable time or pay a lower cost upfront.
Things to remember with detention charges include:
In short, detention charges will be charged when the shipper fails to load or release the driver in a timely manner. The term ‘per-diem charges’ (per day charges) may also be used interchangeably in reference to detention charges.
Detention charges can get a little confusing, because they can refer to a trucking related fee based on driver waiting time, or they can refer to detention of the carriage itself. For goods that are imported and held at ocean loading docks, 1-2 hours of detention are provided at no additional charge.
Anything beyond this time will usually result in a detention charge. Again, this is something that will need to be discussed with each carrier.
Limited access is a common charge that’s handed out despite the fact that many people aren’t familiar with it. To put it simply, a limited access charge is a charge that is added on to your invoice in addition to other charges when a delivery point is difficult to access.
One example is a limited access location that has not already been specified to the carrier. If a shipment is booked already but the location turns out to be limited access, it will not be designated this way by the driver, causing inconveniences, and a billing adjustment will take place. Any situation in which a driver isn’t able to easily access a delivery point will incur a limited access charge.
If you know that the location is limited access beforehand, you can select this as an accessorial charge when booking the shipment, so that there are no surprises when your invoice comes through.
A liftgate is an accessory that can be found on the back of a freight trailer to deliver goods when a loading dock isn’t available. A liftgate may be required when the cargo weighs over 100lbs and there is no dock. Most freight trailers don’t include liftgates unless they’re required for a specific delivery. For this reason, the use of a liftgate in order to deliver a shipment almost always incurs an accessorial charge.
Booking the liftgate when you book your shipment is important, so always do this if you know you’re going to need it ahead of time. This is because failure to do so will slow things down and will likely result in extra charges costing you even more than simply ordering ahead of time.
If you don’t order a liftgate and it turns out that you need one, the driver will need to stop the pickup or delivery and reschedule. The latter is what will result in additional charges for you.
Of course, this charge will depend on the carrier, but the average cost of a liftgate service is around $75. If you’re unsure, the best way to find out is to call and inquire.
The inside delivery truckload accessorial fee is added to an invoice when the motor carrier must go inside (beyond the front door or loading dock) to pick up the shipment. How this fee is defined will vary from company to company.
The reason there is a charge for this is because it often requires additional equipment, such as a pallet jack to lift the shipment up curbs and stairs. It will almost certainly require more time, and it may even require additional manpower. If this is not booked beforehand, the carrier will no doubt spend more time and resources on your delivery, thus warranting the extra charges added to your bill.
If a carrier has to store a shipper’s delivery for whatever reason, the carrier will likely charge a storage fee. This may be charged by the hour or by the day depending on the individual company.
There is a difference between storage and warehousing, so you will need to keep this in mind. Storage is only charged as an accessorial fee if it wasn’t established beforehand that the shipper would need to store the goods for a period of time.
Storage charges may apply for a few reasons, including:
Be sure to closely monitor the progress of your shipments so you’re not caught off guard by storage fees.
Life happens and things go awry. This can mean that orders occasionally fall through even after you have paid for a truck or service. Many carrier contracts will already have a clause for allowing a TONU, usually with some limitations. Make sure you read through this carefully so you understand what will happen if an order does fall through, and that you’re aware of the cost to you.
There is usually a charge if the truck is cancelled after a cut off time that has been pre-established, so you may be ok if the truck was cancelled before a certain time frame. The cost for a TONU can range from $150-500, so it’s important to avoid this whenever possible.
There are a few reasons that a carrier might need to redeliver your order. For example, if there was nobody available to accept the delivery, if the shipment was rejected by the receiver, or if the necessary equipment could not be found on site.
Redelivery is usually one of the most expensive truckload accessorial charges to receive on your invoice, so it is best that you avoid it at all costs. It is so expensive because in essence, it means that the same job must be done all over again and the carrier misses out on further income.
Additional stop charges are usually added when a shipment has two or more destinations that require a driver to make numerous stops as they make their way there. A multi stop load commonly causes delays because hiccups may be present on the way there.
If carrying other loads at the same time, delays will equate to a loss in productivity that the carrier will need to take into consideration when charging you the appropriate fee.
A carrier that must unload a vehicle usually does so outside of their general job requirements. The driver may unload or load the freight and charge you for the labor it takes them to do so. At many distribution centers, outside laborers are brought in to unload cargo. Distributors then pass these charges on to shippers as something called a ‘lumper’ fee or charge.
However, in most cases this charge will only be applied if it is pre-established before the fact that the driver is not responsible for loading/unloading the freight but they end up doing it anyway. If you’re unsure as to whether or not the driver is responsible for loading and unloading freight, ask before finalizing your shipment. The majority of drivers delivering goods for other companies deal with no touch freight.
This charge is added to an invoice when the carrier must reclassify and reweigh the load. For example, if the correct details were not provided, then the carrier will need to rework your order, taking up extra time and resources.
It’s so important that the correct information is provided beforehand, as the weight, class, and dimensions of the load all play a part in how the truck is loaded. If the details are not right, this causes huge disruptions. Fees will then be added to the final bill for lost productivity when this happens.
Sending a truck to a facility outside of what is considered normal operating hours is considered an after hours delivery, and will usually cost extra. This is because the carrier might struggle to deliver something as they usually would when taking on an after hours delivery.
They might find hiccups along the way, making it difficult for them to get where they need to go, find who they need to communicate with, and so on. Because of this, they will charge a fee to make up for the time they have lost.
A fuel surcharge is an additional cost that’s tacked onto a freight bill according to the current price of fuel and a carrier’s surcharge pricing structure. You will be able to find the surcharge on the carrier’s pricing table.
Each carrier will have their own fuel surcharge pricing in place, but will likely be similar to many others. This is because all carriers base their fuel surcharge pricing and range based on the average price of fuel.
The way that most carriers arrange their fuel surcharge pricing is through a surcharge range. For example, if the average cost of fuel is $2.75 per gallon, a carrier may establish a surcharge range of $2.76-$3.25.
If the cost of fuel during a shipment falls within this range, the shipper or receiver will pay a surcharge based on the final cost of the fuel. This cost typically takes the form of a flat fee, as well as a percentage. Higher ranges can invoke higher percentages and fees.
It’s helpful to be aware of how fuel surcharges work so there isn’t confusion when reviewing a shipping bill.
The last thing you want is for your truckload shipment to be hit with additional expenses. That’s why we’ve provided a graphic that shows you how to avoid the accessorial charges we’ve already discussed.
Following these practices closely will ensure you don’t have to pay more when you ship truckload freight.
At USA Truckload Shipping, we plan out your shipments carefully to ensure you don’t encounter any unwanted charges. Call our team today at (866) 353-7178 to get your freight moving. You can also reach our team by navigating to our contact page.
R+L Global Logistics
315 NE 14th St., Ocala, FL 34470
