Extract data from rate confirmations
A rate confirmation is the one-page deal sheet a freight broker sends a trucking carrier to lock a load before it moves. In United States truckload freight a broker posts a lane on a board such as DAT, a carrier calls to cover it, and the two agree a spot rate; the rate confirmation, sometimes called a carrier confirmation, is the paper that binds it. It names the broker and the carrier, the carrier Standard Carrier Alpha Code and MC number, the origin and destination, the pickup and delivery appointments, and the money: a linehaul rate, a fuel surcharge, any accessorials such as detention or a lumper fee, and the all-in total the carrier will invoice. A broker covering 60 loads a day sends 60 of these, each to a different carrier, each a separate agreement.
The money is split across lines and the format is whatever the broker TMS prints. A confirmed load might read a $2,450 linehaul plus a $312 fuel surcharge plus $150 detention after two free hours, and the carrier settlement team has to reconcile that against the invoice and the proof of delivery weeks later. Accessorials appear as their own rows with conditions attached, the SCAC and the MC number identify the carrier for compliance, and the payment terms, whether quick-pay at a 2 percent fee or net 30, decide the cash. Because no standard governs the layout, one broker labels the total All-In and another calls it Total Rate, and the appointment times sit in prose next to the stop addresses.
Hand the rate confirmation to Talonic and the broker and carrier, the SCAC and account references, the origin-destination lane, and the full charge breakdown come back as typed fields: the linehaul rate, the fuel surcharge, each accessorial with its condition, and the total, all in one currency. Pickup and delivery appointments are parsed to dates, the service type is read as truckload or LTL, and the sum of the charge lines is checked against the stated total. A rate confirmation issued 2026-04-18 for a Chicago to Dallas dry van, a $2,912 all-in rate in USD with a 2026-04-19 pickup for Prairie Line Trucking, loads into a carrier settlement system so the payable can be matched to the load rather than typed from a PDF.
What gets extracted from rate confirmations
How extraction works for rate confirmations
Rate confirmations are printed by broker transportation management systems such as McLeod, Turvo, and Aljex, and because no standard governs the form, the same charge appears under a different label on every one. Talonic classifies the document and maps it to the freight-rate model in the Field Registry, which separates the carrier and broker parties, the origin-destination lane, and the charge breakdown into distinct fields. The Standard Carrier Alpha Code and MC number are read for the carrier, the linehaul rate, the fuel surcharge, and each accessorial are typed as numbers with their conditions, and the sum is reconciled against the stated total so an all-in figure that does not add up is flagged. Pickup and delivery appointment windows are parsed to dates. Each value returns with a confidence score and a pixel-region pointer conforming to DIN SPEC 91491, so a carrier settlement clerk can verify a fuel surcharge or a detention charge against the confirmation before it is paid.
Sample extraction
A truckload rate confirmation, Chicago to Dallas
{
"document_number": "RC-2026-04-3390",
"document_date": "2026-04-18",
"supplier.name": "Prairie Line Trucking LLC",
"supplier.identifier": "PLTX / MC-882145",
"buyer.name": "Meridian Logistics Brokerage",
"origin_location.city": "Chicago",
"origin_location.state_province": "IL",
"destination_location.city": "Dallas",
"destination_location.state_province": "TX",
"service_type": "TL",
"currency": "USD",
"rate_amount": 2450,
"total_amount": 2912,
"payment_terms": "Net 30, or 2% quick-pay",
"surcharges": [
{
"surcharge_type": "fuel_surcharge",
"surcharge_amount": 312,
"surcharge_unit": "per_shipment"
},
{
"surcharge_type": "detention",
"surcharge_amount": 150,
"applicable_conditions": "After 2 free hours at delivery"
}
]
}Frequently asked
What is a rate confirmation used for?
It is the agreement a freight broker sends a carrier to lock a load and its price before the truck moves. It comes before the freight invoice the carrier issues after delivery, and Talonic reads both on their own schemas.
What is a lumper fee, and how does it appear on a rate confirmation?
A lumper fee pays a third-party crew to unload the trailer at a receiver, common in grocery and retail distribution. On the rate confirmation it sits with the accessorials rather than in the linehaul, so a $150 lumper is typed as its own number and reconciled against the all-in total the carrier will invoice.
What is a SCAC code, and where is it on a rate confirmation?
The Standard Carrier Alpha Code is the two to four letter code that identifies a motor carrier, issued by the NMFTA. On a rate confirmation it sits beside the carrier name with the MC number, and both are read so a settlement team can match the confirmation to the right carrier record.
What is detention, and when can a carrier bill it?
Detention pays the carrier for time held at a shipper or receiver beyond the free hours the confirmation states, often two. The free time, the hourly rate and any cap are read as separate values, so $150 of detention after two free hours is checked against what was agreed rather than accepted on the invoice.
There is no standard format for a rate con, does that matter?
No. Talonic reads the document by the role each value plays, the parties, the lane, and the charges, rather than by a fixed template, so a McLeod print and a Turvo print are read the same way. The linehaul rate, the fuel surcharge and each accessorial are typed as their own numbers, so a $2,450 linehaul, a $312 fuel surcharge and $150 detention reconcile against the stated all-in total.
What fields are extracted from rate confirmations?
Talonic returns rate confirmations as schema-validated, typed fields. Common fields include Confirmation Number, Issue Date, Carrier, SCAC / MC Number, and more, each normalized (dates to ISO 8601, amounts as numbers) and mapped to a stable key so the output shape stays the same across layouts.
How accurate is extraction from rate confirmations, and how is confidence reported?
Every extracted cell carries a confidence score from 0.0 to 1.0 and a provenance pointer back to the source page and region, so low-confidence values can be reviewed against the original before the data is trusted downstream. There is no single accuracy number: confidence is reported per field so you can gate on it.
Can I use rate confirmations extraction in production?
Yes. The same engine behind this guide is available as a production REST API and Node SDK with sync, async, and streaming modes, schema versioning, signed webhooks, and EU-resident processing. Start free with an API key, then scale on usage-based pricing.
What does it cost to extract data from rate confirmations?
There is a free tier for prototyping and agent evaluation with no credit card. Paid usage is credit-based at 1,000 credits per euro: page ingestion is 100 credits per page and registry-resolved queries are free. See talonic.com/pricing for current rates.
Ready to extract from your own rate confirmations?
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- DIN SPEC 91491 co-author
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Author note
Reviewed by Talonic engineering · last reviewed 2026-07-07