Avoid price adjustments in freight shipping

What are shipping adjustments?

Freight shipping adjustments billed by the carrier typically occur when there are discrepancies between a shipment’s quoted and actual freight characteristics.

Because predictable shipping costs help keep your business running smoothly, these types of adjustments can lead to unexpected expenses—disrupting your supply chain and your budget.

Use these tips and strategies to help avoid the common errors that lead to shipping adjustments.

Avoid costly fees with accurate freight quotes

Calculating shipping costs can be straightforward with Freightquote^® by C.H. Robinson. See how it’s all about how precise your shipment details are when requesting a quote.

Common shipping adjustments and tips to prevent them

Bill of lading changes

Avoid typos and entry errors on the bill of lading (BOL) with Freightquote.  Enter all your precise shipment information into our free online quoting tool and we will generate the BOL for you.  All shipment details will be in the proper fields, so you can focus on running the business instead of the paperwork.
 
After placing your order, most changes to shipment details will result in a billing adjustment because the carrier has based the freight quote on the originally provided information.  Freightquote helps protect from these billing adjustments by allowing non rate-impacting changes to be made to a BOL. 

Prior to pick up, conveniently change contact names or phone numbers on the BOL from your account dashboard.  For changes to rate-impacting information like weight or delivery location, you can quickly re-quote your shipment with the updated information prior to pick up and ensure you have still chosen the ideal carrier for your order.

Reclass or dimensional weight adjustment

Freight carriers typically quote shipments based on a freight or National Motor Freight Association (NMFC) code assigned to the specific goods being shipped.  In this traditional quoting method, over 18,000 unique codes are used to help determine freight class.  Using the wrong code can result in costly reclassification fees from carriers.  Avoid all this hassle and adjustment risk by using our online quoting tool, which uses the shipment details you input to provide the appropriate freight class for your shipment.

Accessorial adjustments

Unexpected freight accessorials such as lift gate fees, are additional charges imposed by carriers when a delivery requires the use of a lift gate or other special equipment on the truck to load or unload goods. These fees are usually applied when the pickup or delivery location lacks the necessary equipment (such as a loading dock or forklift) to handle the shipment without specialized equipment or services. 

Avoid unexpected accessorial fees by contacting both your pickup and delivery locations to ask if they are a business or residence and if they require special services like lift gates, appointments, or extra loading/unloading time.  Selecting the appropriate services needed during your quote will ensure our quoting tool provides you with a comprehensive list of carriers who can accommodate your specific shipping needs.

Oversize fees and dimensional changes

Avoiding dimensional changes can be crucial for keeping shipping costs down, especially when dealing with larger or irregularly shaped items.  When carriers inspect freight and find dimensional changes they can assess costly price increases for oversize fees, dimensional weight adjustments, reclass fees, cubic capacity violations, or linear foot violations. 

The best line of defense for these types of dimensional adjustments is to accurately measure your freight, making sure to include all packaging in the measurements.  Enter those precise measurements into our online tool and you can rest easy knowing fees for oversize or over length freight are already included in your quote.

No freight scale? No problem!

It’s possible to get precise weight measurements even without a dedicated freight scale. See creative ideas you can use to get an accurate weight no matter what.

Always remember: Accuracy counts

These are just a few of the most common shipping adjustments you may face. To avoid surprises and additional expenses related to freight shipping adjustments, be sure to provide accurate and detailed information about your shipments.

By employing these strategies, you can better manage your shipments and reduce the risk of incurring unnecessary shipping adjustments. Always communicate clearly with your carriers and coordinate with our freight shipping experts to be proactive in finding the most cost-effective shipping solutions for your business needs.