Maintaining freight-rate records and supporting rate operations in transportation, you keep the rate tables current — loading new tariffs, updating contract rates, supporting pricing inquiries from sales and operations teams.
A typical day tends to revolve around rate maintenance, customer-rate inquiries, and the steady administrative work that supports pricing operations — applying tariff updates, loading negotiated contract rates into the TMS, supporting sales reps with rate quotes, fielding operations questions when a shipment doesn't price as expected. Rate currency, response time on inquiries, and accuracy of loaded rates are the operating measures.
The friction often lies in the complexity of transportation pricing — tariff structures, fuel-surcharge programs, accessorial charges, and customer-specific contracts produce a dense rate environment. Variance across employers is real: LTL carriers run formal tariff publications; truckload pricing tends to be more contract-driven; parcel runs highly systematized.
This work tends to fit folks who enjoy structured data and find pleasure in the small accuracy of clean rate tables. Transportation-specific software certifications anchor advancement. The trade-off is invisibility when rates are right and the high visibility of mispriced shipments that affect customer relationships.
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Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Your job belongs to your employer.
Your career belongs to you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Admin & Office roles →Maintaining freight-rate records and supporting rate operations in transportation, you keep the rate tables current — loading new tariffs, updating contract rates, supporting pricing inquiries from sales and operations teams.
Median pay for a Freight Rate Clerk is about $47K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $36K to $65K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Reading Comprehension, Mathematics, Active Listening, Speaking, and Time Management.
Most people in this role hold an associate's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to decline about 0.4% through 2034, with roughly 417,500 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Comptometrist, Laundry Pricing Clerk, and Medical Insurance Biller.
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