Stop Buying Transportation. Procure It!
In a perfect world, buying transportation would be just like buying a cell phone. You’d narrow down the right carrier based on your coverage and usage needs; easily compare prices by carrier and easy-to-understand service levels; pick your preferred equipment and add a few accessories; and further lower your cost by making a multi-year commitment. In the real world, buying transportation is not as easy. Coverage and service levels are not easily comparable across carriers and modes and pricing and contract terms and conditions in this industry are often as clear as mud. The average shipper experiences double digit increases in year-over-year transportation spend as a result Read more →
The Reality Behind the 2011 Average Parcel Rate Increases
The life of a shipper at budgeting time would be a whole lot easier if you could just tack the average parcel rate increase onto the previous year’s budget and call it a day. Unfortunately, thanks to factors such as fuel surcharges, dimensional weight (DIM) and variable rate increases projecting your actual shipping costs is a much more time-consuming and complex process. To help shippers plan for the year ahead, our BirdDog analysts have dug deep into the 2011 UPS and FedEx rates to reveal how the most recent changes will impact the bottom line. Read more →
CSA2010 Rolled Out Nationwide, Replaces SafeStat
You may not have heard much about it, but there is a huge upheaval currently affecting the trucking industry that, very shortly, will begin to affect you too. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMcsa), the agency of the Department of Transportation that regulates all motor carriers, is completely overhauling the way it monitors safety compliance and reports to the public. You are probably familiar with the way that FMcsa used to do this, with a system known as SafeStat. The new system — known as csa2010 —replaced SafeStat on December 12, 2010. Read more →