Reconsignment is the freight industry's equivalent of changing a delivery address after an order has shipped. It is more complex and expensive than it sounds, because freight in transit represents committed carrier capacity, driver time, and routing that has already been optimized.
In truckload shipping, reconsignment typically means communicating a destination change to the carrier before the driver completes the delivery. If the new destination is nearby the original, the carrier may accommodate it at minimal additional cost. If it adds significant miles or requires a route reversal, the reconsignment charge reflects the incremental cost plus a service fee.
In LTL, reconsignment is more operationally difficult because freight may already be sorted onto linehaul trailers heading toward the original destination. Re-routing requires pulling freight at the nearest terminal, re-manifesting it, and re-loading onto a trailer bound for the new destination — all while accounting for the impact on other freight on those trailers.
Not all carriers accept reconsignment requests, and those that do often require the request to be received with enough lead time for operational action. A reconsignment request received two hours before a delivery appointment may simply be too late to execute.
The practical lesson for shippers: finalize destinations before booking freight. Reconsignment charges are real costs that reflect real operational disruption. In rare cases where reconsignment is unavoidable — a customer's receiving facility closed unexpectedly, a merge-in-transit failure requiring a destination change — proactive, early communication with the carrier is essential.