TONU — Truck Order Not Used

TONU is the charge assessed when a carrier dispatches a truck for a confirmed load and the load is cancelled, not tendered, or unavailable when the driver arrives. It compensates the carrier for the deadhead miles they drove to the pickup location and the load opportunity they displaced to cover your freight.

What triggers TONU

TONU is triggered by one of three scenarios:

1. Cancellation after dispatch: A shipper cancels a confirmed load after the carrier has dispatched a driver — typically defined as after the carrier has committed the driver to the load and the driver is en route or has departed their previous location toward the pickup.
2. Driver arrives, freight isn't there: The driver arrives at the pickup facility at the scheduled appointment and freight is not available — wrong location, freight not produced, facility closed.
3. Freight doesn't match the booking: The freight that's available at pickup differs materially from what was booked — wrong commodity, significantly different weight, equipment incompatibility that wasn't disclosed at booking.

Cancellations with enough lead time — generally 24 to 48 hours before the pickup window, depending on carrier policy — typically do not trigger TONU. The carrier has time to find alternative freight for the truck.

What the carrier is compensated for

TONU reflects two costs to the carrier:

• Deadhead miles: The driver drove some distance toward the pickup location without freight. Those miles represent fuel, driver hours, and truck wear with no revenue.
• Opportunity cost: The carrier declined other available loads to accept and cover your tender. When the load is cancelled, those alternative loads are gone. The truck must find new freight, potentially at a worse rate or from a worse position.

TONU rates vary by carrier and are typically flat amounts published in the tariff, or a rate-per-mile for the deadhead component plus a flat opportunity charge.

Who pays

The shipper who caused the cancellation or failure pays the TONU. In brokered freight, the broker invoices the shipper; the carrier invoices the broker. The liability flows to whoever failed to produce the load as committed.

TONU is one of the more frequently disputed accessorials because the shipper often believes the cancellation was too early to trigger a charge, while the carrier already had the truck committed. Written communication — confirming when loads are cancelled and when carriers are notified — is the only reliable way to resolve disputes.

How to avoid TONU

• Only tender loads you are confident will ship. Don't tender freight speculatively and cancel when plans change.
• Notify the carrier immediately when plans change. As soon as a load is in doubt — freight not ready, customer cancelled, production issue — notify the carrier. Every hour of earlier notice reduces the chance of TONU.
• Understand the carrier's dispatch timeline. Ask the carrier when they will dispatch the driver for your load. If you know dispatch happens 18 hours before pickup, you know your cancellation window.
• Provide accurate freight information at booking. Freight that arrives at pickup in a different form than booked creates a carrier's right to TONU even if the shipper considers the load "available."

TONU vs. detention

These two accessorials are sometimes confused. Detention is for time a driver waits at a facility where freight is present but processing is slow. TONU is for the situation where the driver arrives and no load exists, or the load was cancelled before the driver could pick it up. The trigger is different: detention is about operational speed; TONU is about load availability.