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How to read a rate confirmation before you sign it

A rate confirmation is a contract, and most disputes are lost at the moment it is signed rather than at the dock. Here is what to read before you do.

A forklift loading pallets into a trailer at a shipper

Getting paidBy BSG Carriers·Published ·3 min read

It is a contract, not a receipt

The rate confirmation — the rate con — is the document that governs the load. Once you sign it you have agreed to the rate, the appointments, the free time, the accessorials and whatever else is printed on it, including the parts nobody reads.

Almost every dispute a carrier loses was decided here, not at the dock. If the rate con says detention starts after three hours and you argue for two, you will lose. If it excludes lumper reimbursement and you pay one, that money is gone. The five minutes before signing are worth more than an hour of arguing afterwards.

The nine things worth checking every time

In rough order of how often they cost somebody money.

  • The rate itself, and whether it is all-in or linehaul plus fuel surcharge. "All-in" means there is nothing else coming.
  • Free time at pickup and delivery, the detention rate after it, and whether the clock starts at the appointment or at arrival.
  • TONU: is anything payable if the load cancels after you have committed or arrived, and how much?
  • Who pays the lumper, and whether it is reimbursed or advanced. An unreimbursed lumper can swallow a day.
  • Appointment times, and whether they are firm appointments or windows. Missing a firm appointment usually costs more than the load pays.
  • Whether it is a drop or a live load, at each end.
  • Any accessorial that is excluded — tarping, extra stops, driver assist, pallet exchange, reefer fuel.
  • Payment terms, and whether quick-pay is offered and at what discount.
  • Whether the broker is the one on your carrier packet. Signing for an entity you have not set up with is how invoices go unpaid.

The clauses that quietly move cost onto you

Watch for language making the carrier responsible for the temperature record on a reefer load regardless of equipment performance, or for a claim caused by the shipper loading badly. Those obligations are negotiable more often than carriers assume.

Watch for detention capped at a number of hours per day. A cap that is lower than a realistic worst case at that facility is a way of limiting what you can claim.

Watch for a notification requirement — some brokers require notice within thirty or sixty minutes of the free time expiring, and a claim submitted later is void by the terms you signed.

And watch for a rate that differs from what was agreed on the phone. It happens, it is usually a mistake, and it is far easier to correct before signing than after delivery.

What we do with it

01
Read it before you see it
We check the terms against what was negotiated and query anything that has moved.
02
Push back on the clauses worth pushing back on
Free time, detention rate and excluded accessorials are the three that most often change when someone asks.
03
Send it to you with the terms flagged
You approve every load. Nothing is booked on your authority without your say-so.
04
Keep it with the load
The rate con goes into the invoice packet with the signed BOL and any receipts, in the format your factor wants.
FAQ

Common questions

It is generally treated as the contract for that load once both parties have signed, and it usually incorporates the broker-carrier agreement you signed at setup. Treat it as binding and read it accordingly.
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