Glossary

Trucking terms in plain English

The paperwork, money and freight words a carrier deals with daily, defined without jargon.

Free for up to 3 trucks. No card required.

Paperwork on the load

4 pages

The documents that travel with the freight and decide whether you get paid for it.

What is a rate confirmation?

The document that sets what a broker pays a carrier for a load, and why every detail on it matters when the invoice is disputed.

What is a bill of lading?

The document that travels with the freight, what it evidences, and why a signed copy matters for getting paid.

What is a TMS?

A transportation management system is the software a carrier runs its loads, drivers, paperwork and billing on. Here is what one actually does.

What is a load board?

Where brokers post available freight and carriers find it, and how carriers use several at once.

6 pages

The lines that show up on a settlement or an invoice and are not always self-explanatory.

What is detention?

What detention is, when it usually starts, and why so much of it never gets billed.

What is a lumper fee?

The charge for third-party loading or unloading at a warehouse, who pays it, and how to make sure it gets reimbursed.

What is TONU?

The payment owed when a truck is dispatched and the load then falls through, and why it needs recording properly.

What is deadhead?

Empty miles between loads, why they quietly destroy margin, and how to reduce them when planning capacity.

What is freight factoring?

Selling your invoices for immediate cash instead of waiting on broker payment terms, and what it costs you.

What is IFTA?

The International Fuel Tax Agreement in plain terms, and what carriers need to be recording throughout the quarter.

2 pages

What has to exist, be current, and be produceable when somebody asks.

What is a driver qualification file?

The file a motor carrier keeps to show a driver is qualified to operate, and what typically belongs in it.

What is a DVIR?

The inspection report a driver completes on a commercial vehicle, and how a reported defect should be closed out.

3 pages

Modes and arrangements you will be quoted on.

What is drayage?

Short-haul container moves between ports, rail yards and warehouses, and why the economics differ from long-haul.

What is intermodal freight?

Freight that travels by more than one mode in the same container, and where trucking fits into it.

What is an owner-operator?

A driver who owns their truck, how they are paid differently from a company driver, and why software has to know the difference.