Stop-Off Charge

A stop-off charge is an accessorial applied when a shipment includes intermediate stops between the origin and final destination. A standard FTL shipment involves one pickup and one delivery. When the shipper needs the carrier to make additional stops – picking up freight from a second warehouse, delivering partial loads to multiple customers, or both – each extra stop incurs a fee. Stop-off charges typically range from $50 to $300 per stop depending on the carrier, distance between stops, and any additional services required at each location.

Multi-stop shipments are common in food distribution, retail replenishment, and CPG logistics where a single truck serves multiple delivery points along a route. The stop-off model can be cost-effective compared to shipping separate loads to each destination, but it adds complexity: each stop introduces potential delays, appointment coordination requirements, and partial-load handling. The carrier is compensated for the additional dock time, mileage deviation, and the risk that a delay at one stop cascades into late deliveries at subsequent stops.

From a planning perspective, stop-off shipments require careful sequencing. The order of stops affects total mileage, delivery-window compliance, and driver hours-of-service. Poor sequencing can turn a cost-saving consolidation into an expensive mess of missed appointments and detention charges. Shippers also need to ensure that BOLs, delivery instructions, and freight quantities are clearly separated by stop – mixed documentation at multi-stop deliveries is a common source of overages, shortages, and damages claims.

When managed well, multi-stop routing is one of the most effective ways to reduce per-unit freight cost and truck count. The key is matching the right loads to the right routes and giving carriers clear, accurate stop-level detail at the time of tendering.