Carrier contracts, explained.

How a carrier agreement is built

A typical agreement layers a base discount on published rates, then adds service-level discounts, accessorial pricing, minimum charges, earned-discount tiers, and dimensional terms. The headline discount is the part shippers focus on, but the rest is where most of the money hides.

What's actually negotiable

• Base and service-level discounts by zone and weight.
• Accessorial caps, waivers, and discounts.
• Minimum charges and dimensional divisors.
• Earned-discount thresholds tied to your volume.

The GRI resets it every year

The annual General Rate Increase raises published rates and surcharges, often by more than the headline percentage. Without modeling, your effective increase is invisible until the higher invoices arrive, by which point the leverage to renegotiate has narrowed.

How to win the negotiation

Leverage comes from data: knowing your real spend by term, what fair looks like at your volume, and which levers carry the most dollars. That is what turns a negotiation from gut feel into a quantified ask.