Freight Cost Recovery
Wholesale distributors typically spend 6 to 14% of revenue on freight. Industry data consistently shows that 3 to 8% of carrier invoices contain billable errors, duplicate charges, misapplied fees, and rate agreement violations that go unchecked because the volume of invoices makes manual review impractical.
The business case for freight diagnostic is straightforward: a distributor shipping $500,000 annually with a 5% error rate is paying $25,000 per year in avoidable freight charges. Most of those errors are disputable and recoverable within the carrier's claim window. Syboost installs the diagnostic process that catches them systematically and files the claims before the window closes.
The accessorial fee and invoice error segments represent the categories with the highest error rates and diagnostic recovery potential. Most businesses have never reviewed these line items systematically.
Every one of these is recoverable when caught within the carrier's dispute window, typically 30 to 180 days depending on the carrier and the type of overcharge. The percentages shown represent overcharge as a percentage of the affected invoice line, not of total freight spend.
Carriers bill for the same shipment twice, or bill for services not rendered. Without systematic invoice diagnostic, these go undetected indefinitely. The volume of freight invoices in a distribution operation makes manual review impractical, which is why automated diagnostic processes catch 3 to 5x more errors than manual review.
Carriers measure dim weight independently and often calculate it differently from your system. The discrepancy almost always favors the carrier. Businesses that do not maintain their own dim weight records for each shipment have no basis for a dispute, which is why carriers rarely correct these errors without a formal claim.
Residential delivery surcharges, liftgate fees, and address correction charges applied to commercial addresses or shipments that do not qualify for the fee. These errors are systematic, if the carrier's system incorrectly classifies your customer as residential, every shipment to that address will be overbilled until the error is corrected.
Carriers apply published tariff rates instead of your negotiated contract rates. This happens most often during system migrations or after carrier account changes. A business that recently switched ERP systems or added a new ship-from location is particularly vulnerable because the new account may not have inherited the contracted rate table.
Fuel surcharge indices that are applied at the wrong rate tier or calculated on the wrong base. Small individually but consistent across every invoice. The correct surcharge index and application method should be documented in your carrier agreement and verified quarterly against actual billing.
Carriers automatically upgrade to premium services and bill accordingly, signature required, priority delivery, and Saturday delivery charges applied without authorization. These charges appear on invoices with no indication that they were not requested, and are routinely paid because the billing team is not empowered to question carrier charges.
A wholesale distributor spending $400,000 annually on freight with a typical carrier mix will see 3 to 5% of invoices contain billable errors. The diagnostic process works in three layers, each of which compounds the recovery:
Invoice Scrub
Every invoice for the prior 12 months is pulled and run against contracted rates, accessorial schedules, and dim weight calculations. Discrepancies are flagged and documented with the specific carrier invoice reference, the contracted rate, the billed rate, and the difference. The scrub typically takes 2 to 3 weeks for a medium-sized distributor.
Carrier Dispute Filing
Each identified error is filed within the dispute window with supporting documentation. Carriers settle valid disputes, recovery is in cash or credit memo, with cash preferred where the carrier agreement allows. The dispute process is systematic: every flagged invoice gets a formal dispute letter, not a phone call.
Forward-Looking Fix
The diagnostic findings inform a carrier contract renegotiation targeting the specific fee categories where errors were concentrated, and a systematic invoice diagnostic process that catches new errors within 30 days rather than 12 months. The goal is to prevent the same dollar from being overpaid twice.
Get Started
Tell us about your business and we will tell you whether there is a recoverable profit opportunity worth pursuing. No pitch. No pressure.
We review your situation before the call
You share your revenue range and biggest challenge. We do homework before we talk.
You get a verbal estimate on the call
We tell you what we would go after first, and what we think is realistically there.
You decide if the engagement makes sense
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