TONU, layover and lumper: what the rate confirmation has to say

No federal rule makes a broker pay you any of these three charges. Each one is paid because your rate confirmation, or the carrier agreement it refers to, names it — and only in the way that document describes.

Four questions for every extra charge

Whatever the charge is called, the rate confirmation answers the same four questions, or the charge is weak:

• How much. A dollar amount, per day or per load. “Per shipper policy” or “to be discussed” is not an amount.
• What triggers it. The exact event that makes it owed, and from what moment.
• What proof. The document, timestamp or receipt that has to come with the claim.
• By when. How long after the event you have to ask, or send the paper.

TONU — truck ordered, not used

TONU is paid when the load is cancelled after you were dispatched for it. The rate confirmation decides from which moment it counts: from dispatch, from arrival at the shipper, or only once you have checked in. A load cancelled the evening before may owe you nothing if the clause starts at arrival.

Before you sign, find the TONU amount, the moment it starts, and what proves you were there: a check-in record, a timestamped photo at the gate, or the broker’s own message cancelling the load. Keep that message — a cancellation in writing is the cleanest proof you will get.

Layover — held over to the next day

Layover is paid when the shipper or receiver cannot load or unload you the same day and you are held over. Rate confirmations handle it very differently: some pay per day, some start it only after a number of hours, and some say layover replaces detention once it begins, so you are not paid both for the same hours.

Read that line yourself and look for three things: when layover starts, whether it replaces detention, and whether the broker has to approve it in writing before it counts.

Lumper — paying someone else to unload

A lumper is a third party that unloads at the dock and charges for it. The question is who pays and how the money comes back. Some brokers pay the lumper directly with a payment code. Others expect you to pay and reimburse you later — usually only against the lumper receipt, and only if you send it on time.

Federal law has one rule here: if a shipper or receiver requires that you be helped with loading or unloading, it must provide that help or pay its cost, and coercing a driver to pay for it is unlawful (49 U.S.C. § 14103). In practice, how and when you get your money back is still settled by your rate confirmation.

What our reader finds for you

Paste the rate confirmation or open the PDF, and the reader pulls out the TONU clause and the lumper terms, and flags a lumper that is at the carrier’s expense — along with detention pay, free hours, late fees and payment terms. Each finding is quoted from your own document. The document is read in your browser and is not uploaded. The reader does not pull out layover as a separate line, so read that one yourself.

Free, no account. Set your own cost per mile first in the cost per mile calculator — it tells you what each mile of your truck really costs.