Universal Traffic Service is seeing a spike in invoices for Truck Ordered Not Used (TONU). This is a fee a carrier charges when a shipper requests a pickup but then does not have freight ready when the truck arrives.

We investigate every TONU to verify that (1) someone requested a pickup, (2) a truck came to make the pickup, and (3) no freight was picked up. We are finding that a significant number of these TONU invoices are not valid, meaning at least one of these three conditions did not occur.

If you see a TONU charge in your shipping records, but UTS has not yet invoiced you, it means we are in the process of investigating its validity. Please be aware that our investigation can take 2-3 weeks because:

• Carriers often invoice a TONU several days after it allegedly happened
• It can take us several days to investigate every aspect of the event (especially when the shipper contacted the carrier directly, rather than through UTS)
• Carriers are slow to reverse a TONU charge we can prove is invalid

A TONU charge ranges from $50 to $100 depending on the carrier. Over the past few months, UTS has reversed more than $10,000 in invalid TONU charges. You can rest assured that our audit specialists are removing these – and all other invalid charges – on your behalf.