In a transportation or freight back office, you handle the daily clerical work of applying traffic rates — pulling shipment details, applying tariff or contract rates, supporting downstream billing and pricing operations.
A typical day tends to involve rate lookups, calculation work, and the steady cadence of cross-departmental coordination — pricing inbound shipments, supporting sales reps with quotes, applying contract or tariff rates, reconciling pricing differences when actuals don't match expectations. Pricing accuracy and turnaround time are the operating measures.
The friction often lies in the complexity of transportation pricing structures — tariffs, accessorial charges, fuel surcharges, dimensional pricing, and customer-specific contracts produce dense pricing environments. Variance across employers is sharp: LTL carriers run formal tariff publications; truckload tends to be more contract-driven; parcel runs highly systematized.
This work tends to fit folks who enjoy structured rate work and find pleasure in the small puzzles of pricing-rule application. CSCMP and transportation credentials anchor advancement. The trade-off is the moving-target nature of fuel surcharges and contract cycles that keeps the desk constantly current, and the modest pay at the clerk level balanced by clear progression paths.
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Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
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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 →In a transportation or freight back office, you handle the daily clerical work of applying traffic rates — pulling shipment details, applying tariff or contract rates, supporting downstream billing and pricing operations.
Median pay for a Traffic 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, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, 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 Accounting Assistant, Securities Clerk, and Account Clerk.
Remember “your permanent record”?
This time it works for you.