Skip to content
The Shipper’s AlmanacA source of truth for shippers

Vol. 1 · A library for shippers

The shipper’s side of the tariff.

Carriers wrote the rules after deregulation. This is the other set of books: how freight should be bought, audited, allocated, and explained to a CFO.

Edited by Rob Balawender

Start here

If you answer to the CFO

Where freight hides in the books.

  1. 1.GL allocationAccounting drops freight in a bucket. Sales gives it away to close. Accruals and actuals rarely meet.
  2. 2.AccrualsYou carry the liability when it ships. Open inbound lands cheaper than reality.
  3. 3.Profit acceleratorA saving you keep is margin. A saving you give away — or cannot defend — is not.

If you buy the freight

Who wrote the price, and who pays it.

  1. 1.Tariff optimizationA tariff and rate basis written from the shipper’s side.
  2. 2.Inbound termsPrepaid is not free. PPA can be more expensive. Purchasing and transportation disconnect.
  3. 3.AuditMatching a freight bill to agreed, signed contractual agreements.

If you’re new to the argument

The flagship: how the rules got written.

→How shippers get takenWho wrote the prices, the hidden cost, and why a TMS does not close the books.→The full catalogEvery value lever, grouped the way a C-suite thinks.

The shelves

Open a drawer.

  1. MoneyGL allocation · Accruals · Audit15 cards
  2. Buying freightTariff optimization · Volume procurement · Rate automation10 cards
  3. InboundInbound terms · Inbound management · Inbound view5 cards
  4. OpsStreamline efficiencies · Shipment routing · Automate routes12 cards
  5. The organizationInsourcing · Start with the books you have · Knowledge that outlives a person3 cards
  6. How shippers get takenNot a shelf. The flagship argument — who wrote the prices.Stack

46 cards in the catalog. See all of them · Gazetteer, A–Z.

For the dock and the director

Same load. Three numbers.

Why the meeting dies

Ops
On-time. Lanes. “We’re under budget.”
AP
Whatever showed up in the mail this week.
Purchasing
Unit cost. Inbound is the vendor’s problem.

A transportation manager sees one shipment. The building sees three stories. Take the picture upstairs, not a carrier pitch.

The Almanac

Start with the money

  1. 01

    GL allocation

    essay

    Accounting drops freight in a bucket. Sales gives it away to close. Accruals and actuals rarely meet.

  2. 02

    Accruals

    essay

    You carry the liability when it ships. Open inbound lands cheaper than reality.

  3. 03

    Single payable

    essay

    A midsize shipper does not have just a freight problem. Disputes die in email; tolerances become SOP.

  4. 04

    Inbound terms

    essay

    Prepaid is not free. PPA can be more expensive. Purchasing and transportation disconnect.

  5. 05

    Profit accelerator

    essay

    A saving you keep is margin. A saving you give away — or cannot defend — is not.

The money shelf · Full catalog

About the editor

Rob Balawender, editor

The Almanac is edited by Rob Balawender and written for people who sign for freight. It is free and education-first: the shipper’s side of the tariff, in plain language, for anyone who has to explain freight to a CFO.

Published in alliance with Elite Logistics — shipper-side freight advisory.

When you want numbers of your own: the diagnostic. If you go further: the working relationship.

Search the Almanac

Search the catalog