Best practices for working with your shipping provider during peak and promotional surges

Every detail matters, so be forthcoming about whether there’s a requirement that needs to be taken into consideration, and be sure to mention any challenges that have come up in the past. The transportation provider can then effectively incorporate those conditions into the shipping plan.

Both the drivers and the receivers should be armed with the information and tools they’ll need for successful shipping and deliveries. Updated time schedules, facility details and other pertinent instructions can help ensure a more seamless drop, keeping deliveries on time and fines at bay.

If you know your freight is best moved with a certain type of equipment, tell your transportation provider sooner rather than later. Advance notice of this requirement will help the provider locate the necessary equipment to ensure it’s in position when the promotional period begins.

When discussing your promotional freight, try to avoid requesting specific or rigid execution types. Doing so can limit options and drive-up costs. Being open to non-asset-based options or opting to incorporate modes such as over the road, power only or intermodal, can expand on the number of solutions that are proposed to execute the promotional freight. Additionally, shipping flexibility can potentially offer a cost savings.

Peak and promotional freight is usually always calculated at a rate that differs from the base rate, making it an important differentiator from standard freight shipping. This should be taken into consideration as transportation budgets are determined and later discussed with a transportation provider.

Know whether you’re situated in a headhaul or backhaul market, and how you intend to move freight within it.

• A headhaul market occurs when the demand for the lane is greater than the supply of capacity available and is generally considered the load that’s heading to its destination. Carriers have plenty of outbound choices, which can cause shipping rates to be high.

• A backhaul market accommodates a return trip over the same route. Carriers don’t want to deadhead—returning to its point of origin with an empty trailer—so to help ensure trailers are loaded with freight, there’s more willingness to negotiate price.

Staging product for continuous shipping during peak or promotional times may not result in faster shipping. If the required driver density isn’t available, the timeline for shipping product may need to be extended. Transportation providers will have insight as to what the available capacity is and how freight can be staged and shipped efficiently.

Be it in person or virtual, coordinate a forum where both the shipper and carrier teams can consistently meet to review KPIs and troubleshoot any unforeseen shipping problems.

A key to peak and promotional freight success is to match the scale of the promotion with the scalability of the transportation provider. Knowing whether the provider has the right equipment (and if it’s available), enough drivers and the ability to flex capacity will be imperative to help ensure a flawless execution.

Fine tune your freight to maximize acceptance rates and ensure there’s capacity during your peak season.

Peak and promotional freight is vital in a shipper’s business cycle. To mitigate delivery frustrations during these accelerated times, shippers should prepare for their promotional freight as much as possible and find a transportation provider that understands the unique challenges of this type of freight. Schneider can act as that trusted advisor and deliver on the key requirements shippers find themselves needing the most during peak and promotional periods—visibility, scalability, multimodal capabilities and the ability to stack capacity.