Reweighs Without a Subsequent Reclass

Here is another reason for LTL shippers to provide accurate weights and dimensions on the BOL.  LTL carriers will reweigh your freight, and inspect and measure your freight.  These inspection and subsequent rating processes tend to be highly automated But there is chance for error, or an adjustment, intentional or otherwise, that does not favor the shipper.

Allow me to share the following example. I am sharing this not to point out any flaw or oversight by the carrier involved.  The root cause of the issue lies with the shipper, not the carrier.  Providing an accurate BOL solves the matter.

The BOL listed 2 skids weighing 238 lbs total and containing NMF 98270-03 CL70 Herbs/Spices and NMF 72910 CL70 Flavoring Compounds.  98270 is a density-based item with CL70 for 15 PCF and greater, CL85 for 10 to 15 PCF, and CL125 for less than 10 PCF. 72910 is a non-density item with a CL70 rating.

The carrier measured this shipment as skids at 40x48x19 and 40x48x64.  This yields a cube of 92.2 cubic feet and a density of 2.6 PCF.  They adjusted the class to CL250 based upon their Mixed Commodities rule which allows them to use the standard 11-sub density table to classify shipments.

After this dimensional adjustment based upon density, the carrier then reweighed the shipment and found the 2 pallets to weigh 455 + 1,825 = 2,280 lbs.  They re-rated this shipment based upon the previously applied CL250 rating and with the adjusted weight of 2,280 lbs.  Total charges invoiced were $1,995.

I think you can see the problem here. Following the reweigh, the density of this shipment was now 24.7 PCF, which hardly conforms to a CL250 rating.  In fact, that conforms to a CL65 rating, or at least the CL70 listed on the original BOL.  The carrier maybe should have at least adjusted the charges per their Mixed Commodity rule based upon this reweigh and the change in density. But they did not.

The shipper fortunately noticed this application and filed an overcharge claim after paying the invoiced $1,995 charges.  They recovered $1,113 on this shipment.  All of this could have been prevented if the shipper provided an accurate weight on the BOL.  Or with accurate shipment dimensions, they might have noticed the weight was wrong based upon the low density.  Again, this was a shipper error.

Moral #1 of the story:  Use a TMS to quote your LTL shipments, use its features to verify selection of the right class, and compare that quote to your final carrier invoices to identify any discrepancies.

Moral #2 of the story:  Weigh and measure your LTL shipments to ensure your BOL is accurate.  Don’t make your LTL carriers work so hard to catch your errors for you.  Let them audit your BOL with their equipment, manpower, and processes so you can prove to them how highly accurate you are.