Short answer
Cancelling (rejecting) a load you booked on Amazon Relay counts against your acceptance metric, and so does letting a booked load expire. Amazon says the closer to pickup you reject, the higher the penalty. Your overall score equals your lowest metric, so a weak acceptance score can lower your grade. Loads that Amazon cancels don't count against you.
What counts as a cancellation on Amazon Relay?
Amazon calls it a rejection. Its performance score guide defines the acceptance metric as "How often a carrier rejects loads that they book." Amazon's grades page says the same thing in other words: booking and completing loads without rejections, meaning carrier cancellations.
Two things count:
- Rejecting a load you booked. Any time you give a tendered load back, your score can take a hit.
- Letting a booked load expire. Amazon says this counts too. Doing nothing isn't a way out.
Amazon is plain about who owns a booking: "if an Amazon load is booked, it's the Relay carrier's responsibility to execute it."
Does it matter when you cancel?
Yes, a lot. Amazon says: "The closer a carrier rejects to pick-up time, the higher the penalty."
The practical rule is simple. The moment you know a load won't work, release it. A cancellation two days out costs less than the same cancellation two hours out. Amazon doesn't publish how much less, but it does say the penalty rises as pickup gets closer.
What if Amazon cancels the load?
Then it doesn't count against you. Amazon says that if it cancels tendered loads, the carrier's performance score won't be impacted.
You also don't lose the time completely. Amazon's load board guide says the board suggests replacements for cancelled loads. Check the pickup window, deadhead and your driver's hours before you take one.
How does one cancellation affect your whole grade?
Your overall score equals your lowest metric. Amazon scores four: on-time, acceptance, app usage and disruption-free. If acceptance is your weakest, it sets your grade, even with a perfect on-time record.
You become eligible for a grade after ten or more Relay loads in the last six active weeks. Our scorecard guide breaks down all four metrics.
What does a lower grade cost you?
Access. Here's what Amazon says each grade level gets you:
| Grade | What Amazon ties to it |
|---|---|
| All grades | Load board access, Relay Rewards eligibility, Post A Truck (higher grades get priority matching) |
| C+ and up | Most freight auctions (B for reefer, B+ for some box truck loads) |
| B and up | Seeing and booking new contracts |
| A+, A and B+ | Early access to new spot loads |
| A+ and A | Contract price alerts |
| Below C+ | Contracts you already booked are at risk |
Relay Rewards uses your lowest score too. Amazon evaluates your tier monthly, using your company's lowest score from the previous month. So a bad stretch on acceptance can reach past this week's loads into contracts, auctions and rewards. Our guides to Amazon Relay contracts and auctions explain what's on the line in each.
How do you avoid having to cancel?
Amazon's own advice is to be selective when you browse the load board, so you don't book loads you can't haul. In practice:
- Do the hours math before you book. First load, deadhead and second load against your driver's remaining hours. Our guide to booking multiple loads has a checklist.
- Check the pickup window, not just the price. Can your driver make it with room to spare?
- Use linked orders in Post A Truck. If one truck is posted on several orders, linking them means unfulfilled trips are cancelled for you once one fills. See how to post a truck on Amazon Relay.
- Keep your Post A Truck availability current. Cancel an order the moment plans change, before it matches a load.
- Release early when you must. The penalty rises as pickup gets closer.
What doesn't Amazon publish about cancellations?
More than most carriers expect. Amazon doesn't publish:
- Cancellation fees. The Relay FAQ says nothing about cancellation fees, or about pay when a truck order isn't used.
- The size of the penalty for a single rejection.
- How long one cancellation stays on your score. Amazon says the score reflects your last six weeks of hauls.
- The score cutoffs for each letter grade.
- A dispute route for acceptance. Amazon's dispute language on the performance score page covers on-time impacts only. It doesn't describe a way to dispute an acceptance hit.
If someone quotes you exact numbers for any of these, ask where they got them.
Where does NudoIQ fit?
NudoIQ is a Chrome extension that runs inside your signed-in Relay load board tab. It's an independent tool, not made by or affiliated with Amazon. It doesn't change how Amazon scores a rejection. What it does is let you set rules up front about which loads get booked at all.
In Autobook mode it's set to book only loads that clear rules you set:
- Min Net Profit. It books only loads that clear your own minimum net profit.
- Max stops. Loads with more stops than your limit are skipped.
- Complete data. It never books a load with incomplete data.
- Pickup lead time. With a minimum lead time set, it won't book a load whose pickup time is unknown.
- Max-books cap. It stops after the number of bookings you set.
If you'd rather decide every load yourself, Alert mode tells you about a match without booking it. More in our auto-booker guide.
Try it with a 7-day free trial, and cancel anytime. NudoIQ is rated 5.0 on the Chrome Web Store.