Shipping Charge Correction

Published July 15, 2020

A shipping charge correction (also called a billing adjustment or freight bill correction) is a post-delivery change to a carrier invoice — adjusting the original shipping charge upward when the carrier determines that the package was heavier, larger, or differently classified than the shipper declared at the time of label creation. Both UPS and FedEx audit packages at their facilities and issue shipping charge corrections when discrepancies are found.

Common Causes of Shipping Charge Corrections

• Weight discrepancy: The carrier’s scale shows a higher weight than the shipper declared on the label.
• Dimensional weight: The carrier measures the package and finds that dimensional weight exceeds declared weight — the billing is corrected to the higher dimensional weight.
• Address reclassification: Delivery address is classified as residential when the shipper declared commercial — the residential surcharge is added.
• Oversize reclassification: Package is measured and found to exceed large package thresholds — oversize surcharge is added.

Auditing and Disputing Corrections

Shipping charge corrections are one of the most common sources of freight billing errors. Some corrections are legitimate; others are carrier measurement errors. A freight audit process that cross-references each correction against the shipper’s actual package weights and dimensions identifies erroneous corrections eligible for dispute. Industry data suggests a meaningful percentage of shipping charge corrections contain errors, particularly for high-volume shippers.