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.
Last updated 11 October 2026.
It arrives by EDI, by email, or as a PDF. The shipper is saying: here is the freight, here is when it picks up, here is what we will pay, do you want it. Accepting it creates the work. Declining it sends the freight to someone else. Sitting on it until the pickup window is gone is a decline you did not mean to make.
A tender is not yet a load. Someone has to read the stops, the dates, the commodity, the weight, and the rate, and create the record your desk will cover. Re-keying that from a PDF is where reference numbers get transposed and appointments land on the wrong day. The build is finished when the load matches the tender the shipper sent.
Not every tender should be accepted. A rate below the contract, a lane you did not award, or a pickup that is already late is a tender to read, not a tender to build without looking. Check it against what you committed to that customer. If it matches, build it. If it does not, a person decides.
FreightScout reads EDI, email, and PDF tenders, checks them against what you committed, and builds the load when the tender matches. You approve the write. A tender that does not match waits. How FreightScout builds a load from a tender.
Questions people actually ask
Is a load tender already a load in the TMS?
Not yet. The tender is the offer. The load is the record after you accept and build it. The build is finished when that record matches what the shipper sent.
Should every tender get built?
No. A rate below the contract, a lane you did not award, or a pickup that is already late waits for a person. FreightScout builds the ones that match what you committed.