Shipping Policy

Every quote we issue is itemized: line by line, surcharge by surcharge, no bundled mystery number. You see the base rate, fuel surcharge, accessorials, insurance, and any applicable customs fees broken out separately.

Itemized quotes are delivered within 2 business hours Monday through Saturday, or the next business day for complex project cargo.

Rates are locked for 14 days from the moment you receive the quote. If carrier tariffs or fuel indices shift during that window, your price does not move. After 14 days the quote expires and we re-quote at current market — we do not silently extend expired rates and retroactively bill the difference.

What we will never do: quote a low base rate and bury accessorials in the fine print. If a surcharge applies, it is in the quote before you book, not on the invoice after pickup.

Booking is a phone call or a form — not a multi-day negotiation. Once you approve a quote, we schedule the pickup window, assign the carrier, and issue a booking confirmation with the carrier name, MC number, and pickup time slot. No booking is confirmed until you have that document.

Pickup windows are 2-hour slots for LTL and 4-hour slots for FTL and ocean. If the carrier misses the window through their own fault, we reschedule at our expense — you do not pay for a second pickup attempt caused by carrier no-show.

You can cancel a booking free of charge up to 24 hours before the scheduled pickup. Inside that window, a $75 cancellation fee applies if the truck has already been dispatched. If the truck has not been dispatched, the cancellation is free regardless of timing.

At pickup, the driver scans your shipment against the bill of lading. That scan is the first timestamp in your 9-milestone tracking timeline — visible in your tracking portal within 5 minutes of collection. You receive the tracking number by email and SMS the moment the truck departs.

If you are not present at pickup, the shipper of record must have authorized the release in writing. We do not accept verbal authorization for third-party pickups. This is a fraud-prevention measure, not bureaucracy — it prevents someone from shipping on your account without consent.

Freight must be packaged, palletized, or crated to withstand normal transport handling. If our driver arrives and the freight is not ready or not packaged to transport standard, the driver will note the condition on the BOL and may refuse pickup. If we refuse pickup due to packaging, there is no charge and we reschedule at no cost.

Transit times in your quote are estimates based on carrier published service standards and historical lane performance. They are not guarantees — and we say that plainly. Weather, port congestion, customs holds, and carrier capacity can extend transit. What we guarantee is that you will see every milestone as it happens.

Your shipment moves through 9 tracking milestones: pickup scan, origin terminal arrival, linehaul departure, destination terminal arrival, out-for-delivery scan, delivery scan, POD upload, signature capture, and final-mile confirmation. Each milestone carries a timestamp, GPS coordinates where available, and the handler's name or ID.

If a milestone is missed — meaning 24 hours pass without a scan on an active shipment — our dispatch team is alerted automatically and proactively contacts the carrier. You do not have to call us to ask where your freight is; we are already looking.

Two delivery attempts are included in your quote. If the receiver is unavailable on the first attempt, the driver reattempts on the next business day at no additional cost. A third attempt incurs a flat $45 fee — not a percentage of the freight value, not an open-ended accessorials charge.

Every delivery ends with a signature and timestamped photographs of the freight at the delivery point. This proof of delivery is uploaded to your tracking portal within 2 hours of drop-off and is permanently retrievable. If a receiver disputes delivery, the POD — including photos and GPS coordinates — is the evidence.

If you require liftgate delivery, inside delivery, appointment scheduling, or limited-access location service, these must be noted at booking. Adding accessorial services after pickup may incur additional charges and may delay delivery by one business day while the carrier re-plans the route.

If a shipment cannot be delivered — receiver unavailable after two attempts, business closed, incorrect address — we hold it at the nearest hub for 10 days at no charge. During that window, you or the receiver can schedule redelivery at standard rates with no additional storage fee.

After 10 days, storage applies at $15 per pallet per week for LTL freight and $25 per day for FTL containers. We notify both the shipper and the receiver by email and phone on day 5 and day 9 so no one is surprised by the clock.

If freight remains unclaimed after 30 days, we contact the shipper of record for disposition instructions. We do not auction, dispose of, or abandon freight without written authorization from the shipper. Bonded freight follows separate customs-bond rules and may have different hold timelines depending on the jurisdiction.

Changing the delivery address is free before the shipment departs the origin terminal. Once the freight is on a linehaul or out for delivery, an address change may incur a rerouting fee — typically $35 to $95 depending on the lane and how far the new address deviates from the original route. We tell you the exact fee before we process the change, and we do not process it without your approval.

If a reroute causes the shipment to miss its original delivery window, we provide a revised estimated delivery date at the time of the change. We do not backfill old delivery dates and pretend the delay did not happen.

Address changes must come from the shipper of record or an authorized contact on file. We do not accept delivery-address changes from the receiver alone — the shipper controls the routing until the freight is delivered. This is a fraud-prevention measure: it prevents a receiver from redirecting freight to a different address without the shipper's knowledge.

If freight arrives damaged, the receiver must note the damage on the delivery receipt before signing. Hidden damage discovered after delivery must be reported within 5 business days with photographs. The formal claims process is documented separately at Claims Process & Terms and File a Claim.

For lost or short shipments, the claim window is 9 months from the delivery date (or from the scheduled delivery date if the shipment never arrived). Claims are settled within 30 days of receiving all required documentation — BOL, POD, commercial invoice, damage photos, and a completed claim form. We do not stall claims past the statutory window.

Liability is governed by the Carmack Amendment for US domestic shipments (up to the declared value or a statutory minimum per pound) and by the Hague-Visby Rules for ocean shipments. Cargo insurance is separate from carrier liability and provides broader coverage — see Insurance Coverage & Limits for the full insurance policy terms.