If all goes according to plan, there will be no extra costs, and therefore no extra fees.
But maybe something changes, or maybe we made an error, or maybe the shipper or receiver forgot to tell us something that was important. And as a result, there will be extra costs.
And extra costs may result in extra fees ….. Extra fees to whom?
Extra fees that are Copper Run’s responsibility
Sometimes during the course of transportation, circumstances change, and additional or unexpected work and / or expense is required to successfully complete the transportation.
If this extra work or expense occurs as a result of and act or omission by copper run or by the carrier we sourced to carry your shipment, there will be no extra fee charged. Period. Just call us, and we will handle it (see: fair prices vs cheap prices).
Examples of this type of situation include:
- Clerical dispatch error (e.g., omitted pick-up number);
- Driver dispatched to incorrect location;
- Driver went to incorrect location;
- Truck arrived late, or after hours;
- Dirty, leaking or odiferous van;
- Incompatible freight on van (ltl);
- Less available space (volume or weight) on truck than ordered;
- Sub-standard van dimensions (e.g., small door);
- Incomplete complement of pre-requested straps, bars, tarps, or other equipment;
- Impolite, obnoxious or argumentative driver;
- Driver or truck detained or seized.
Extra fees that are our customer’s responsibility
On most occasions when circumstances change during the course of transportation in a manner that creates extra work or expense, the root cause of the change lies with the shipper, the receiver, the customer, or the customs broker. Or sometimes it is an unexpected but unavoidable cost of shipping freight by highway truck.
In these types of instances, the requirement for the extra work and/or expense was not known in advance, so it was not included in our Fair Price quotation, or in our arrangements with the carrier. However, copper run has to pay an increased fee to the carrier, and we have to correspondingly add extra fees to our quoted Fair Price. While every circumstance is different, the guidelines we use to determine extra fees are the same as those we used to determine the original Fair Price.
Common examples of changes and events that give rise to extra fees include:
- Waiting in a line-up to get to a dock, even at a first-come, first-served dock;
- Loading or unloading delays;
- Slow paperwork preparation or availability;
- Incomplete or incorrect paperwork, particularly for customs;
- Limited customs broker hours of service;
- Suspicious (to customs) freight descriptions;
- Full or partial border inspection (targeted or random) and/or de-vanning;
- Shipment cancelled;
- Freight not ready to be loaded (e.g., still in production);
- Freight improperly loaded (e.g., spread out, or not stacked);
- Freight not sufficiently secured;
- Last-minute shipment size and/or weight increases (e.g., sold more product);
- Shipment weight incorrectly estimated;
- Shipment overweight (axle or gross) and must be re-worked and/or cut;
- Wrong freight loaded – return and reload required;
- Additional pick-up or delivery location(s) added (e.g., warehouse full);
- Holding freight enroute;
- Trailer demurrage;
- Delivery refused without an appointment;
- Delivery refused;
- Receiving facility inoperative or incapable of receiving.
The guiding principle for assigning responsibility for costs is:
When a customer requests a specific freight transportation service, it is assumed that the customer’s request describes all material aspects of the requested service in full. It is also assumed that the freight and its paperwork will be ready and as-described, and that the shipper and receiver will be available and able to handle the freight at the agreed times. It is the broker’s responsibility to tender a price that will be sufficient, under normal conditions and capacity availabilities, to provide that service, with those service aspects, for the quoted price.
However, if the freight or the service change in such a way that additional costs, including delays and administrative expense, are incurred as a result of the change(s), the responsibility for those additional costs fall to the account of the customer.
In such cases, Copper Run will attempt to mitigate extra costs wherever possible, even if it means calling customers at home on weekends, but even something as simple as omitting an IRS number from a customs form can end up costing hundreds of dollars.