What Shipping Adjustments are Reasonable?

A shipping estimate is given to you by a shipping company so that you can compare rates and get a sense of what it will cost to make your shipment. Yet not everything presented to you by every shipping company will be face value. If a rate seems too low to be true, it may be. Some companies under-quote and make shipping adjustments later to hike up the price. They know they can do this because by then, you’ve already locked in with them and you may be up against the clock.

Performance Plus relies on repeat business and providing trustworthy, long-term shipping arrangements that will draw that business. Some of the common additional charges that could occur from the carrier are as follows:

Oversize: If a shipment is more than 10 feet long, an additional length fee may be assessed.

Reclass: If the freight class given to us for a shipment is inaccurate, we will make a reclass adjustment to the proper freight class.

Limited Delivery: If there is limited access upon delivery and this requires additional steps upon delivery because of this access, many companies will charge an additional fee.

Residential: This will usually relate to a pick-up or delivery at a residence that wasn’t listed on the bill of lading.

Lift-Gate: This applies to locations where a forklift or loading dock are not available.  This is because we’ll have to use a different truck than we normally would (one with a lift-gate).

Bill of Lading: Any changes that require adjustment to the bill of lading may incur a fee.

This is not a complete list, but you probably noticed a common theme here. Keep in mind that most reasonable adjustments are due to a lack of information or an inaccuracy in the information provided to the shipping company at the time of a quote. This is OK. It happens sometimes, and any shipping company worth its salt will keep these fees reasonable and related to increased costs on their own part.

If you provide accurate, thorough information and a fee is being assessed despite this, that’s a problem. If the fee is exorbitant or several fees are racked up, that’s the sign of a company that makes its money on fees, not on reliable shipping.

Shipping adjustments will sometimes happen. It’s part of shipping. Use your instincts and business sense to assess whether a company is ever abusing them. Good communication with your shipping company avoids most of them. A shipping company should make its money on good, reliable, repeatable service, not on fees.