Rejection

Guidelines

JULY 2023
AMAZON CONFIDENTIAL
Rejection Guidelines

Table of Contents
1. Purpose and background ..............................................................................................................................................................1
2. How to accept/reject a load in R4C ..........................................................................................................................................1
3. Loads in “Planned” Status.............................................................................................................................................................3
4. Rejection Reason Codes ................................................................................................................................................................3
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ................................................................................................................................................5
FAQ 1. Why is it important to select the right Rejection Reason Code? ....................................................................5
FAQ 2. On a particular lane, I can only cover a few loads and not all that are assigned to me. Which VRIDs
shall I reject and why does it matter? ......................................................................................................................................5
FAQ 3. What are late rejections and what is the penalty applied? ...............................................................................5

1. Purpose and background

The purpose of this document is to provide a guideline for all carriers how to accept/reject a load in Relay
for Carrier (R4C) system and which rejection reason codes to use in each situation.

In our weekly planning cycle and operational execution, rejections and loads pending action (in “Planned”
status) are one of the major pain points for several reasons:

1) Customer impact: each rejection (especially late rejections – FAQ 3) may mean that we cannot fulfil
our customer promise. When a carrier rejects a truck, especially on short notice, Amazon might not
be able to find a replacement and miss to connect the shipments on time. This may immediately
impact the promised delivery date to our customers.
2) Uncertainty in planning: loads in “planned” status (neither “accepted” nor “rejected” by the carrier)
create uncertainty on our end. We do not have visibility on whether a load will be actually covered
by the carrier or we if have to source a replacement. This makes it impossible for us to proactively
plan contingencies.
3) Wrong Rejection Reason Code: If a carrier rejects a load with the wrong reason code, we are unable
to investigate and deep dive on the right reason for that rejection, preventing us to take the right
actions to mitigate the source of this issue, wasting valued time trying to fix the wrong root cause.
Entering the correct reason code is beneficial for both us and the carrier to avoid additional workload
and improve/automate communication between both parties

2. How to accept/reject a load in R4C

1. Log into the R4C tool by using your personal login credentials (eg: https:/relay.amazon.co.uk/)
2. Click on “Trips” on the left side navigation bar to see all your currently assigned trips
3. In the “Upcoming” tab (on top of the view) you can see all your currently tendered loads. The
expectation is to accept or reject all loads within the first 2 hours after assignment
4. You can accept a particular load by simply clicking the “Accept” button on the right side of the load
information. You can also “Accept all” loads in bulk by using the button in the upper right corner.

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 5. You can reject a load by unfolding the detailed lane information (by clicking on the VRID) and use
the “Reject” button in the bottom right corner.
6. Once you clicked the “Reject” button, a pop-up window will appear, asking you to select a reason for
the rejection. Select the accurate reason code from the drop-down menu and click “Confirm”. Please
make sure you use the right reason code (details on the correct usage in the Rejection Reason Codes
paragraph).

7. In case you have to reject a previously accepted load, it is also possible. To do so, go to the
“Upcoming” loads tab.
8. Unfold the particular load by clicking on the VRID
9. Use the “Reject” button in the bottom right corner of the VRID information window to get to the
same drop-down selection for the rejection reason code as explained in point 7 & 8.

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3. Loads in “Planned” Status
As explained above, loads in “planned” status, so neither accepted nor rejected by carrier, create an
uncertainty which makes it impossible for us to plan our operations.

As a standard, after 4 hours in planned status, loads can get automatically rejected by the system with the
reason code “Expired”.

Amazon reserves the right to cancel loads in “planned” status that are not accepted / rejected less than 48h
to CPT. We further reserve the right to remove any allocated lane or volume if we see a trend in this matter
by any specific carrier.

4. Rejection Reason Codes

The rejection reason codes available were updated during September 2021 to cover more use cases as
possible and support on deciding the best reason for each situation.

In Table 1 you can find the available reason codes on Relay along with the explanation of when each one
of them must be used.

The correct usage of the reason code when rejecting a load will enable us identify issues more easily and
work together to sustainably fix them. Please bear in mind that rejections might affect your tender
acceptance on Relay – for more info, please refer to the Relay FAQ page.

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 Table 1. Rejection Reason Codes list and use cases
Restrictions*
Reason Code Use case
RLB >48hrs
AMAZON_FACILITY_DELAY Carrier is suffering from a late unloading on an Amazon site or late departure from Amazon site (caused by Amazon) not allowing this load to be covered x
BORDER_DELAY_OR_CLOSURE Carrier was assigned a load that needs to pass by a border that is having delays or is closed. Also applicable for COVID-19 specific restrictions.
CARRIER_SCHEDULING_ERROR Error in carrier's planning process (eg: driver planned with insufficient driving time, insufficient buffer planned between loads or wrongly accepted loads
CARRIER_SEVERE_EVENT Carrier had a sever event not contemplated by any other reason listed above (eg: truck accident)
DOT_INSPECTION Carrier had a DOT Inspection by authorities (e.g. Police or Customs office) which made the truck not-compliant, hence unable to cover the load x
A driver has personal issues that do not allow them to complete planned work. This may include instances where a driver does not prefer to work at the
DRIVER_PERSONAL_CONFLICT
scheduled time, a driver has a personal emergency that came up, etc. (CC)
DRIVER_SHORTAGE Driver related issues, like insufficient drivers available or driver sickness
Load was scheduled with incorrect equipment type during a driving ban making it unable to cover due to legal restrictions on any of the countries the truck must
DRIVING_BAN x
pass by
EXPIRED Automatic reason - Carrier did not Accept or Reject the load within the Timeout (max. tender time) configured on Relay
INCORRECT_EQUIPMENT_TYPE Load was scheduled with an equipment type different than the one agreed, hence unable to cover x
INCORRECT_RATE Load was tendered with a rate lower than the one agreed with Carrier Manager x
LANE_NOT_AGREED Carrier received a load that was not under the current agreement x
LATE_SCHEDULE_CHANGE After being accepted, Amazon changed the load less than 48h before positioning (possible changes: positioning or arrival times, equipment type, driver setup). x
LATE_SCHEDULE_PUBLISHING When a load was published by Amazon with less than 48h before positioning and not enabling enough time to plan accordingly x x
MECHANICAL_ISSUE Mechanical issue that does not enable carrier to perform the load x
MEDICAL A driver is having medical issues and is unable to complete future work. These medical issues are separate from COVID. (CC)
OVER_AGREED_CAPACITY Number of loads received for a specific lane/equipment type combination exceeds the agreed capacity for that specific day/week, not being able to accept x

Carrier was not able to perform the load due to a rail-controllable disruption (e.g. train cancellation, terminal congestion, other) (Only applicable to Amazon RAIL
RAIL_DISRUPTION
loads

TRACTOR_CAPACITY
TRAFFIC
TRANSIT_TIME_LONG
TRANSIT_TIME_SHORT
VENDOR_FACILITY_DELAY
WEATHER
Carrier has no capacity available to perform the load, independently of the agreement made with Amazon
Traffic delay impacting correct positioning of the load x
The transit time scheduled for this load is too long x
The transit time scheduled for this load is too short x
Late unloading by non-Amazon Third Party site or Vendor. This reason is only applicable for loads performed for SWA and Amazon Freight x
Severe weather constraints (snow, heavy rain, storm) making it impossible to cover the load x

*Restrictions: these two columns show when the usage of this rejection reason code is not expected.
RLB = This reason code should not be used when rejecting Relay Load Board (“RLB”) loads.
>48hrs = This reason code should not be used to reject loads >48h prior to pull time as these issues, when faced more than 48hrs in advance, are not
expected to affect the coverage of a load.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
FAQ 1. Why is it important to select the right Rejection Reason Code?
As mentioned before, once the rejection reason code is selected, there is no option to change it or revert the
rejected load into accepted, therefore it is important to select the reason carefully to avoid the teams to
work on action plans based on incorrect data.

FAQ 2. On a particular lane, I can only cover a few loads and not all that are assigned to me. Which VRIDs
shall I reject and why does it matter?
In general, we do not want to see any rejections. But if there is the need for a rejection, please reject the
sweeper trucks (before CPT) first. A CPT truck is always the last truck for that particular lane on that day, and
in case of a rejection we are facing even higher risk of customer impact and might not be able to recover the
shipments. CPT trucks can be identified by looking at the “departure” column. The yellow exclamation mark
flags the CPT truck:

The extract/download will also include a ‘Is CPT Truck’ column that would enable dispatchers to identify CPT
loads.

FAQ 3. What are late rejections and what is the penalty applied?
Late rejections are all the ones rejected less than 24h prior to pull time. As a kind reminder, please see below
the extract from the Relay Commercial Schedule about “Late Rejections”:

Charge for late rejection by Carrier. With regard to any Route that Amazon offered to Carrier, Carrier shall pay
to Amazon the following charge, in case it notifies Amazon less than 24 hours ahead of the prescribed pull time
for the respective Route that it cannot fulfill such Route, even though it initially either (i) accepted such Route
or (ii) failed to reject such Route at least 24 hours ahead of the prescribed pull time and Route was scheduled
more than 48h ahead of the prescribed pull time by Amazon. This also applies to standby trucks confirmed by
Carrier.

Route type Penalty per Route applicable to EU Carriers Penalty per Route applicable to UK Carriers
Domestic €100 £100
Cross Border €150 £150

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