Carrying Cost
It is the per unit cost of holding inventory for a certain period of time. Usually, it is expressed in terms of percentage of the average inventory

Cartage
A charge made for hauling and transferring goods, on a local basis. It also denotes the physical movement of the goods

Cartel
An association , formal or otherwise of producers of the same commodity to control the market. 

Cash Discount
In order to encourage quick payment by the buyer it is a percentage discount allowed on the invoiced amount

Cash On Delivery
Prior to release of the goods by the carrier , payment through cash mode for goods and transportation cost (total invoiced amount) asked by the seller from the buyer

Categorical Method
A method of rating supplier performance usually on a scale of plus, minus and neutral w.r.t. a list of evaluation factors.

Caveat Emptor
Any purchase is done at the buyer's risk who has to beware ("Let the buyer beware"--Latin)
 

Centralised Purchasing
When Purchasing for the most of the organisational  requirement  is done by one agency, often called Purchasing department.

Certificate of origin
A document required by customs officials ,identifying the country of origin of imported materials 

Certified Purchasing Manager
A world wide recognised certification program for the purchasing and supply professional conducted by the ISM, USA 

Certified Supplier
A supplier whose Quality assurance system producing reliable product / service are accepted by the buyer. Inspection may not be done for this supplier's product 

Change  Order
A written authorization from the purchaser to the supplier on an existing order to change it. It is also called amendment to order

Class Freight Rate
Commodity rates are available only on selected commodities, a class rate can be found for all items shipped. It helps in simplifying the process of providing a specific rate for each commodity being shipped. It's thus a rate resulting from classification rating of the freight.

Coincident Indicator
A measure of economic activity that changes concurrently with changes in the business cycle

Collusion
A secret agreement or cooperation between two or more parties in which parties act in collusion to fix their bids in an advantageous manner eliminating the scope for genuine competitive bidding.

Collusive Bidding
An unholy and illegal practice in which suppliers act in collusion to fix their bids eliminating genuine competition in bidding. It's also known as formation of syndicate or cartel.

Commodity Council
Cross-functional teams and/or multi-division teams are responsible for selecting suppliers, negotiating contracts and monitoring supplier performance including quality and delivery performance

Commodity Freight Rate
It's a transportation rate for a specific commodity, moving between specified points, in a certain direction and for a specific minimum quantity.
The purpose of the commodity rate is to provide a lower rate to reflect the economic benefits to the carrier resulting from more predictable and larger quantity movements over certain routes.

Commodity Segmentation
It refers to dividing a firm's total spending into categories of goods and services in order to leverage spending and increase purchasing efficiency. Common practice involves using a matrix to divide the commodities into four quadrants : Acquisition - low risk, low value items, Critical - high risk, low value, Leverage- low risk, high value and Strategic-high risk, high value items

Common Carrier
A carrier that serves all kinds of customers but carries only the types of freight for which it holds itself out to carry. It helps in enabling transportation to the needy, knowledge of rates, provision of service on a schedule, service availability in a designated area and most importantly service for a given class of commodity and movement

Common Market
A market with no internal tariffs, common external tariffs and free flow of labour and capital

Comparative Advantage
A competitive strength that a country enjoys in producing a product more efficiently than other countries

Competent Parties
Parties entering into a contract must be in a position to enter into contract and execute it

Competitive Bidding
It's a method of awarding a contract in which bids are invited from competing vendors through a notice inviting bids. Usually , the award is made on the lowest price offering bidder.

Competitive proposals
A proposal , in response to the bidding invitation by a vendor in the face of other bidders proposal out of which one or more may enter into contract is a competitive proposal

Concealed Damage
Damage to the contents of a package that seems to in good condition externally

Consequential Damages
Loss of profit / earning incurred by purchaser as a result of a seller's breach

Consideration
An exchange of value for value, required to form a valid contract Consignee
The person or organisation to whom a shipper directs the carrier to deliver the goods, generally the purchaser of the goods

Consignment Buying
A method of procurement in which a supplier maintains inventory on the premises of the purchaser. The purchaser pays for the goods only when goods are used or issued from the stock

Consignor
The shipper of a specified quantity of goods

Consolidation
Combining less than truck load shipments from various facilities at a centrally located point and transporting them as a large shipment, generally at a lower freight rate

Consortium
A small group of businesses that join forces in purchasing selected products

Containerization
Prevalence of utilizing sealed, standard size containers for safe keeping of materials during transportation. Containers can be used for rail, motor and water transportation with efficiency.

Contract
A written or oral between two or more competent parties that defines a job or service to be performed and which is legally enforceable

Contract Administration
The management and overall monitoring of  all the facets of a contract to ensure that the performance of the contract is in accordance with the contractual commitments

Contract Career
A carrier that provides transportation and/or related services to selected shippers according to a contractual agreement.

Contract Type
Determined by the pricing term the types can include Fixed price contracts, cost based contracts, Incentive contracts.

Cooperative Buying
An approach in which several organisations jointly buy selected items. They may utilize a centralised buying service

Cost & Freight
Usually done in international trade where a supplier quotes a price that includes the cost of the goods and the cost of transportation to the indicated point of destination
 

Cost containment
A detailed plan to restrict costs and purchased prices within certain target limits over a period of time

Cost reduction
An effort to trim the costs associated with acquiring a certain product or service

Cost,Insurance,Freight
Also referred as Landed price, the CIF value is an international shipping term that obligates a seller to transport the goods to the destination country, insure them to the benefit of the buyer, pay the freight charges and provide documents necessary to clear the import of the goods.

Cost -Ratio method
A method of supplier performance evaluation that measures the cost of quality, delivery, and service separately for each supplier

Cost Reimbursement Contracts
A type of contract that allows for payment of permissible , allocable and reasonable costs incurred in the execution of a contract in a way that such costs are permissible under the contract These contracts establish an estimate of total cost for the purpose of obligating funds and establishing a ceiling that the contractor may not exceed without the approval of the purchaser. The contracts include i) cost without fee ii) cost sharing iii) cost plus incentive fee iv) cost plus award fee and v) cost plus fixed fee

Council of Logistics Management (CLM)
A professional body engaged in promoting the understanding and development of the logistics concepts

Counter Offer
An offer to enter into a transaction on terms other than those originally proposed

Counter Purchase
A form of counter trade that takes place  when an organisation agrees to purchase a specified volume of materials from a country in return for sale made to that country

Counter Trade
A transaction under which an organisation buys goods from a country in exchange of the sales made to that country

Cover
An alternative available to a purchaser in the event of a breach of contract by the seller. Purchaser is entitled to get the  material from the open market at the risk and cost of the seller

Cross Docking
A logistic distribution system in which freight moves in and out of a distribution center or point without ever being stored there

Cumulative discount
A discount on price based on the quantities of an item purchased over a period of time rather than one time

Customs Broker
An individual or an organisation licensed by a government to assist in processing incoming shipments through customs and receives commission

Customs Invoice
A pro forma invoice used by the customs service of a country  to determine the source , classification and value of goods being imported to compute duties

Cycle Counting
A physical stock checking system in which the whole inventory is divided into groups and items under each group are counted physically according to certain fixed calendar schedule. Counting goes on continuously without interruptions

Cycle Stock
The moving portion of an inventory that's that part of inventory for which there is regular withdrawal and replenishment

Cycle Time
The time required to complete a process, such as replenishing inventory