Interesting in light of the Land Air Express of New England shutdown over related concerns that the FMCSA decided to decrease the drug testing rate by half – from 50% to 25%.  Such actions and the recent incident we are certain are not related; but fantastic that this change has been made!The FMCSA top administrator Scott Darling and his staff must should be saluted for their willingness to temper a powerful but unnecessarily intrusive and burdensome tool.  They have objectively ...

DOT had shut down this regional carrier for violations it had failed to address driver drug and alcohol violations given in late October. Allegedly Land Air had failed to conduct random tests at the required rate, had also failed to test after accidents, continued to employ a driver who had tested positive for some controlled substance, and continued to employ a driver who didn’t have all the proper licensing.Unfortunately, we don’t know the details beyond that, but it is hard to ima ...

Unfortunately, Common Carriers in their drive to maximize revenue are digging deeper and deeper into their Tariffs and using every tool possible to charge their clients more money.You really need these days – unless you ship the exact same freight class and NMFC# including the sub number precisely the same – you really need to measure each pallet when you go for pallet pricing – approximate is not good enough.If you are a shipper, invest in a scale – it is the right way t ...

It is darn painful when you work hard to book your LTL shipments cost-effectively and then the other party to the transaction – the shipper or the receiver – causes all kinds of extra charges to you even though you didn’t get the extra service, they did!In other words, you did your job but they didn’t do theirs but you are obligated to pay for it. Per Common Carrier tariffs, the party who books/pays for the freight has to pay ALL charges related to the shipment. From the ...

Expedited shipping expenses should be a maximum of 3% to 5% of your overall freight budget, but often companies spend upwards of 20% of gross freight purchases on Expedited and Guaranteed Services. Most of these expenses can be avoided. Let's talk about how.Tip #1Transparent, honest, and FAST communications with your client are a must in order to avoid making your company responsible for expedited shipping costs. Everyone must understand that the consequences of late delivery for the customer ar ...

FreightRun.com is unique in that you can get instant zip-to-zip pricing for most volume and truckload (FTL) full truckload transportation moves. Most other freight carriers offer a feature where you basically fill out their form, and the form is emailed and 30 minutes to an hour later you will get a quote.  Unfortunately, they are quoting that price depending on what their particular situation is that day or week FreightRun.com on the other hand is combining the information from thousands o ...

LTL Trick Tip #1 - Know Your FreightIf it turns out the dimensions or weight or NMFC code you provided are wrong, it can get VERY expensive VERY fast. Common carriers have increased the number of freight inspections they do by 300% in order to generate maximum revenue.So carefully catalog and document what you ship - including measurements - so you can dispute any negative inspections with data, and to avoid such inspections in the first place. If you are not the shipper, but say the Purchasing ...

LTL PRIMER: THE BASICS OF LESS THAN TRUCKLOAD SHIPPING So you are your company’s new traffic manager, logistics director, shipping manager, warehouse manager, receiving manager, purchasing manager, or some other title, and one of your duties is carrier selection -to move your freight with the best LTL carrier. One who is reliable but also inexpensive. The problem is, yesterday you didn’t even know that LTL stood for Less Than Truckload Shipping! COMMON CARRIER LTL SHIPPINGNo problem ...

If transportation strategy is not your core business, it is ours and we can add strategic advantage to your Company. We will optimize all available capacity to your company’s needs in the most reliable and flexible manner in our industry.We will:Aggressively pursue appropriate freight carrier matches with an aim to reduce risks, assure on-time pickups and deliveries, manage costs, reduce complexity, and contractually lower liabilities for the shipper and/or freight payor.Provide the capaci ...

Of course, it depends on what you are packing but the ideal pallet is always the same to a carrier: a square strong crate (eg - engine shipping crates) 45" to 50" high on which they can stack another pallet and weighing no more than 1200 lbs.Pack for Freight Common LTL TruckloadUnfortunately, in the real world, we are not economically able to crate every shipment and most freight does not perfectly fill out a 42" x 48" x 48" space. So we adjust - but your goal should be to minimize the dimension ...