How to read a rate con — and spot a skim
The rate confirmation is the one document that tells the truth about a load. Here's how to read it and catch a dispatcher taking a cut off the top.
(224) 496-4390The rate confirmation — the "rate con" — is the broker's written offer for a load: the lane, the miles, the pickup and delivery windows, and the total the broker pays. It is the only number that matters, and it is the number some dispatchers hide. Learn to read it and you close the door on the single most common way an owner-operator gets quietly shorted.
Read it in this order: lane and miles (does the mileage match the actual route, or is it padded?), total pay (divide it by loaded miles to get your true rate per mile), and the fine print — detention, layover, TONU and lumper terms. A good load pays those; a bad one buries them.
What a rate con actually contains
Every legitimate rate con carries the same core fields, and each one is a number you can check. Before you accept a load, put your eye on all of them:
- Broker and load number — the broker's MC, the reference number, and a contact. If you ever have to chase a payment, this is where it starts.
- Origin, destination and stops — the physical lane. Cross-check it against a real mileage tool; a route quoted at 1,150 miles that actually runs 980 changes your rate per mile more than most drivers realize.
- Pickup and delivery windows — appointment times, and whether delivery is a hard appointment or first-come, first-served. This dictates whether you can legally make it on your hours.
- Linehaul rate — the base pay for moving the freight. Sometimes a fuel surcharge is broken out separately; add them together to get the real total.
- Accessorials — detention, layover, TONU and lumper terms, spelled out in dollars and conditions.
- Total pay — the number the broker commits to in writing. This is the figure a skimming dispatcher wants you never to see.
Run the numbers: a worked example
Say a broker sends a rate con with a $3,000 linehaul on a run with 1,000 loaded miles and 120 miles of deadhead to reach the pickup. Two quick divisions tell you almost everything:
- Loaded rate per mile: $3,000 ÷ 1,000 = $3.00/mi
- All-in rate per mile (including deadhead): $3,000 ÷ 1,120 = $2.68/mi
Now compare the honest document against what a skim looks like. Same load, same broker, two very different stories:
| Line item | Broker's real rate con | What the dispatcher told you |
| Linehaul | $3,000 | $2,600 |
| Loaded miles | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Your rate per mile | $3.00 | $2.60 |
| Detention terms | $50/hr after 2 hrs | not mentioned |
| Gap in your pocket | — | $400 skimmed |
That $400 sits on top of the dispatcher's agreed percentage. On a single load it's a bad week; run it fifty times a year and it's a truck payment gone. The math only works in the skimmer's favor because you never saw the top line.
The skim — and how to catch it
Here is the skim in plain terms: a dishonest dispatcher gets a rate con for, say, $3,000, then tells you the load pays $2,600 and pockets the $400 on top of their percentage. The fix is simple — ask to see the broker's rate con, unedited, every time. If they won't show it, that's your answer.
Catching it isn't complicated, but it has to be a habit. Every load, before the wheels turn:
- Ask for the original rate con as the broker issued it — a PDF, not a screenshot or a retyped number. A retyped "summary" is where edits hide.
- Check the broker's name and MC on the document, then confirm the total pay matches what you were told, to the dollar.
- Recompute the miles in your own mileage tool. Padded miles inflate a rate per mile that looks fine but isn't.
- Read the accessorial lines — detention, layover, TONU, lumper — so you know what you're owed when a shipper holds you up.
- Keep the PDF. When you invoice, or if a payment goes sideways, the rate con is your proof — not a text message.
Accessorials: the money hidden in the fine print
The linehaul is the headline, but the fine print is where a load quietly turns profitable or painful. These terms are industry-standard; the exact dollars vary by broker and lane, so read them every time rather than assuming:
A good load pays these; a bad one buries them. Reading the fine print is the difference between a rate you agreed to and a rate you found out about later.
At Fortuna Trucks you see the real rate con on every load. What the broker paid is what you see — the full document, unedited, with the accessorial terms intact. No markup, no skim. If a dispatcher ever hesitates to put that document in front of you, you already know everything you need to.
- Detention — pay for time a shipper or receiver holds you past the free window, commonly two hours. Rates often land around $25–$75 per hour. No detention line means you eat that time for free.
- Layover — when you're held overnight, frequently $150–$300 per day. On a load that strands you, this can matter more than the linehaul.
- TONU — "Truck Ordered Not Used," paid when you show up and the load falls through, often a flat $150–$250. It doesn't make you whole, but a rate con that omits it leaves you with nothing.
- Lumper — the fee for third-party loading or unloading. It should be reimbursed against a receipt; confirm the rate con says so before you pay one out of pocket.