A good LTL trucking service is essential for every company that ships or runs a warehousing operation to stay viable and competitive. Finding a good freight carrier to meet your business needs is vital. We recommend it’s one of the first questions a business needs to ask. With thousands of LTL carriers out there, searching and finding the best one for you can be an imposing and time-consuming task.
Hopefully We Can Simplify Your LTL Trucking Search
Here’s a few factors to consider in your search:
- Specialized or a generalized trucking service. Some companies offer both LTL and truckload shipping. Some offer only one or the other. Companies that specialize in one type of freight can offer expert advice and recommendations for the specific freight types.
- Fast freight quotes mean expertise. A good LTL trucking service can give you fast and accurate quotes with only a little information. As the average weight of an LTL shipment is roughly 1,000 pounds, you shouldn’t need to supply highly detailed information to get a quote. Aside from your contact information, you really should need five pieces of shipment information to get a freight quote.
- Freight brokers can deliver dozens of good LTL trucking services. A freight broker partners with dozens, sometimes even hundreds or thousands of LTL carriers. This means one phone call is all you need to find an LTL carrier to handle your local, regional, national or even international shipping needs. A freight broker also includes the benefit of a transportation management system (TMS) software. This makes tracking, reporting and quoting fast and easy.
- Look beyond the freight rates. Low freight rates are great, but all the cash you save on a low shipping rate can be lost. You don’t want your staff dealing with damaged or lost freight, unhappy customers and freight claims. If it does happen, you’ll end up spending more in time and money than you saved with a low rate. When looking for an LTL carrier, make sure to ask about their customer service and claims processing too.
The on-time delivery of your product can be a defining factor for your customers. It can also give you a competitive edge. Take these four items into account when you are looking to find a good LTL trucking service and you can save yourself a lot of time and money. For some companies, it may be even easier to work with a freight broker like LTL Freight Center that can help cut costs with the added benefits of reporting and full-service logistics management.