# How freight changes the delivered onion price > The delivered price of onions is the FOB price plus the truck freight from the origin to the buyer's dock, so the same onions land at different costs in different cities. Because freight moves with fuel, distance and truck availability, a buyer can pay one FOB and see the delivered number swing on the lane alone, and sometimes switch origins on freight rather than on the onion price. _Updated Jul 10, 2026._ The delivered price of onions is simply the FOB price plus the freight to get them there. FOB is the onions on the truck at the origin. Freight is the trucking. Add them and you have what the onions actually cost landed at the buyer's dock. The onion price and the freight are two separate markets, and the delivered number is where they meet. ## Same onions, different cities Because freight depends on the lane, the same FOB lands at different delivered costs in different places. A 50-lb sack of Idaho-Eastern Oregon jumbos priced FOB at the Treasure Valley shed costs one thing delivered into Salt Lake and more delivered into Atlanta, because Atlanta is the far longer haul. The onions did not change. The distance did. A buyer comparing offers has to think in delivered terms for their own city, not in the raw FOB, because two buyers starting from the identical FOB will not land the onions at the same cost. ## Freight is its own moving market Truck rates are not a fixed add-on. They move with fuel prices, with how many trucks are chasing loads that week and with the season. Produce freight tightens when everything is harvesting at once and every shipper wants trucks, and it loosens when freight demand falls off. So the delivered price can move even when the FOB is flat, purely because the truck leg repriced. When a buyer says onions got more expensive and the shed price never budged, freight is usually the reason. ## When buyers switch origins on freight Freight can decide the origin. If two regions are quoting similar FOB onions but one is a much shorter haul to the buyer's dock, the closer origin wins on delivered cost even at an equal or slightly higher FOB. That is why a Southeast buyer often leans on Georgia or Peru through East Coast ports while a Western buyer leans on the Northwest, and why a freight swing can flip that math. The onion price gets the attention, but the freight lane quietly decides plenty of deals. ## Worked example: one FOB, freight added [Table: Idaho-Eastern Oregon onion prices](https://knowyouronions.news/origin/idaho-eastern-oregon) ([data](https://knowyouronions.news/origin/idaho-eastern-oregon.md)) Take the FOB range on the Idaho-Eastern Oregon table above. That is the starting number, before a mile of freight. To reach a delivered price, a buyer adds the truck rate for their lane, more for a long haul, less for a short one. The FOB is the fixed point. The freight is the variable that turns one origin price into a different landed cost for every buyer. Know Your Onions reports FOB shipping-point prices as USDA publishes them. This site does not track truck lanes, so any freight figures in examples are illustrative and clearly labeled as such. ## Related data + guides - [Idaho-Eastern Oregon prices](https://knowyouronions.news/origin/idaho-eastern-oregon) - [What does FOB mean in produce?](https://knowyouronions.news/guides/what-does-fob-mean) - [Glossary](https://knowyouronions.news/glossary) --- Canonical URL: https://knowyouronions.news/guides/how-freight-changes-the-delivered-price