The Physical Economy: A Field Guide  ›  Glossary

Glossary

Accessorial

Any charge beyond base linehaul: detention, layover, liftgate, driver assist, redelivery, lumper fees.

BOL (Bill of Lading)

The legal contract of carriage and receipt for freight; signed at pickup and delivery. The signed delivery copy is the POD.

Broker

Licensed intermediary matching shipper freight with carrier capacity, earning the spread. Requires FMCSA authority and a $75K bond.

Carrier

The company operating trucks. Identified federally by MC and USDOT numbers.

Cross-dock

Facility where freight transfers between trucks with little or no storage.

Detention

Charges for holding a driver beyond free time (typically two hours) at a facility.

Double brokering

Re-brokering a load without authorization — often fraud, where the middle party absconds with freight or payment.

Drayage

Short-haul container moves between ports/rail ramps and warehouses.

Drop trailer

Trailer left at a facility to load/unload on its own schedule, vs. a "live" load where the driver waits.

EDI

Electronic Data Interchange — decades-old standardized B2B messaging still central to freight (204 tender, 214 status, 210 invoice).

ELD

Electronic Logging Device — federally mandated hardware recording driving hours; the data source visibility platforms tap.

Factoring

Selling receivables at a discount for immediate cash; the working-capital bank of small trucking.

FMCSA

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — regulator of carriers and brokers.

LTL / FTL

Less-than-truckload (shared trailer, hub-and-spoke networks) vs. full truckload (one shipper's freight, point to point).

Lumper

Third-party crew paid (usually by the carrier, reimbursed by the shipper) to unload at grocery/retail DCs.

OTIF

On-Time In-Full — the delivery scorecard metric big retailers fine suppliers against.

Owner-operator

A driver who owns their truck; the atomic unit of the fragmented supply side.

POD

Proof of Delivery — the signed BOL that unlocks payment.

Spot vs. contract

One-off market-priced loads vs. pre-negotiated annual lane rates; the two arbitrage each other through the cycle.

Tender / tender rejection

Offering a load to a carrier under contract; rejection rates are the market's tightness gauge.

TMS / WMS / YMS

Transportation, Warehouse, and Yard Management Systems — the software trinity of Chapter 6.

3PL

Third-party logistics provider — outsourced warehousing, transport, and increasingly manufacturing-adjacent services.