Hire a VA · Logistics VA
Logistics virtual assistant: what it costs and what it pays back
$6.50–$10.00 an hour · $1,040–$1,600 a month full-time
That's the agency example below for a dedicated logistics VA working only for you: no recruitment or setup fee, billed monthly for hours worked. Part-time (80 hours) comes to $520–$800 a month.
On this page
- The cost, line by line
- Part-time, full-time and a team
- Cost per shipment
- Freight bill checks: the payback calculator
- What the coordination hours cost today
- Three budgets, worked through
- Who does the follow-up today
- Costs a coordinator prevents
- Directly vs through an agency
- Budgeting for peak season
- Five ways budgets leak
- Six cost questions
- A full-time week, priced by block
- Hours nobody covers
- Cost terms on a freight invoice
- VA vs audit and claims services
- What moves the rate
- The extras on both sides
- How the agency example bills
- What you get for the money
- A 30-minute test before you hire
- The first month
- How to hire one here
- Questions about the cost
The cost, line by line
Three ways to staff the follow-up and paperwork behind your shipments for one month. The two in-house slips use US government data for the clerk roles that usually do this work; the agency slip is one published example.
Published by Outsourcing Insider, a VA MASTERS company. The agency slip uses VA MASTERS' published rates, shown because they're public; other agencies' prices vary. About us
Shipping and receiving clerk, US
Full-time, per month, USD
- Median pay ($45,260 a year)a$3,772
- Paid leave1$316
- Supplemental pay (overtime, bonuses)1$168
- Health and other insurance1$321
- Retirement plans1$117
- Payroll taxes and required insurance1$402
Monthly total$5,095
Per year$61,141
- Can also work the dock; a VA can't.
- Benefit costs are the average for private employers with 1–49 workers; your own package may differ.
Expediting clerk, US
Production, planning and expediting clerks
- Median pay ($59,650 a year)a$4,971
- Paid leave1$416
- Supplemental pay (overtime, bonuses)1$221
- Health and other insurance1$423
- Retirement plans1$154
- Payroll taxes and required insurance1$530
Monthly total$6,715
Per year$80,580
- The closest US job title to a logistics coordinator doing follow-up.
Logistics VA, agency example Parent company
VA MASTERS, Administrative & Operations Support
- 160 hours at $6.50–$10.00$1,040–$1,600
- Recruitment or setup fee$0
Monthly total$1,040–$1,600
Per year$12,480–$19,200
- Card or PayPal payments add 4%; USD bank transfer has no fee.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: national median annual wages. Checked Nov 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, Table 6. Checked Oct 2026.
- SHRM, 'SHRM Releases 2025 Benchmarking Reports' press release (Oct 15, 2025). Checked Oct 2026.
- Agency example: VA MASTERS pricing page, checked Oct 2026.
For context, the median logistician earned $82,320 a year in May 2025. When follow-up work sits with a logistician or an account manager, the comparison is even starker: you're paying senior rates for chasing PODs.
Part-time, full-time and a team
| Setup | Hours a month | Monthly cost (agency example) | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part-time | 80 | $520–$800 | Tracking replies and claims for an online store |
| Full-time | 160 | $1,040–$1,600 | Tracking, carriers and paperwork for a brokerage or 3PL |
| Two roles | 320 | $2,080–$3,200 | Coordination split from documents and customers |
| Small team | 480 | $3,120–$4,800 | Adds reporting, inventory or a dispatcher |
Cost per shipment
| Shipments a month | Full-time VA per shipment | Part-time VA per shipment | Expediting clerk per shipment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | $10.40–$16.00 | $5.20–$8.00 | $67.15 |
| 300 | $3.47–$5.33 | $1.73–$2.67 | $22.38 |
| 600 | $1.73–$2.67 | $0.87–$1.33 | $11.19 |
| 1,000 | $1.04–$1.60 | $0.52–$0.80 | $6.71 |
Freight bill checks: the payback calculator
Carrier invoices often carry charges nobody approved: detention, lumper, liftgate or redelivery fees, fuel at the wrong rate, weight or class changes, duplicates. A VA can check each invoice against its rate confirmation and draft disputes for you to approve. Put in your numbers:
- Recovered per month–
- Full-time logistics VA (agency example)–
- Share of the VA's cost covered by recoveries alone
What the coordination hours cost today
The other saving is moving hours from expensive seats. Count one week of tracking, carrier calls, paperwork and customer status emails across your team, then price it: if 20 of those hours sit with an account manager at a loaded $38.75 an hour (the expediting clerk slip ÷ 173 hours), that's about $3,356 a month of staff time. The same 87 hours from a VA cost $566–$870. The difference only becomes real money if those people spend the freed hours selling, serving customers or not working overtime.
Three budgets, worked through
Freight brokerage
6 reps, ~300 loads a month
- Full-time VA, 160 hours$1,040–$1,600
Per load$3.47–$5.33
- Carrier packets, check calls, tracking updates, POD collection, invoice checks.
3PL
12 clients
- Full-time VA, 160 hours$1,040–$1,600
Per client$86.67–$133
- Client updates, ASN follow-up, inventory reports, billing reconciliation.
Online store
~2,000 orders a month
- Part-time VA, 80 hours$520–$800
Per order$0.26–$0.40
- Tracking replies, carrier claims, returns, FBA shipment prep.
Who does the follow-up today, and what it costs
In most small brokerages, 3PLs and online stores, nobody is hired to coordinate. The work is spread: reps make check calls between sales calls, an account manager collects PODs at the end of the day, the owner checks carrier invoices on Sunday, and customer status emails go to whoever sees them first. None of it shows on a slip, so it's easy to underestimate.
Count it for one week. Ask each person to tick tracking checks, carrier calls, document requests, invoice checks and customer status emails, with rough minutes. Multiply each person's hours by their loaded hourly cost. The number is usually larger than the agency slip above, and it sits with the people you most want selling or serving customers.
Detention, accessorials and claims: costs a coordinator prevents
Some of the best returns from a logistics VA don't show as savings on their own slip; they show as charges that never happen:
- Detention: trucks waiting past free time at your dock or your customer's. Appointment confirmations the day before and an alert when a load runs early or late cut the waiting.
- Redelivery and failed delivery fees: often caused by wrong addresses, missing appointment numbers or nobody at the receiving end. A pre-delivery confirmation call prevents most of them.
- Unapproved accessorials: liftgate, inside delivery or residential fees that weren't ordered. Caught by the invoice check, disputed before payment.
- Expired claims: carriers set filing windows; a claim not filed in time is money gone. A claims log with dates fixes it.
We don't have a reliable industry figure for how much these add up to, so measure your own: total accessorial and detention charges, redeliveries and expired claims for the last three months, then compare after three months with a VA.
Hiring a remote coordinator directly vs through an agency
| Hire directly | Through an agency (example above) | |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly cost | Lower | $6.50–$10.00 |
| Finding logistics experience | Your screening | Screened and tested before you meet anyone |
| Contract and paying someone abroad | Yours to set up | One monthly invoice |
| If the hire leaves | Start over | Replacement at no extra cost |
We don't publish a sourced direct-hire pay range for remote logistics coordinators, so this page doesn't guess one.
Budgeting for peak season
Most shippers have a busy season: the fourth quarter for retail, spring for building materials, harvest for produce, new-year resets for many importers. Two ways to budget:
- Flex the hours: part-time ($520–$800) most of the year, full-time ($1,040–$1,600) for the peak months. Agree the notice for changing hours up front.
- Hold steady: full-time all year, using quiet months for carrier file clean-up, rate sheet updates, claims backlog and reporting.
Example: five peak months full-time and seven months part-time comes to $8,840–$13,600 a year in the agency example.
Five ways logistics budgets leak
- Paying invoices unchecked. Small wrong charges, every week.
- Senior people on follow-up. Reps and account managers chasing PODs instead of selling.
- Late PODs. Delivered freight that can't be billed for days slows cash.
- Expired claims and carrier insurance. Money lost, and risk carried, without anyone noticing.
- Hiring the wrong seat. A logistician's salary for clerk-level coordination work.
Six cost questions to ask any provider
- What is the hourly rate for this role, and what puts a candidate at the top of the range?
- Is anything paid before I choose? Is there an advance payment, and is it refundable?
- Am I billed for hours worked, after the work?
- Are there fees for card payments, setup, replacement or ending the engagement?
- What is the trial period and the notice period after it?
- Can I change hours for peak season, and with how much notice?
A full-time week, priced by block
Where the 40 hours of a full-time logistics VA typically go, and what each block costs in the agency example ($6.50–$10.00 an hour):
| Block | Hours a week | Cost a week | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tracking sweep and exception alerts | 10 | $65.00–$100 | Every open shipment checked daily |
| Carrier calls and appointments | 8 | $52.00–$80.00 | ETAs confirmed, docks booked |
| Documents and PODs | 8 | $52.00–$80.00 | Loads ready to bill |
| Customer status replies | 6 | $39.00–$60.00 | Same-day answers |
| Freight bill checks | 4 | $26.00–$40.00 | Disputes drafted for approval |
| Carrier files, claims, KPI report | 4 | $26.00–$40.00 | Current files, claims in time, weekly numbers |
Hours nobody covers today
A VA's hour costs the same at 7 am or 7 pm, which makes the gaps cheap to fill: West Coast deliveries after the East Coast office closes, early pickups before anyone is in, Saturday tracking during peak. Twenty hours a week on those windows costs $520–$800 a month in the agency example.
Cost terms on a freight invoice
- Linehaul
- The base charge for moving the freight from origin to destination.
- Fuel surcharge
- A percentage or per-mile charge tied to a fuel index; check it against the agreed table.
- Accessorials
- Extra services: detention, lumper, liftgate, inside or residential delivery, redelivery. Each should match an approval.
- Detention and demurrage
- Waiting-time charges for trucks (detention) and containers at ports or terminals (demurrage).
- Freight class and reweigh
- For LTL, the class and weight set the price; a carrier reweigh or reclass changes the invoice.
- Landed cost
- For imports: product, freight, duties, fees and handling together, per unit.
VA vs audit and claims services
| Freight audit / claims service | Logistics VA | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Per invoice, per claim or a share of what's recovered; varies by provider | Flat hourly rate |
| What's covered | One process | Invoices plus tracking, documents, claims, customers, reports |
| Cost as volume grows | Rises per invoice or with recoveries | Flat until one person is full |
| Best for | Very high invoice volumes, nothing else to hand over | A few hundred invoices plus other coordination work |
What moves the rate up or down the range
- Lower in the range: tracking sweeps, customer status replies, POD collection, document filing from clear templates.
- Higher in the range: freight bill auditing, international documents with forwarders, a specific TMS from day one, carrier compliance files, or years of brokerage or 3PL experience.
The extras on both sides
| Cost | In-house clerk | Logistics VA |
|---|---|---|
| Hiring | Ads, interviews, weeks of your time | No recruitment fee; you interview a shortlist |
| Desk and equipment | You provide | The VA's own setup |
| System seats | Usually one more | Usually one more |
| Phone line | Existing | A seat on your phone system for check calls |
| If it doesn't work out | A new hiring round | 30-day trial, then 30 days' notice; replacement at no extra cost (agency example) |
How the agency example bills
- Billed monthly after the work, for hours worked only
- Nothing to pay before you choose your hire
- 30-day trial with each new hire: end it right away, no notice
- After the trial, 30 days' written notice
- Replacement at no extra cost
- A one-time advance payment once you choose your hire, credited against your first invoices and refundable
- Recruitment, placement or setup fee: None
- Bank transfer in USD: No processing fee
- Credit card or PayPal: 4% processing fee
What you get for the money
- Tracking sweep and exception alertsdailyEvery open shipment checked across TMS and carrier portals; problems flagged before customers ask.
- Carrier coordinationdailyCheck calls, ETA confirmations, dock appointments, quote requests on lanes you choose.
- Documents and PODsper shipmentBOLs, packing lists and commercial invoices checked; PODs collected so you can bill.
- Freight bill checksweeklyInvoices matched to rate confirmations; disputes drafted for your approval.
- Carrier files and claimsweeklyPackets, insurance expiries, damage and loss claims filed in time.
- Customer updates and reportingdaily / weeklyStatus replies, delay notices; on-time, OTIF, exceptions and freight spend.
What stays with you: carrier choice and rates, payments, refunds and credits, customs filing (your licensed broker) and contracts.
A 30-minute test before you hire
- Document check (10 minutes): a BOL, a rate confirmation and an invoice with three planted errors. How many do they find?
- Tracker (5 minutes): how would they track 40 open shipments across five carriers? Look for a sheet and a daily rhythm.
- Writing (10 minutes): a delay notice to a customer and a chase email to a carrier for a missing POD.
- Judgment (5 minutes): a key customer's delivery missed its appointment. Who do they call first, and what do they tell you?
The first month
| Week | Logistics VA | You |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Builds the open-shipment tracker; shadows | Logins, shared inbox, procedures, exception rules |
| 2 | Runs the tracking sweep and customer replies | Review exceptions daily |
| 3 | Owns documents and POD collection | Spot-check ten documents |
| 4 | Freight bill checks; first weekly report | Approve disputes; agree targets |
How to hire a logistics VA here
Requests from this site go to our recruiting partner, the agency in the example above:
- Tell us the job: segment, systems, shipment volume and hours.
- Meet a shortlist: candidates with logistics coordination experience, usually in about 2 business days.
- Choose and start: nothing is paid before you choose; billing is monthly, after the work, for hours worked.
The trade-offs: an agency costs more per hour than hiring a freelancer yourself, in exchange for screening, payroll handling and free replacement; the first weeks need early system access and written procedures.
More: what a dispatcher VA costs and outsourcing vs hiring in-house.
Questions people ask about the cost
How much does a logistics virtual assistant cost?
In the agency example on this page (our parent company's published rates), a dedicated logistics VA costs $6.50–$10 an hour: $520–$800 a month for 80 hours and $1,040–$1,600 for 160 hours, with no recruitment or setup fee. Where a hire lands depends on experience and the skills the role needs.
How much does an in-house logistics clerk cost in the US?
BLS May 2025 national medians: $45,260 a year for shipping, receiving and inventory clerks, $59,650 for production, planning and expediting clerks and $82,320 for logisticians, before payroll taxes and benefits. The slip on this page adds employer costs line by line.
What is the cost per shipment of a logistics VA?
Divide the monthly cost by monthly shipments. At 300 shipments a month, a full-time VA at $1,040–$1,600 costs about $3.47–$5.33 per shipment; at 1,000 parcel orders a month on 80 hours, about $0.52–$0.80 per order.
Can a logistics VA pay for itself?
Often through freight bill checks: matching every carrier invoice to its rate confirmation and disputing charges nobody approved. Measure recoveries for a month; for many brokers and shippers that alone covers the VA. The calculator on this page shows the arithmetic with your numbers.
Can I hire a logistics VA part-time?
Yes. 80 hours a month (about 20 hours a week) costs $520–$800 in the agency example, a common start for e-commerce shippers on tracking replies and claims.
Are there extra fees on top of the hourly rate?
In the agency example there is no recruitment, placement or setup fee and no fee for USD bank transfers; card or PayPal payments carry a 4% processing fee. A one-time advance payment is due once you choose your hire, credited against your first invoices and refundable. On your side, budget for TMS or portal seats.
When do I pay for a logistics VA?
In the agency example, nothing is paid before you choose your hire, and billing is monthly after the work, for hours worked only.
Can I cancel if the logistics VA doesn't work out?
In the agency example, each new hire has a 30-day trial you can end right away; after that, 30 days' written notice applies. A replacement is provided at no extra cost.
What does a logistics VA do for the money?
Tracking sweeps and exception alerts, carrier check calls and appointments, BOLs, packing lists and PODs, freight bill checks, carrier packets and insurance tracking, claims, customer status replies and a weekly KPI report.
How fast can I hire a logistics VA?
First candidates usually arrive in about 2 business days after the request. Roles that need a specific TMS or international freight experience can take longer.
What does it cost to grow from one logistics VA to a team?
In the agency example, two full-time VAs cost $2,080–$3,200 a month and three cost $3,120–$4,800. Split by type of work (coordination, documents and customers, reporting) once one person can't finish the daily tracking sweep before midday.
Is a logistics VA cheaper than a freight audit service?
It depends on volume. Audit services often charge per invoice or a share of recoveries; a VA costs a flat hourly rate and also covers tracking, documents, claims and customers. With a few hundred invoices a month and other coordination work to do, a VA is usually the better buy.