The Rate Confirmation (Rate Con), Explained

The rate confirmation — the “rate con” — is the document that locks in the price and terms of a single load between a broker and a carrier. It is short, it is routine, and it is the most consequential PDF in freight: once it’s signed, it’s a binding contract.

Every load a broker tenders to a carrier rides on one. The carrier reviews it, signs it, and the truck rolls. Because it’s so routine, it gets skimmed — and that is exactly where margin quietly disappears, because the terms that decide whether a load makes money are buried in the fine print, not the rate at the top.

Is a rate confirmation legally binding?

Yes. Once signed, the rate con is an enforceable agreement covering the rate, the lane, the appointment windows, and the accessorial terms. It works alongside the broker-carrier master agreement — the master governs the ongoing relationship; the rate con governs this specific load. If the two ever conflict, that’s a dispute waiting to happen, which is why the terms on the rate con should never contradict the master.

What every field actually means

• Load / reference number.The broker’s ID for this load. It travels on every document and every status update; it’s how the load is tracked from intake to settlement.
• Lane. Origin and destination, with the appointment windows. The window matters as much as the city — a tight delivery appointment changes everything about how the load has to be run.
• Commodity and weight.What’s on the trailer and how heavy. This drives equipment, permits, and whether the quoted rate was even realistic.
• Rate. The line haul, plus any agreed accessorials called out separately. The headline number is the easy part to read and the least likely to surprise you.
• Accessorial terms. Detention, layover, lumper fees, driver assist, TONU (truck ordered not used). This is the section that decides profitability, and the section most often skimmed.

The line items that quietly decide profit

Detention

How much free time the truck gets at the dock, and the hourly rate after that. If the rate con says “two hours free, $50/hour after,” that’s your entire claim if the shipper holds the truck — and you can only collect it if you captured the timestamps. See detention, and how to get paid for it.

Lumper and driver assist

Who pays to load or unload. A lumper fee the carrier fronts and the rate con doesn’t cover is margin straight out of the load. Confirm reimbursement terms before the truck arrives, not after.

TONU

What the carrier gets if the load cancels after the truck is committed. A rate con with no TONU clause means a cancelled load can cost the carrier a dispatched truck and an empty day, with nothing to bill.

Rate con vs. BOL

These get conflated, but they’re different documents serving different parties. The rate confirmation is the commercial agreement between broker and carrier — what the carrier gets paid and under what terms. The bill of lading (BOL) is the shipping document that travels with the freight: the receipt for the goods and the contract of carriage between shipper and carrier. The rate con is about money; the BOL is about the cargo.

What to check before you sign

• The rate matches what was agreed on the phone — including any verbal accessorials.
• The pickup and delivery appointments are achievable for the assigned truck.
• The commodity and weight are correct and legal for the equipment.
• Detention, layover, and lumper terms are written down, not assumed.
• The remittance details match the carrier’s file and haven’t quietly changed.

That last check is also a fraud check. A request to change remittance details after booking is one of the warning signs of double brokering.

Why intake is where it should be caught

Every one of these checks happens at intake — the moment the rate con becomes a working load. Done by hand, under time pressure, the accessorial terms get skimmed. The point of a good TMS is to read the rate con into structured fields so nothing gets missed, and to surface the terms that decide whether the load is worth running.