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Freight operations glossary

FreightScout's glossary is a set of short definitions for the words on a brokerage floor. Each page starts with one sentence, then explains how the desk uses the term.

Last updated 11 October 2026.

These pages are for someone who needs the meaning before they buy software. They are not a ranking of tools. Where a fact comes from FMCSA, the page says so and links the FMCSA page. The product link on each term is the FreightScout page for that job.

• Check call. A check call is the status call a brokerage makes to the carrier or driver while a load is moving, usually at pickup, in transit, and at delivery.
• Rate confirmation. A rate confirmation is the written record of the rate, the lane, and the terms a broker and a carrier agreed to for one load.
• POD. A POD, or proof of delivery, is the document that shows the freight was delivered, usually signed by the receiver.
• TONU. A TONU, or truck ordered not used, is the fee a carrier bills when a truck was dispatched and the load is then cancelled or never tendered.
• Detention. Detention is the charge for the time a truck waits at a shipper or receiver past the free time written on the rate confirmation.
• Layover. A layover is the charge when a driver is held overnight, or into the next day, because the shipper or receiver is not ready for the truck.
• Lumper. A lumper is the person or service hired to load or unload freight at a dock, and the lumper fee is what that work costs.
• Double brokering. Double brokering is when a carrier or broker that accepted a load gives it to someone else to haul without the shipper's or the original broker's consent.
• MC number. An MC number is the docket number FMCSA assigns when it grants operating authority, including broker authority and for-hire carrier authority.
• USDOT number. A USDOT number is the identifier FMCSA assigns to a company that operates commercial motor vehicles, and it is the number the company's registration record hangs on.
• Broker bond (BMC-84). A broker bond, filed on form BMC-84, is the surety bond FMCSA requires before it will grant property-broker authority.
• Spot quote. A spot quote is a price for one load, or a short run of loads, offered now rather than under a standing contract.
• Contract rate. A contract rate is a price a broker and a shipper agree to hold for a lane over a period, instead of pricing each load from scratch.
• Load tender. A load tender is the shipper's offer of a load, with the stops, the dates, the freight, and the rate, sent for a broker to accept or decline.
• Tender acceptance. Tender acceptance is the broker's yes to a load tender, which turns the offer into freight the desk has to cover and move.
• Carrier packet. A carrier packet is the set of documents a brokerage collects before it will tender freight to a carrier, usually authority, insurance, and a signed agreement.
• Factoring. Factoring is when a carrier sells its unpaid invoices to a factoring company for cash now, and the factor then collects from the broker.
• Quick pay. Quick pay is a broker's offer to pay a carrier in a few days instead of the standard term, usually for a fee taken off the rate.
• Deadhead. Deadhead is the miles a truck runs empty, usually on the way to a pickup or back from a delivery with no freight in the trailer.
• Backhaul. A backhaul is a load that fills the truck on the return leg so the carrier is not deadheading home empty.
• Drop trailer. A drop trailer is a trailer left at a shipper or receiver for loading or unloading, so the driver can leave and come back when it is ready.
• Accessorial. An accessorial is a charge on top of the linehaul rate for extra work or extra time, such as detention, a layover, a lumper, or a reweigh.
• BOL. A BOL, or bill of lading, is the shipping document that lists the freight, the parties, and the terms, and that travels with the load.
• Freight claim. A freight claim is a demand for payment when freight is lost, damaged, or short, filed against the carrier that had the load.
• Carrier vetting. Carrier vetting is the check, before a truck is booked, that the carrier's authority is active, the insurance fits the load, and the company you are talking to is the company on the record.

Questions people actually ask

Who are these glossary pages for?

A broker who wants the floor meaning of a term, in a few short paragraphs, before opening a product page. Each term links to the FreightScout page for that job.

Are these regulatory filings?

No. The broker bond page cites FMCSA's insurance filing chart for the seventy-five thousand dollar BMC-84. The other pages are operating definitions. FreightScout is not a broker and it does not file your authority.