How do you verify carrier quotes don't have hidden charges that eat your margin?
How do you verify that carrier quotes don't have hidden charges that eat your margin?
I've spent 10 years as a freight forwarder, and I keep seeing the same pattern:
1. Carrier sends a PDF quote with 8-10 line items
2. Sales rep copies "Total" into client quote
3. Three weeks later, a $400 DTHC or emission surcharge appears that wasn't in the original quote
4. Client refuses to pay, forwarder eats the cost
Last year alone, I caught $12K in "surprise" charges that would've killed my margins on CIF and DDP shipments. But I caught them by manually checking every PDF line-by-line against the incoterm rules.
My question for the community:
- Do you have a systematic way to verify what's actually INCLUDED vs EXCLUDED in your carrier quotes before you send client quotes?
- Or is it still Excel + eyeball + hope?
- Has anyone built/bought a tool for this, or is everyone just eating the occasional surprise charge?
Not selling anything — genuinely trying to understand if this is a "me problem" or an "industry problem" before I spend time building a solution.
Specifically curious about:
1. DDP quotes — how do you verify duty rates and delivery costs before quoting?
2. USA/Canada CIF — Do you assume DTHC is included or excluded? Carrier billing practices seem inconsistent.
3. Mixed currencies (USD ocean freight + EUR surcharges) — do you convert manually or use a tool?