Accessorials and How They Work

Farlex Financial Dictionary defines Accessorial Charges as extra fees attached to transportation services for duties beyond simply shipping a good from point A to point B. Examples of services on which a company may attach accessorial charges include waiting time, storage, packing, extra fuel, and so forth. Accessorial charges are also called assessorial charges.

Like it or not, these charges have become very prevalent ever since the downturn in the economy.  Another way of putting it, our freight carriers need and want to be compensated for the work they do. The most common accessorial charges we see from LTL carriers are residential delivery, lift gate, limited access, inside delivery, HazMat, and overlength which are just a few of the charges you may see in the shipping public. Priority1 has some of these charges waived or reduced but, in order to make sure you are quoted the correct amount they need to be disclosed at time of quotation and declared on the bill of lading for the carrier.  This not only results in a correct quote but, will help avoid delays and re-delivery charges with the carriers when they are not aware of extra services required at delivery.

Priority1 gives our customers the added assurance of free freight bill audit to verify that these services were required and performed at time of pick-up and delivery.  No one likes surprise charges and we make sure that if they occur they are valid and necessary.

Lance Hines, Director of Sales and Business Development