How a lumping agency writes a quote a facility can say yes to

Half of all bad quotes come from answering a question the facility did not ask. Before any number goes on paper, get five things in writing, even if the writing is just your own notes read back over the phone.

• Trailer or container volume, stated as a range, per shift and per week, with the peak named separately from the average.
• Load condition: palletized, floor-loaded, mixed SKU, slip-sheeted, and the rough split between them.
• Which Lumper Services are in scope. Trailer & Container Unloading (Devanning) alone is a different price from unloading plus Sorting & Segregation plus Palletizing, Restacking & Wrapping.
• Shift windows and days, including whether weekends are in play.
• Who supplies equipment, and who directs the work.

Then open the quote by repeating those five back. A facility reading its own operation described accurately in the first paragraph has already decided you were listening. A facility reading generic boilerplate has already decided you were not.

A single number invites a single comparison, and that comparison is price. A structure invites a conversation about work, which is a conversation you can win.

Three structures cover most engagements. Per trailer with tiers by pallet or case count fits inbound that is consistent enough to bracket. Hourly per worker with a minimum call fits variable or unpredictable work, and fits Rework and Returns & Salvage Processing where the finish line is not a number of pallets. A standing shift or weekly rate fits Dedicated On-Site Crews, where the facility is buying presence and a fill guarantee rather than a count of trailers.

Say which structure you are proposing and say why, in one sentence, in the facility's terms. "Your inbound runs eleven to nineteen trailers a shift, so a per trailer tier keeps your cost tracking your volume instead of paying for idle hours in the slow weeks." That sentence is worth more than a discount.

If the facility asked for a per-trailer number and the work genuinely does not support one, say so and quote both. Quoting an unsustainable per-trailer rate you will renegotiate in six weeks costs you the account later and your reputation in the metro permanently.

Every quote rests on assumptions. The only question is whether they are written down before the work starts or discovered at the door with a driver waiting.

Put them in their own short section, in plain language, and keep it to the ones that actually change your cost:

• Pallets supplied by the facility, or supplied by us and billed.
• Forklifts, pallet jacks, and dock plates supplied and maintained by the facility, in working order at shift start.
• Freight is accessible when the door opens. A trailer that must be unloaded around another shipper's freight is priced as an exception.
• Load condition as described above. Trailers materially outside that description trigger the restacking adder.
• Break and meal periods per applicable law, included in the shift, not billed on top.

A facility manager who has been burned once by a surprise will read this section before the rate. Write it for that person.

Adders are not where you hide margin. They are where you protect yourself from work you did not price, and they only do that if the trigger is objective.

Bad adder: "restacking billed as required." Who decides required, and when?

Good adder: "Trailers arriving floor-loaded or with pallets exceeding the agreed height spec are billed at the restack rate, identified at the door by the crew lead, photographed, and reported on the shift sheet the same day."

That version survives a dispute because it names who decides, what evidence exists, and when the facility hears about it. Do the same for freezer differential on Refrigerated / Freezer Dock Work, for after-hours and holiday rates, for wait time when a scheduled trailer does not appear, and for the minimum call on On-Demand / Overflow dispatch.

Keep the list short. Five adders a manager can remember beat twelve nobody reads.

Whatever your rate, a quote that cannot clear the facility's vendor process is dead. Include, as a one-page attachment or a clearly labeled section: your legal entity name and any trade name, general liability and workers compensation coverage with carrier names and expiration dates, your certificate of insurance available on request with the facility named as additional insured if you can offer that, your OSHA-compliant powered industrial truck training for anyone who will operate a forklift, your background check practice, and your incident reporting timeline.

Facilities often ask which lines on the certificate matter to them, and the good ones already know. Writing this section as if the reader will check it is the cheapest credibility you can buy. If you want the facility's own view of that document, the five lines that matter on a certificate of insurance is written from their side of the dock.

A quote that ends with a number ends nowhere. A quote that ends with a sequence gets a reply.

State the start date you can hold, how long you need between signature and first shift, who the named account contact is with a direct phone number, how the first two weeks will be reviewed, and how long the quoted rate holds. A ninety day rate validity with a stated review cadence is honest and it removes the fear that you will move the number once the facility is dependent on you.

Then send it as one document with your name on every page, not a rate in an email body. The manager is going to forward it. Make the thing being forwarded complete.

Three things stay out of it. No named client facilities. Your Service Area is a list of metros and states, never a list of docks you work, because the facilities you serve did not agree to be sales collateral and the one reading your quote knows that.

No national average rates, no invented industry statistics, and no claims about competitors. A facility manager who has sourced labor before will catch one wrong number and discount the whole document.

No page of general warehousing philosophy. Nobody approves a vendor for its philosophy.