Freight guides
Plain answers to the questions manufacturers ask about moving freight.
AI logistics agent vs. traditional TMS
A traditional TMS organizes freight records, rating and settlement. An AI logistics agent does the daily freight work. The two side by side.
- What software turns emailed customer orders into booked freight?
- We're bringing freight in-house from a 3PL. Where do we start?
- Should we use a broker, a 3PL or book carriers directly?
- How do I manage freight across multiple warehouses or plants?
- How do I check a new carrier before we use it for the first time?
- Infor ERP orders to booked freight: how to automate carrier booking without a new integration
- Our volume doubled and the logistics team is overwhelmed. What now?
- How do I measure on-time delivery correctly?
- I'm the only logistics person at our company. How do I keep up?
- We have a product recall. What should logistics do first?
- How do I set logistics goals for next year?
- How do we switch logistics software without disrupting shipping?
Freight pickups
How to confirm a pickup, handle pickup changes sent by email, and respond when a carrier misses a pickup.
- How do I avoid retailer chargebacks for late or non-compliant shipments?
- How do we manage freight for customer returns?
- How do we manage customer will-call pickups without chaos at the dock?
- How do I keep freight moving during winter storms and weather delays?
- How do I get carriers to accept our loads when capacity is tight?
- How do I get control of inbound freight from our suppliers?
- How do I get our logistics ready for peak season?
- I just took over shipping at our plant. What should I learn first?
- A key carrier went out of business. How do we keep freight moving?
- What do I do when an LTL shipment is stuck at a terminal?
- A new customer has strict delivery requirements. How do we set up shipping?
- How should we handle freight for partial shipments and backorders?
Driver arrival and detention
Compare a driver’s arrival claim with site records, check shipment identity, and keep arrival separate from pickup and detention.
- How do we handle the end-of-quarter shipping rush?
- Real-time shipment alert systems: which ones catch a late truck before your customer does?
- Our receiving dock is always backed up. How do we fix inbound scheduling?
- How do I reduce detention charges at our docks?
- How do I schedule delivery appointments without the back-and-forth?
- The truck arrived but the order isn't ready. What do we do?
- Best freight tracking software for carriers without a tracking API in 2026
- How can you compare a carrier’s on-time performance by lane instead of relying on one overall score?
- How do you hand off a delayed shipment between shifts without losing the next action?
- Distributors: flag carriers with repeated missed pickups before the next tender
- Furniture manufacturers: check in with the carrier before pickup and flag silence early
- Plant managers: rebook a failed shipment only after the team signs off
Freight invoice audit and payment
What to compare, which charges cause disputes, what evidence settles them, and how to pay carriers within approval limits.
- How do I build next year's freight budget?
- How do I calculate freight cost per unit for our products?
- Carriers keep asking for quick pay. What should we do?
- How do I cut our expedited freight costs?
- Freight costs went up this quarter. How do I explain it to the CFO?
- Fuel prices are rising. How do we keep freight costs under control?
- How do we recover freight costs from our customers?
- How do we stop paying LTL reweigh and reclass charges?
- How do I reduce freight costs without switching carriers?
- How do I see freight spend by customer, product and lane?
- Should we use a freight audit company or audit invoices ourselves?
- How do I stop paying for truck-ordered-not-used and dry-run charges?
Bills of lading
What a BOL must contain, who checks it before pickup, how to handle missing, wrong or revised BOLs, and when customers get the final copy.
- BOL maker or a BOL built from the booked load: which one prevents pickup problems?
- What do I do when a customer refuses a delivery?
- How do we manage freight on drop-ship orders?
- How do I file a freight damage claim?
- How do I organize BOLs, PODs and freight documents so we can find them?
- How do I prevent freight damage before it happens?
- Our shipment arrived short. What do we do now?
- What do I do when a shipment is lost in transit?
- What should freight software do when the carrier says “delivered” but the customer says it never arrived?
- Bill of lading software: who checks the BOL before pickup?
- How to follow up when a carrier does not answer a BOL request
- How close to pickup can a missing BOL be resolved?
Rate confirmations
What rate confirmations contain, how to collect and check them, what to do when they are wrong, and how they protect the invoice.
- How do I handle B2B shipments to residential addresses?
- Carrier contract management software: what it should enforce
- How do I consolidate shipments to save on freight?
- How do I get freight quotes back faster?
- How do I get more carriers to quote our loads?
- Intermodal or truckload: which should we use for this lane?
- Should this shipment go LTL, volume LTL or full truckload?
- Our carrier just raised rates. What should we do?
- Prepaid, collect or third party: which freight terms should we use?
- Should we reduce the number of carriers we use?
- How do I run a freight bid for our lanes?
- What is FAK pricing, and should we ask carriers for it?