Freight & Retail Compliance
Moving pallets and truckloads between factories, ports, warehouses, and retailers, and meeting the delivery rules big-box retailers enforce on suppliers.
Accessorial ChargeA freight fee for services beyond standard dock-to-dock transport, such as liftgate, inside delivery, residential delivery, appointment, or detention.Appointment DeliveryAn accessorial service in which the carrier schedules a specific date or time window with the receiver before delivering, often billed as a notify, call-ahead, or appointment fee.Bill of LadingBOLThe legal document between a shipper and carrier listing what is shipped, its origin and destination, and terms of carriage. It also serves as a receipt.Carmack AmendmentThe US federal law governing liability of interstate motor carriers and freight forwarders for loss or damage to goods, making the carrier liable for actual loss unless liability is lawfully limited.Chargeback (Retail Compliance)A deduction a retailer takes from a supplier's invoice for violating its routing guide or vendor requirements, such as late delivery, wrong labels, or missing ASNs.Collect FreightA payment term in which the consignee pays the carrier's freight charges, as opposed to prepaid freight, where the shipper pays, or third-party billing, where another party pays.Contract RateA negotiated freight price agreed between a shipper and a carrier or broker for specific lanes or volumes over a set term, commonly six to twelve months.Dry VanAn enclosed, non-temperature-controlled trailer, most commonly 53 feet long in the US, used for most palletized and floor-loaded general merchandise.Floor-LoadedA loading method in which cartons are stacked directly on the floor of a container or trailer rather than on pallets, maximizing cube use but requiring manual unloading.Freight BrokerA licensed intermediary that arranges truck transportation by matching a shipper's load with a motor carrier, without operating the trucks itself, and earns the margin between the shipper rate and carrier rate.Freight ClaimA written demand to a carrier for payment of loss, damage, or delay to goods in its care, supported by the bill of lading, delivery receipt, invoice, and proof of value.Freight ClassA National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) rating from 50 to 500 that LTL carriers use to price shipments based on density, handling, stowability, and liability.Freight DensityThe weight of a shipment divided by its cubic volume, expressed in pounds per cubic foot, which determines the freight class for most LTL commodities.Freight ReclassificationA correction an LTL carrier makes to a shipment's freight class or weight after inspecting or reweighing it, which reissues the bill at the corrected class and usually adds an inspection fee.Full TruckloadFTLA shipment that uses an entire trailer, usually a 53-foot dry van in the US, moving directly from origin to destination.GS1-128 LabelA standardized shipping label printed with the GS1-128 barcode symbology that encodes a carton or pallet's SSCC and, optionally, data such as purchase order and ship-to location.Inner PackA smaller package inside a master carton that groups a set number of units, used to protect product or match the quantity a store or customer orders.Intermodal FreightFreight moved in a single container or trailer across more than one mode, most commonly a domestic or international container hauled by rail for the long haul and by truck at each end.Less-Than-TruckloadLTLFreight shipping for loads too large for parcel but not large enough to fill a truck, where several shippers share trailer space.Liftgate ServiceAn accessorial service in which the carrier uses a truck-mounted hydraulic platform to lower freight from the trailer to the ground at a location without a loading dock.Lumper FeeA charge for third-party labor that unloads a truck at the receiving facility, common at grocery and big-box retail distribution centers.Master CartonThe outer shipping carton that holds a fixed number of units or inner packs of a single SKU as packed by the supplier, also called a case pack.Middle MileThe movement of goods between facilities, such as from a port or DC to a fulfillment center, before final delivery.Must Arrive By DateMABDThe date on a retail purchase order by which the shipment must arrive at the retailer's distribution center, used to measure on-time delivery.National Motor Freight ClassificationNMFCThe industry standard, maintained by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA), that assigns commodities an item number and a freight class used to price LTL shipments.On-Time In-FullOTIFA retail supplier performance metric measuring the share of purchase orders or cases delivered within the required delivery window and in the full ordered quantity.Over, Short, and DamagedOS&DThe category of delivery exceptions in which received freight exceeds, falls below, or arrives in worse condition than what the bill of lading lists, also used for the carrier department handling them.PalletA flat transport platform, typically 48 × 40 inches in the US, on which goods are stacked for handling by forklift.Pool DistributionA distribution method in which many orders for one region are consolidated on a truckload to a local terminal, then broken down and delivered to individual destinations by local carriers.PRO NumberThe tracking number an LTL carrier assigns to a shipment.Refrigerated TrailerReeferA temperature-controlled trailer or container with its own refrigeration unit, used to move perishable or temperature-sensitive goods such as food, supplements, cosmetics, and some pharmaceuticals.Routing GuideA retailer's rulebook for how suppliers must label, pack, ship, and schedule deliveries to its warehouses.Serial Shipping Container CodeSSCCAn 18-digit GS1 number that uniquely identifies a carton or pallet, printed on a GS1-128 label.Shipper Load and CountSLACA bill of lading notation stating that the shipper loaded and counted the freight without the driver verifying the quantity, typically used on sealed truckloads and containers.Spot RateA one-time price quoted for a single shipment at current market conditions, as opposed to a rate locked in by contract for a set period.Vendor ComplianceThe set of packaging, labeling, shipping, EDI, and delivery requirements a retailer imposes on its suppliers, enforced through scorecards and financial penalties.