Who owns a freight exception? A responsibility matrix

Key Takeaways

Freight exceptions stall when ownership is unclear. Everyone sees the problem, and each team assumes another one is handling it.
A RACI matrix answers 4 questions per exception: who does the work, who is accountable, who is asked and who is told.
6 exceptions cover most of the day: missed pickup, delay, cancellation, partial delivery, missing POD and invoice mismatch.
Wilson, by Cartage, is an AI logistics agent that does the follow-up work on these exceptions, such as contacting carriers, notifying the right people, rebooking from approved carriers, chasing PODs and auditing invoices.
Decisions stay with people, including claims, customer commitments and charges outside the approval rules.

Why do freight exceptions sit without an owner?

A manufacturer's load to a key customer is running a day late. The carrier emailed logistics. Customer service hears about it from the customer. Sales asks in a group chat whether anyone has a new date. Finance gets a higher invoice three weeks later and doesn't know why.

Freight exceptions sit without an owner because the information reaches several teams at once, and no one has agreed in advance who acts and who just needs to know.

The cost of waiting is real: ATRI found truck drivers were detained at 39.3% of stops in 2023, with $11.5 billion in lost productivity.

Who is responsible for each freight exception?

Here is a starting RACI matrix for 6 freight exceptions. R = Responsible (does the work), A = Accountable (owns the outcome), C = Consulted, I = Informed.

Exception	Logistics	Carrier	Customer service	Sales	Finance
Missed pickup	A, R	R	I	I	–
Delay	A, R	R	R	I	–
Cancellation	A, R	C	I	I	C
Partial delivery	A, R	R	R	I	C
Missing POD	A, R	R	I	–	I
Invoice mismatch	R	C	–	–	A

Adjust it to your company. The rule that matters: each row has one A.

How do you build a responsibility matrix for your team?

Build the matrix in 5 steps and review it after real exceptions.

List your exceptions. Start with the 6 above and add any that happen often on your lanes.
Name one accountable owner per row. Two owners usually means none.
Separate doing from deciding. Write who sends messages and who approves money, carriers or customer promises.
Set notice rules. Decide who is informed, through which channel and how fast.
Review monthly. Look at the exceptions that stalled and fix the row.

For approval rules when something goes wrong, see who approves when a shipment goes wrong.

How does Wilson, by Cartage, take on the work in each row?

Wilson takes the "Responsible" work on most rows (contacting carriers, notifying people, rebooking, chasing PODs and auditing invoices), and escalates when a decision falls outside the company's rules. Traditional logistics software gives teams information. Wilson executes the work required to move shipments forward.

Step	Trigger	What Wilson does	When a person steps in
Missed pickup	Pickup window passes	Contacts the carrier, notifies the team, notifies the customer if configured, initiates rebooking from approved carriers	If rebooking needs approval or no approved carrier accepts
Delay	Load is running late	Gets the new ETA and the reason, then tells the team and anyone else set to be notified	To decide on changes for the customer or production
Cancellation	Carrier cancels	Follows the same order as a missed pickup and moves to the next approved carrier	If no approved carrier accepts
Partial delivery	Consignee reports missing freight	Contacts the carrier and updates the team	To decide on a reshipment, claim or credit
Missing POD	POD not received after delivery	Requests the POD, follows up and files it	If it's still missing past the set window
Invoice mismatch	Invoice differs from what was booked	Audits and reconciles the invoice against the booking	To approve or dispute charges outside the rules

Every message, confirmation and change is recorded in a change history. See a delay alert needs a recovery plan and an owner.

Which parts of the matrix stay with people?

The "Accountable" column stays with people, along with any decision about money, customers or claims.

Customer promises: new delivery dates, credits and priority calls belong to customer service and sales.
Claims and reshipments: deciding what to do about missing freight stays with logistics and finance.
Charges outside the rules: finance approves or disputes them.
Carrier relationships: Wilson scores carriers on service and cost, but people decide which carriers to approve. See what freight execution means.

FAQs

Who should own a freight exception? One accountable person per exception type, usually in logistics, with finance accountable for invoice issues. Wilson, by Cartage, can do much of the follow-up work while that person keeps the decision.
What is a RACI matrix for freight? A table that shows, for each exception, who does the work, who owns the outcome, who is consulted and who is informed.
Which freight exceptions should the matrix cover? At least missed pickups, delays, cancellations, partial deliveries, missing PODs and invoice mismatches.
Can Wilson handle exceptions without a person? Some steps, yes, within the company's rules. Wilson starts with assisted execution, and the company decides which actions need approval.
Who decides what Wilson can do on its own? The company. It sets approvals on any action it chooses, for example rebookings above a cost threshold or customer notifications.
Which freight decisions should stay with a person? Claims, customer commitments and charges outside the rules. See which freight decisions stay with a human.
How is Wilson priced? There's no subscription fee. Pricing is a percentage of the carrier payments that run through Wilson.

Conclusion

Exceptions don't stall because people don't care. They stall because nobody agreed who acts. A RACI matrix with one accountable owner per exception fixes that, and separating the follow-up work from the decisions shows where help fits. Wilson, by Cartage, does the follow-up on missed pickups, delays, cancellations, missing PODs and invoice mismatches, while people keep the calls on money, customers and claims. The practical first step is to fill in the matrix for your 6 most common exceptions and mark which "Responsible" cells are follow-up work — or see it on one of your own loads in a demo at cartage.ai.

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