The Landed Cost Checklist: What to Track When Your Product Hits the Dock
Key Takeaways
Landed cost isn’t just COGS plus freight—it includes duties, broker fees, drayage, storage, inspection, damage, and last-mile delivery, all of which impact margin at the SKU level.
Failing to confirm HS codes, Incoterms, and accessorial assumptions before receipt can lead to surprise costs that erode profitability, especially for heavy or high-touch shipments like wine.
Receiving should be treated as a control point, with documented counts, quality checks, and labor tracking baked into every arrival to ensure accuracy and enable claims.
Final-mile delivery introduces unpredictable costs—like appointment fees and dimensional weight surcharges—that must be modeled by channel to avoid underpricing and cash flow strain.
You placed the PO, your supplier shipped, containers crossed an ocean, and now the shipment is at the port or rolling up to your warehouse. Margin gets made or lost right here at receiving, not just at sourcing. Use this landed cost checklist as your working playbook so the "invisible" charges between vessel and shelf don't eat into your price per bottle or unit.
I've lived this for nine years in FP&A and cost management, including four years at Grupo Peñaflor and, today, leading BBG's finance team for Napa boutique wineries and emerging CPG brands. Founders tell me the same story: customs and freight made sense in theory, but then the first freight invoice landed with accessorials, broker fees, drayage, and damage adjustments that no one warned them about. Let's fix that with a clear sequence you can run every single time.
What "Landed Cost" Really Means — and Why It's Not Just One Number
Many teams treat landed cost like COGS plus freight. In practice, your true landed cost calculation includes everything from the factory door to an inventory-ready shelf. That means international freight, duties, customs broker fees, drayage, terminal charges, inspection, warehouse receiving and storage, damage, and the realities of final mile delivery. Freight platforms and calculators frame it the same way for a reason — those line items are real cash out the door.
Two building blocks underpin everything:
Incoterms set who pays and when risk transfers. Terms such as FOB, CIF, and CIP assign cost and responsibility for freight, insurance, documentation, and clearance. Read the Incoterms® 2020 definitions, then mirror them in your PO language.
Duty rates come from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification you (or your broker) file. CBP also publishes user fees and guidance on finding duty rates so you can model these charges in advance.
For wine specifically, imported finished goods carry federal excise tax payable at entry, with CBMA credits potentially reducing effective rates. Those dollars belong in landed cost when you import finished wine. Keep the TTB tables handy for planning.
Why care now? Because a 40-foot container of Bordeaux-style glass or shippers that sits for 2 extra days at the terminal, gets reclassified on HTS, or arrives short on pallets, will change your unit economics this quarter — no matter how sharp your vineyard costs look.
When the Container Hits the Port: What to Track Immediately
Before anything moves inland, take 10 minutes to confirm the foundation. Remember, those minutes could save thousands later:
Confirm HS codes and expected duty rates. Ask your broker for the specific HTS codes used per SKU, then match duty math to your pre-arrival estimate. If the code changed, understand why.
Request an itemized broker and government fee breakdown. You want a line-by-line summary of duties, MPF, HMF, and broker service lines. Your broker invoice should mirror that clarity.
Check Incoterms against reality. If your PO says FOB Ningbo, inland drayage and terminal fees in the U.S. are yours. If it says CIF Oakland, the seller insures to port, but you still own domestic legs and most add-ons after arrival.
Estimate drayage and avoid accessorial traps. Short-haul container moves come with detention, demurrage, chassis splits, and other add-ons. Get a written quote with free-time assumptions and appointment windows; build those assumptions into your landed-cost model.
Pro tip for wineries: Heavy glass and wood can push total weight over a carrier's tier, changing drayage and fuel math. Ask your supplier for actual pallet weights, not catalog weights, and store those in your item master.
At the Warehouse: Receiving, Inspection, and Damage Control
Inventory isn't good until it passes. Treat receiving like a control point, not a formality:
Match counts to the PO and the packing list. Pallets, cartons, inner packs, and units should reconcile. Require your 3PL to send time-stamped photos on variance or damage.
Run a quick quality and damage check. Sample cases at the top and middle of stacks. For wine, verify closure integrity, case labels, and shipper integrity. For CPG, check seal, lot/expiry, and scuffing.
Capture receiving fees and time. Many 3PLs bill receiving per pallet, per hour, or per case; those dollars belong in freight and warehousing costs for your landed cost calculation.
Open claims fast and document immediately. Photos, BOL notes, and carrier/insurer notifications have short windows. Waiting turns recoverable dollars into write-offs.
Use a mini receiving inventory checklist for every arrival:
Compare pallet, carton, and unit counts to the PO and packing list
Photograph pallet tags, case labels, and any crushed or wet cartons
Log lot codes and expiries into your WMS/ERP at put-away
Record receiving labor and any special handling the warehouse performed
Flag discrepancies within 24 hours and start claims with the broker or carrier
If you work with a co-packer or bonded wine warehouse, ask for their standard receiving report template in advance and make sure it includes photos, time on dock, and labor consumed. Your future self, doing variance analysis next month, will thank you.
For a more detailed look at inventory process design, read our winery inventory management guide and our annual finance checklist.
Final Mile Delivery: The Last Leg, and Often the Messiest
The last few miles introduce the most variability. Distributor appointments, retail DC rules, residential deliveries, and DTC carrier pricing all combine into a moving target. Treat final mile delivery as a cost center with its own levers:
Track accessorials, not just line-haul. Liftgate, inside delivery, appointment fees, redelivery, and layovers add up quickly.
Account for dimensional weight on parcel. For DTC wine club shipments and CPG parcels, carriers bill on the greater of actual or dimensional weight, and they keep tightening rules. Small packaging tweaks can shift your per-order cost.
Watch appointment compliance and detention. Missed retailer or distributor appointments cascade into storage, redelivery, and refusal. Build a single source of truth for delivery windows and access rules by consignee.
Calculate per-unit delivery cost by channel. DTC will look different from distributor transfers. Tie fuel surcharge, accessorials, and packaging to the SKU and channel so pricing decisions reflect reality, not averages.
If you're moving beverage alcohol, tack on adult-signature service for DTC and plan for retailer DC compliance rules. Spending an hour up front to map those rules into your TMS saves days of back-and-forth with carriers after a charge hits.
The Landed Cost Checklist (Your Reference Sheet)
Here's the tactical snapshot to reuse shipment after shipment. Group it with your receiving SOP and keep it visible.
At the port:
Confirm HS classifications and expected duty math with your broker.
Request an itemized summary of duties, taxes, user fees, and broker service lines.
Verify Incoterms against the PO, then align responsibilities on the BOL.
Estimate drayage with free-time and chassis assumptions documented, plus appointment timing for pickup and return.
At the warehouse:
Match pallet and carton counts to the PO and packing list, then reconcile variances.
Document product condition with photos; capture lot codes, expiry dates, and label details.
Record receiving fees, labor time, put-away steps, and any rework charges.
Flag discrepancies and file carrier or insurance claims within the stated window.
Final mile:
Confirm carrier rates, fuel surcharges, and published accessorials ahead of dispatch.
Monitor delivery windows, appointment rules, and consignee access requirements.
Track missed handoffs, distributor rejections, and redelivery fees.
Calculate cost per unit or per order by channel, including DIM weight and packaging.
Track It Now or Pay for It Later
Brands lose margin in the fog between port and put-away due to detention, misclassified goods, undercounted receiving labor, or a string of small accessories that hit after the fact. What you need is one repeatable checklist and clear responsibility for each step.
I coach founders to do three things on the next inbound:
Write down the assumptions you used to price the PO — duty rate, drayage estimate, receiving time, and final-mile plan.
Compare those assumptions to the invoices within 7 days of receipt, line by line.
Feed the variance back into your pricing model so next time the math is right before you hit approve.
If you want a partner to model landed cost or tune your import logistics for CPG and wine, start a conversation with our finance team.
Ready to protect margin on your next inbound? Talk to BBG today.
