Rates have gone up - but your costs don't have to!

This year hundreds of logistics executives had market conditions really wallop their freight budgets. Since that left many people looking for tips and insights, in December 2018 we teamed up with our friends from CSCMP and NASSTRAC and hosted an outstanding webinar with practical advice for reducing your transportation costs.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Josue Munoz from Colgate-Palmolive and John Janson from SanMar talked about how they've reduced their transportation costs. What really intrigued me though is that while they talked about the importance of tackling the 3 P's of transportation, they also talked about the importance of addressing the 3 C's of transportation, and how these impact their business.
  
  
• Derek Leathers from Werner Enterprises shared how the relationships they have with shippers absolutely impacts the rates and capacity they can offer. He also brought out a challenge: Most companies could achieve freight savings of at least 5% or more by focusing on things within their walls and addressing those inefficiencies. And these savings go beyond any gains achieved through the management of transportation rates.
  
  
• And Brian Gibson from Auburn University tied it all together by highlighting studies that demonstrate how collaboration within an organization is key to reducing freight costs, especially when it's extended out to carrier partners.

Some of you may be thinking “Can’t be done!” when thinking about reducing costs with rates rising, but thankfully we recorded the webinar and I challenge you to listen to how other companies are making this a reality. Their strategies may be something you can use to improve you plans for 2019 and beyond.