Module 3 of 7 · 12 min
What a shipment really costs
Base rate, fuel surcharge, accessorials, tariffs, discounts and minimums — how a carrier builds a number, and where the charges you did not quote come from.
By the end you will be able to
- Break an LTL invoice into its component charges
- Explain how discounts, minimums and FAK interact
- Anticipate the accessorials a shipment will attract before you quote it
How the number is built
An LTL price starts from the carrier's tariff — a published table of rates by class, weight break and lane. Almost nobody pays tariff. Your contract applies a discount off it, often a large one, and that discounted figure is the base rate.
Then comes the fuel surcharge, a percentage of the base rate that moves weekly with a published diesel index. And then accessorials, which are charges for anything the carrier had to do beyond collecting from one dock and delivering to another.
Discounts look impressive and mean less than they appear. A 75% discount off an inflated tariff can be worse than 60% off a lean one. Compare the delivered rate on real lanes, never the discount percentage.
Weight breaks and the deficit weight trick
Rates step down at weight breaks — commonly 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 lb. The rate per hundredweight drops as you cross each one.
Which produces a quirk worth knowing: it is sometimes cheaper to ship more weight. A 4,800 lb shipment priced at the 2,000 lb break can cost more than the same freight rated as if it weighed 5,000 lb. Good rating engines check this automatically; if yours does not, check it by hand on anything close to a break.
Accessorials: where quotes go wrong
Accessorials are the single most common reason an invoice does not match a quote. Not because carriers are sneaky, but because nobody asked the customer the right questions.
Most of them are predictable from the address and a two-minute conversation. A residential delivery is knowable. A site with no dock is knowable. A receiver that requires an appointment is knowable. Ask, then quote.
| Charge | When it applies |
|---|---|
| Liftgate | No dock or forklift at either end |
| Residential | A house — including a home business |
| Limited access | Schools, sites, farms, military, self-storage |
| Inside delivery | Past the threshold, not just to the door |
| Appointment / notify | Receiver requires scheduling before arrival |
| Detention | Driver waiting beyond free time, usually 30 min |
| Redelivery | Nobody there, or delivery refused |
| Reconsignment | Address changed after pickup |
| Sort and segregate | Receiver wants freight separated on arrival |
The accessorials that catch people out
FAK, and why it can save or cost you
FAK — freight all kinds — is a contract term that treats a band of classes as one agreed class. A shipper with mixed freight between class 70 and 175 might have everything rated at 100.
It is genuinely useful for customers whose freight varies, because it makes pricing predictable and stops reclass disputes. It also means that on the low-class shipments you are paying more than you would have. Whether FAK is a good deal depends entirely on the customer's actual mix, which means you have to look at their history rather than take their word for it.
Worth remembering
- Compare delivered rates on real lanes, never discount percentages
- Minimum charge is a floor — deeper discounts do nothing below it
- Check the next weight break; shipping heavier is sometimes cheaper
- Most accessorials are predictable from the address and one question
- FAK is only a good deal if the customer's real freight mix says so
Check yourself
3 questions. You will see why each answer is what it is.
1Carrier A offers 78% off their tariff. Carrier B offers 62%. Which is cheaper?
Discounts come off different base tariffs. The only meaningful comparison is the delivered rate on lanes the customer actually ships.
2A shipment weighs 4,700 lb. Why might you check what it would cost at 5,000 lb?
Rates step down at weight breaks. Rating as if it were 5,000 lb sometimes beats rating 4,700 lb at the lower break — worth checking on anything close.
3Which of these is NOT predictable before you quote?
The others are knowable from the address or one question. Detention depends on what happens on the day — which is why it belongs in the conversation about what might change, not the quote.
See it in the product
Two modules in
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