Rate confirmations: what to check before you accept a load

The six fields that decide what the load actually pays

Read these before anything else. Two rate cons can show the same number at the top and pay hundreds of dollars apart, because of what is written lower down.

• The parties. The broker's legal name and MC number as they appear on the paperwork, and your company's name spelled the way your insurance and authority carry it. A mismatch here is a payment dispute later.
• The rate, and what it includes. Is the fuel surcharge inside the number or on top of it? Is the rate all-in, or line haul plus listed accessorials? A rate con that says only "$X" with no breakdown is a question to ask, not a detail to assume.
• Accessorials and who pays them. Detention (how many free hours, then what per hour), layover, truck ordered not used (TONU), driver assist, lumper fees and whether the carrier advances them, extra stops, tarping or chains. If a charge is not named on the rate con, expect to argue for it.
• The stops. Addresses, contact names, hours, and whether each stop is an appointment or first come first served. An appointment time on the rate con is a commitment you are signing.
• The freight. Commodity, weight, piece count, equipment, temperature range if reefer, hazmat class if any, seal requirements. The weight on the rate con is the weight you will be held to if a scale says otherwise.
• Payment terms. Net days from receipt of paperwork, the quick-pay option and its fee, any factoring assignment the broker requires, and the paperwork the broker needs before the clock even starts (almost always the signed bill of lading and the proof of delivery).

The clauses that cost money after the fact

The bottom of the page is where the margin leaks. These are the terms worth reading every time, even from a broker you work with weekly, because templates change.

• Paperwork deadlines. Many rate cons say the proof of delivery is due within a set number of days after delivery, with a reduced rate or a penalty for late paperwork. Know the number before you sign.
• Late fees and chargebacks. A fee for a missed appointment, for arriving without the broker's load number, for a wrong trailer, for not calling in at pickup and delivery.
• Detention conditions. Free time is often only honored when the driver arrived on time and the in and out times are written on the bill of lading or confirmed by the receiver. Detention you cannot prove is detention you do not get.
• Tracking and check-call requirements. Some rate cons tie payment to the driver accepting a tracking link or to a check call at each stop.
• Claims and cargo terms. The liability amount you are agreeing to per shipment, and the timeline for reporting damage. Compare it to your cargo policy before the load, not after a claim.
• Non-solicitation and back-solicitation. Standard, but a reminder that the shipper on this load is the broker's customer, not yours.

Red flags that mean stop and call

• The pickup paperwork names a different broker than the one on your rate con, or the shipper has never heard of the company you are hauling for. That is the shape of a double-brokered load, and the carrier at the end of the chain is the one who does not get paid.
• Pressure to sign before the details are filled in. "We will send the updated rate con later" means the load is governed by whatever arrives later.
• A rate well above the lane with a reason that does not hold up, or a request to pay a dispatch or load-board fee up front.
• Payment terms that reference paperwork you cannot produce, such as a receiver signature on a form the receiver does not use.
• Contact details that do not match the broker's listed phone number or email domain. Call the number on record, not the one on the document.

A sixty-second routine before you sign

1. Match the parties. Broker name and MC against your records, your own name spelled right.
2. Rebuild the number. Line haul, fuel, named accessorials. Does it add up to the figure you agreed to on the phone?
3. Read the payment and paperwork lines. Net days, quick-pay fee, POD deadline, any penalty.
4. Check the stops against the calendar. Can the driver actually make the appointment with the hours they have left?
5. Write down what is missing and ask for it in writing before you sign. A reply email from the broker is part of the agreement; a phone promise is not.
6. File it with the load, so whoever invoices the load has the terms in front of them.

How ActionTMS handles a rate confirmation

ActionTMS keeps the rate con with the load, so the terms you agreed to travel with the work, on every plan:

• A document type for it. Each load's Documents tab takes a PDF, an image, or a Word or Excel file as a Rate Confirmation, beside the bill of lading, the proof of delivery and the invoice, so the person closing out the load has the terms next to the paperwork that proves them.
• The load carries the stops and the money. Customer, origin, destination, appointment windows, the rate, and accessorials as cost and revenue items, so detention or a lumper fee gets recorded when it happens as a charge to the customer where the rate con allows.
• With an AI seat, the rate con builds the load. Attach the rate confirmation as a PDF, a photo or a screenshot in the chat, and the AI assistant reads it and drafts the load: a rate confirmation becomes a drafted load in under a minute. Before anything is written, the new customer, any new stop locations and the load itself appear on approval cards for you to check against the document.
• Try it on sample data first. Every new workspace includes the fully unlocked AI assistant on sample data, and its Try a Rate Con action attaches a sample rate confirmation from a made-up broker so you can watch the draft and the approval cards before you ever send a real one.

Still filing rate cons in an email folder? Start with moving dispatch off a spreadsheet.