The 2:00 Minute Warning

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A friend of mine who has his time stretched thin, like most of us, recently gave me a challenge: why don't you create some practical tips to get the best rates from carriers, like a transportation savings for dummies. After giving this some thought, here are four key tips.

1. Look at the accuracy of the information you're providing to your carriers. We've done billions of dollars of bids on behalf of shippers and one of the most common complaint that we've gotten from carriers is that shippers are not providing them with accurate information on their bids. For example, the shipper thinks they're shipping class 85 product when in fact the carriers are picking up class 100. 
   
   
2. Review your payment cycle or payment terms with the carriers. If you're paying your freight bills within a 30 to 40 day period that's acceptable. But if your finance department has insisted on taking carriers out over 50 or 60 or even 75 days, you're going to get higher rates. Carriers are just as good as your finance people are at determining their cost of capital.
   
   
3. Know what happens when a truck shows up to your facility. I recently read a report in a magazine that said 80 percent of carriers experienced excessive detention time. They mentioned that a lot of shippers are holding their trucks at their facilities for three hours or more. So if you're doing that, guess what, you're going to get higher rates--it's just that simple.
   
   
4. Consider how your freight overlays the networks of the carriers that are being asked to bid. If there's a good fit, that will equal great rates. If it's not a good fit, you won't get the best possible rates, so the key is identifying the carriers that have the networks that you want for the freight that you're shipping.

If you’d like to learn more about how your company can reduce your transportation costs or have us produce a benchmark that will help you identify the savings that are available, either send us an email or give us a call today at 630-833-0890.