Accessorial charges in LTL are often treated as an afterthought until they show up on an invoice. When that happens, the opportunity to control them is already gone. These supplemental services can quietly add significant cost to a shipment, especially when they are missed, mislabeled, or misunderstood. And because accessorial rules and pricing vary by carrier, they remain one of the most misunderstood and expensive parts of LTL transportation.
Understanding accessorials, and managing them correctly, is critical not only to controlling costs but also to ensuring you are not leaving money on the table.
Accessorials are additional services outside of standard dock to dock LTL transportation. They generally fall into two categories: location based requirements and freight specific characteristics.
Liftgate service
Residential pickup or delivery
Limited access locations such as schools, construction sites, and military bases
Inside pickup or delivery
Appointment requirements
Excessive length or weight
Overlength freight
Hazmat handling
These services require extra time, equipment, labor, or added risk for the carrier, so they come with additional charges. The challenge is that many of these conditions are not obvious at the time of booking. And when they are missed, they rarely stay hidden for long. The costs do not disappear. They show up later.
One of the most common and costly issues in LTL shipping is failing to correctly identify accessorials at the time of tender.In short, missing accessorials does not eliminate the cost. It only removes your ability to control it.
Rebilling and Post Audit Charges
Carriers apply the accessorial after delivery, often at higher, non discounted rates.
Invoice Discrepancies
Unexpected charges trigger invoice disputes, payment delays, and additional administrative work.
Higher Effective Transportation Cost
A shipment that appeared competitive at booking can quickly become one of the most expensive loads once accessorials are added back in.
Damaged Carrier Relationships
Frequent rebills and disputes create friction with carriers and reduce pricing leverage over time.
A critical but often overlooked detail is that not all Tariff 100s are the same. While many LTL carriers reference Tariff 100 or a variation of it, each carrier defines and prices accessorials differently. A liftgate delivery that carries a modest flat charge with one carrier may be priced higher, capped differently, or bundled with other services by another.
The same service can vary widely in cost by carrier
One carrier may bundle certain services while another breaks them out
Definitions of limited access locations may differ
Minimum charges and caps may not align
Assuming accessorials are standardized across carriers is a costly mistake. Without understanding each carrier’s tariff, it is impossible to accurately compare rates or forecast true shipment cost.
Accessorials do not only represent added cost. They also represent missed revenue recovery when they are not properly identified.
Failing to capture accessorials upfront can mean absorbing costs that should be passed through
Incorrect classifications can understate true shipping cost in pricing and cost to serve models
Missed accessorials distort margin reporting and lane level profitability analysis
Over time, this leads to underpriced freight, inaccurate cost to serve metrics, and gradual erosion of margins, often without being obvious on the surface.
As LTL carriers continue to tighten margins, accessorial enforcement has become more aggressive. Carriers are investing heavily in reweighs, dimensioning, and audits, making it far less likely that a missed accessorial will go unnoticed.
Higher post delivery charges
Increased audit workload
Reduced rate predictability
Lower confidence in transportation data
Accessorials are not extra fees. They are a fundamental part of LTL shipping economics. Mislabeling them, misunderstanding them, or ignoring carrier specific tariff differences can quickly turn competitive freight rates into budget overruns.
At the same time, failing to identify and capture accessorials correctly means leaving money on the table, either through absorbed costs or under recovered revenue.
The most successful LTL shippers treat accessorials with the same level of discipline as base rates: defined, documented, validated, and reviewed regularly. A periodic review of how accessorials are identified at the dock, entered at booking, and validated against carrier tariffs is often where meaningful cost control and margin protection begin.