Customers don’t care as long at the package gets there

When was the last time you received a package on time and said “I’m glad I received that as expected, but it would have been better if my favorite carrier delivered it!”?

I’m gonna guess never.

Customers care about getting what they’ve been promised: Packages delivered intact and on time. The carrier that gets it there with those criteria doesn’t matter.

Many shippers and 3PLs have embraced a multi-carrier strategy, which is not only smart, it’s essential. If shippers can get better rates and more reliability from multiple carriers, they should.

But there is even more opportunity! What if those multiple carriers bid on parcels with dynamic parcel pricing? Shippers would flip the rate shop - insteading of parsing through pre-negotiated rates, carriers would be the ones saying which parcels are best suited for their trucks and routes. All the shipper needs to do is submit the parcel info, wait for the best rate, and put the package on the truck.

Carriers, both regional and national, have many trucks and massive networks, and within each network, there are efficient routes and inefficient routes. Inefficient routes are effectively loss-leaders that enable the carrier to say “We cover X region at 100%!” The reality is that a meshed network with limited overlaps is a much more efficient system. Carriers can pick and choose packages based on efficiencies within their systems, and shippers benefit on price. A dynamically priced auction unlocks this opportunity and creates a much more efficient system - cost efficient, carbon efficient, truck efficient.

Too often, a house has 2-3 trucks from different carriers delivering to their house at one time. We don’t need that much overlap and congestion. Dynamic pricing would reduce the congestion and match shippers, destinations, and carriers that make sense.

The carrier maximizes efficiency, the shipper gets the best rate, the customer gets the package on time, and the carrier-agnostic delivery continues.