Freight AR & Collections Outsourcing
Invoices out the same day, payments reconciled line by line, short-pays challenged rather than absorbed — by a dedicated team inside your own systems.
What it is
The cash cycle starts before the invoice goes out.
Freight accounts receivable outsourcing means a dedicated external team prepares and issues your customer invoices, reconciles incoming payments against them, identifies short-pays and unallocated amounts, and runs structured collections follow-up on overdue accounts — working inside your own systems.
Most receivable problems in freight are not collection problems. They start earlier — an invoice held four days waiting on a POD, an accessorial nobody documented at the time, a rate that did not match what the customer had agreed. By the time it reaches collections, the argument has already been lost.
Infinity IPS has run freight receivables for logistics companies since 1998 — currently for 327 clients across four countries.
Invoice preparation
Right the first time, out the same day.
A disputed invoice costs more than a late one. Both start at preparation.
- Rate verified against the customer contract and lane pricing
- Fuel surcharge and accessorial charges applied correctly
- BOL and POD retrieved and attached before issue
- Customer-specific billing format and portal requirements met
- Multi-currency invoicing across trade lanes
- Missing documentation chased rather than waited on
Reconciliation
Short-pays challenged, not absorbed.
A payment that arrives eighty dollars light is easy to let go. Repeated across a year of volume, it stops being easy. Every deduction gets traced to a cause and a decision, rather than quietly closing the invoice.
Payment matching
Applied to the right invoice, every time.
- Invoice-to-payment and load ID matching
- Remittance advice interpretation
- Split and partial settlement tracking
- Unallocated cash investigation
Short-pay recovery
Traced to a cause before it is written off.
- Deduction cause identification
- Rate dispute evidence compilation
- Chargeback and claim tracing
- Escalation where the deduction is unfounded
Aging & reporting
Visibility of what is owed and how old it is.
- AR aging by customer and bucket
- DSO tracking and trend reporting
- Cash application to your ledger
- Bad debt exposure flagging
Collections
A cycle, not a scramble at quarter end.
Collections work when it is routine and unremarkable — a reminder at thirty days before anyone is annoyed, evidence attached when a query comes back, escalation only when it is warranted. Handled under your name, in your tone.
For 3PLs specifically, collections run against per-client rate cards, storage charges billed across periods, and retailer deductions that need tracing to a shipment before they can be challenged — see 3PL back office.
Why it matters
What slow collections actually cost.
Three effects compound, and only the first is obvious.
Cash sits still
Freight is paid out before it is paid in. Fuel, drivers and carrier settlements fall due on their own schedule regardless of whether your customers have paid. Every day of DSO is a day that gap has to be funded from somewhere.
Deductions become permanent
A short-pay that is not challenged within the customer's dispute window stops being recoverable. Absorbed quietly and repeatedly, it turns into a standing discount nobody agreed to.
Old debt gets harder
Recovery rates fall as invoices age, because the people who remember the shipment move on and the supporting documents get harder to locate. A ninety-day invoice is a materially different proposition from a thirty-day one.
By sector
Receivables look different in every part of freight.
Each of these covers the AR scope specific to that business model.
3PL Providers
Per-client billing, storage charges, retailer chargeback tracing.
Trucking Companies
Broker short-pays, factoring submission, detention billing.
Freight Forwarders
Multi-currency invoicing, rate verification against contracts.
NVOCC Operators
Surcharge billing, agent settlement, quoted-rate reconciliation.
Freight Payment Companies
Customer invoicing, short-pay identification, ledger updates.
Custom House Brokers
Brokerage fee and disbursement invoicing, duty advance recovery.
Platform expertise
We already work in the systems you use.
Plus customer billing portals. No migration, and no change to how your customers experience you.
Common questions
Freight receivables, answered.
What is freight accounts receivable outsourcing?
A dedicated external team prepares and issues your customer freight invoices, reconciles incoming payments against them, identifies short-pays and unallocated amounts, and runs structured collections follow-up on overdue accounts — working inside your own systems.
What does poor receivable management actually cost?
Three things compound. Cash is tied up in unpaid invoices while payroll and fuel still fall due. Short-pays get absorbed rather than challenged, so the loss is permanent. And aged debt becomes progressively harder to collect the longer it sits, because the people who remember the shipment move on.
Do you handle collections for 3PLs?
Yes. 3PL collections involve per-client rate cards, storage and handling charges billed across periods, and retailer deductions that need tracing to a specific shipment before they can be challenged. We handle collections against that structure rather than a flat invoice ledger.
How do you handle short-pays?
Every short-pay is identified at reconciliation rather than written off. We trace the deduction to its cause — a rate dispute, a missing document, a chargeback or an accessorial the customer rejected — and either supply the evidence or escalate it, so the decision is deliberate rather than default.
Will you contact our customers directly?
Only if you want us to, and always under your own name and tone. Some clients have us handle the full follow-up cycle; others have us prepare everything and keep customer contact in-house. The escalation point where a matter comes back to you is agreed at the start.
How quickly do invoices go out?
Same day where the documentation is complete. The usual delay is a missing POD or an unconfirmed accessorial, so we chase those as part of the process instead of waiting for the invoice run to surface them.
Do you work inside our existing system?
Yes. Our teams work in CargoWise, Magaya, Descartes, MercuryGate, SAP, Oracle, Blue Yonder and others, posting to QuickBooks, NetSuite and major ERP platforms. There is no migration and your customers see no change.
Aging creeping up, or short-pays you have stopped chasing?
Tell us where your receivables cycle is under pressure and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit — including if we are not.