The EDI 754 routing instructions is the retailer's answer to your 753. It tells you which carrier is collecting, when, and under what reference. Ship before it arrives and you own the freight and usually a chargeback.
On a collect freight order you do not choose the carrier, the retailer does. The 754 routing instructions is how they tell you: which carrier, which pickup date, which reference number. Shipping before it arrives, or ignoring what it says, converts a routed load into a prepaid one at your expense, usually with a compliance charge on top.
The EDI 754 is the retailer's response to your EDI 753 routing request. It tells you how a specific shipment is to move: the assigned carrier, its SCAC code, the pickup date or window, and the routing reference the carrier will quote when it arrives.
It applies to collect freight, where the retailer pays the carrier and therefore chooses it. On prepaid freight you choose, you pay, and no 754 exists. That single distinction explains most of the confusion around it: brands who ship prepaid to one account and collect to another often try to apply one process to both.
The pair works in sequence. You send a 753 saying a shipment is ready, giving weight, cube, carton count and origin. They send a 754 back saying who will collect it and when. Only then do you ship, generate the VICS bill of lading and transmit the 856 ASN. The 753 page covers the request side in full detail.
Segment usage varies more between retailers on the 754 than on the core order documents, so what follows is the information carried rather than a fixed layout. Work from the mapping guide your retailer issues.
| Routing reference | The identifier tying this instruction back to the 753 you sent, and the number the carrier and the retailer's receiving team will both quote. |
| Carrier and SCAC | The assigned carrier's name and its Standard Carrier Alpha Code. The SCAC has to appear on the bill of lading and often in the ASN. |
| Pickup date or window | When the carrier will collect. Some retailers give a single date, some a window, some a specific appointment. |
| Ship to destination | The distribution center or store the load is routed to, which is not always the one on the original purchase order. |
| Load or trailer reference | Where the retailer consolidates multiple vendors onto one load, the reference that identifies it. |
| Special instructions | Appointment requirements, delivery windows, palletization or stacking notes, and anything else receiving expects. |
A load that moves without routing is unrouted freight. The retailer did not authorize that carrier, so the freight is yours, and most vendor agreements add a compliance charge for the disruption at the dock. This is the single most common and most avoidable routing failure.
Sometimes done in good faith to hit a ship window. It does not help: the load arrives outside the retailer's consolidation plan, and the cost lands on you along with the deduction.
Routing turnaround takes time, and the retailer's ship window does not extend to accommodate a late 753. Requesting routing the day before the must arrive date usually produces a late shipment rather than fast routing.
The carrier, SCAC and routing reference from the 754 have to appear on the bill of lading and usually in the ASN. Retyping them is where they get lost, and a load that arrives without its own routing reference gets treated as unrouted at the gate.
AIMS360 generates the 753 from the shipment your warehouse actually built, so weight, cube and carton count are real rather than estimated. When the 754 comes back, the carrier, SCAC, pickup date and routing reference are written onto that same shipment record and flow into the VICS BOL and the 856 without anyone retyping them.
Where a retailer requires routing, the order does not release for shipping until the 754 has landed against it.
The routing reference appears on the BOL and in the ASN from the same field, so they cannot disagree.
The 753 is triggered from the ship window rather than from someone remembering, which is what stops late routing requests.
AIMS360 charges no per document or per kilocharacter fees of its own on routing traffic.
It carries routing instructions from a retailer to a supplier on collect freight shipments, in response to an EDI 753 routing request. It names the assigned carrier and its SCAC, gives the pickup date or window, identifies the destination and supplies the routing reference the carrier will quote. It is the authorization to ship as much as it is an instruction on how.
Direction. The 753 is the request you send, saying a shipment is ready and describing it: origin, destination, weight, cube, carton count and ready date. The 754 is the answer you receive, telling you which carrier will collect it, when, and under what reference. One conversation, two documents.
No. Routing exists because on collect freight the retailer pays the carrier and therefore chooses it. If you are shipping prepaid, you choose the carrier and pay for it, and there is no routing request or instruction. Brands that ship prepaid to one account and collect to another sometimes try to apply a single process to both, which is where the confusion usually starts.
The load is unrouted. The retailer did not authorize that carrier, so the freight cost usually reverts to you, and most vendor agreements add a compliance charge for the disruption at the receiving dock. Shipping early to protect a ship window is a false economy: an on time unrouted load often costs more than a late routed one.
No. They do different jobs at different times. The 754 authorizes and instructs before the load moves. The 856 ASN reports what actually shipped after it moves, and on most accounts it has to carry the carrier and reference that the 754 assigned. You need both.
Retailers that consolidate inbound freight and pay for it, which includes several large mass, club and department store accounts. Amazon vendor programs are the most widely known user of the pair. Notably, some large retailers handle routing entirely through a login gated routing guide and carrier side documents instead, so the presence of collect freight does not guarantee a 753 and 754 exchange. Check your own routing guide.
Last reviewed 7 August 2026 by the AIMS360 EDI team. The 754 is described here by the information it carries rather than by a fixed segment layout, because usage varies more between retailers than on the core order documents. Work from the mapping guide and routing guide issued to your vendor account.
See AIMS360 request routing, apply the response and carry it through to the BOL and ASN, in a 30 minute demo.
