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Checklist · Free

The fees are in the address, not the freight.

Almost every accessorial charge on an LTL invoice was predictable before the truck left. The information was sitting in the delivery address the whole time. Walk a location through this list before you quote it and most of the surprises stop being surprises.

See the checklist Have us check a location

Run both addresses through this

Pickup and delivery. A charge at origin costs the same as one at destination, and origin gets checked less often.

Getting to the freight

Access

  • Is there a loading dock at both ends?
  • Can a 53-foot trailer physically reach the door?
  • Is the address residential, or a business run from a home?
  • Is it a school, church, farm, military base, mine or construction site?
  • Is there a gate, a guard or a check-in process?
  • Is the street too narrow or restricted for a full-size truck?
Moving the freight

Equipment and labor

  • Without a dock, is a liftgate needed to get it to the ground?
  • Does it have to go inside, past the threshold?
  • Is there a forklift and somebody trained on it?
  • Will the driver be expected to help unload?
  • Are there stairs, an elevator or a long carry?
Timing

When it can arrive

  • Does delivery need an appointment scheduled in advance?
  • Are receiving hours narrower than normal business hours?
  • Is anyone there to receive it, or will it need redelivery?
  • Is a specific delivery window being promised to a customer?
  • Will the truck have to wait to get unloaded?
The freight itself

What the carrier will find

  • Do the dimensions include the pallet and any overhang?
  • Is the weight the real total, or an estimate from last time?
  • Will it stack, or does it take a full trailer position?
  • Is the NMFC item number on the bill still current?
  • Is anything about it hazardous, fragile or high-value?
Every yes above has a price. None of them are hidden. They are published accessorial charges that get applied when the condition is found, whether or not it was declared at quoting. Declaring it up front is almost always cheaper than having it discovered.

Or stop doing this by hand

Checking every address against every condition on every shipment is work, and it is the kind of work that gets skipped on a busy afternoon. That is when the fees get through.

Our system checks each pickup and delivery location for these conditions automatically and shows what it finds while the shipment is still being quoted. You decide what to include before you book, rather than reading about it on an invoice six weeks later.

See it on your own lane

The five that catch people most

  • Liftgate at delivery, because nobody asked about the dock
  • Residential delivery to a business address that is a house
  • Limited access at a site that did not sound limited
  • Reweigh and reclassification from a measurement taken last year
  • Redelivery after arriving outside receiving hours

Want this as a printable page?

Use your browser's print function and choose "Save as PDF." The checklist is laid out to fit on one sheet you can keep by the phone.

Send us a location you are unsure about.

Give us the delivery address and what is moving. We will tell you which of these it triggers before you commit to a rate.

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