Having a good working relationship with your carriers is vital. For instance, a shipper starts routing freight to a new destination. After the first invoices are received, questions arise about the rate being billed. The shipper may reach out to their carrier contact and request a reduced contract rate to be put into effect for this destination. A contract is established, and invoices start coming in at the new, lower rate. Great! But what about the open invoices already issued with the more expensive rate? On occasion, the carrier will let shippers apply the new contract rate retroactively to the day that shipment started moving to the new location.
Besides the issue of shipping to a new destination, another problem may involve having an existing contract rate expire before a renewal can be negotiated. The lag time between can mean higher costs. If the carrier will not agree to an extension of the expired contract rates, a good carrier relationship may allow a compromise of applying the updated rate on the invoices that were billed between effective contracts.
Shippers must note that carrier tariffs may include rules stating that rates may not be backdated. However, we know that sometimes there are exceptions to the rules. A great relationship with your carrier can make these conversations possible. AMTR is well versed in applying these exception rates to past invoices and we would like to help you receive these savings.
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