Pro Tips for LTL Freight Optimization: 7 Advanced Strategies

If you're an experienced shipper of less-than-truckload (LTL) freight, you may feel like you have a handle on how to do it well. But you may wonder whether you're missing any angle — if there are LTL freight optimization strategies that you aren't thinking of or might not know about.

For seasoned LTL freight shippers, digging into more sophisticated strategies can help you optimize your shipping operations and reduce costs. Let's look at some ways you could potentially improve your LTL freight shipping.

1. Diversify Carrier Network for Freight Optimization

If you're happy with your current LTL carrier (or carriers), you might not have looked at other options for a while. But carriers and offerings can change, as can your business needs. To make sure you're getting the best service and pricing for your business, it's important to evaluate your current LTL carrier mix, see who's performing best for your specific lanes and commodities, and look at what other providers can offer.

Collaborating with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider like Worldwide Express can give you access to a wide variety of vetted carriers and additional capacity options. Creating a multi-carrier strategy that aligns their offerings with your LTL shipping needs gives you greater control and efficiency.

2. Gain Control of Your Inbound LTL Shipping

A lot of experienced freight shippers focus on outbound logistics, relying on their suppliers to handle inbound shipments. But this can limit visibility into a vital part of your supply chain, complicating inventory management and potentially causing dock congestion and staff scheduling issues.

If this sounds like a problem you encounter, an important next step in your freight shipping strategy could be using your own carriers for inbound shipments. This can give you better visibility and control and result in cost savings. Forging tight relationships with a few trusted carriers can help you negotiate long-term contracts that are more cost-effective than spot rates in the long run.

A 3PL like Worldwide Express can be a huge help in selecting the right dedicated carriers for your outbound and inbound needs. We have relationships with over 75 LTL and 45,000+ full truckload (FTL) carriers along with expertise in helping shippers gain greater control over their supply chain.

3. Consolidate Freight Shipping and Save Money

If your LTL shipping volume is growing, freight consolidation can be an excellent strategy for reducing costs and the handling of your cargo. Got multiple LTL freight shipments going to the same destination around the same time? Combining them into one FTL shipment could save money and get your freight there with fewer stops, which means less handling and faster transit times. Even if you don't have enough freight to make FTL feasible, there are intermediate options such as partial truckload (PTL) and volume LTL that provide some of the benefits of FTL — and could save you money compared with multiple LTL freight shipments.

Another option for consolidating freight — if your load is coming from a distribution center used by other businesses — is pooling shipments. If the other companies have shipments going to the same destination, you could share truck space and split labor and handling costs, making it a win-win for all your businesses.

A 3PL can be a valued partner in either scenario, advising you on the best mode for your shipments or helping you connect with businesses within the same warehouse or distribution center. 3PLs will coordinate shared transportation, negotiate rates and manage logistics, helping you get the most out of freight consolidation.

4. Be a Valued Partner to LTL Freight Carriers

Relationships are important in the shipping industry, but that is especially true when it comes to LTL freight. Carriers are hoping to pick up large loads from multiple customers in a timely manner so they can stick to a schedule and their delivery commitments. If you demonstrate a mutual commitment to their goals, carriers will trust and value your business and prioritize you in times of high volume and demand.

The best way to gain this priority status is to be transparent and honor your commitments to them. Be precise with your scheduling, making sure you schedule pickups when you're sure your loads are ready. This helps minimize dwell time — the amount of time carriers spend at pickup and delivery sites.

Not only is avoiding unnecessary dwell time crucial to keeping carriers moving efficiently, but it also saves you from being hit with additional shipping fees, since carriers will charge "detention time" surcharges for waiting longer than expected.

5. Avoid LTL Freight Rejection

Shipments being rejected upon attempted delivery will disrupt your timing, damage customer relationships and hurt your bottom line. If you've had your freight rejected before, make sure you've addressed the problems with your staff and communicated with your customer and carrier about how to avoid the same thing happening again.

If you've never had this happen, be sure you know the potential causes for rejected freight so you can continue to prevent it. Ensure accurate bills of lading (BOL) by being precise about weight, freight class, purchase order numbers and other important pieces of information. Use best practices in packaging and securing freight to avoid damage — another common reason freight is rejected by recipients. And work with reliable carriers to help ensure time-sensitive shipments arrive when they're needed.

6. Uncover More Insights With an LTL Freight Services Audit

If you want an organized and efficient way to consider all of the above and more, a freight audit can help you assess your current shipping landscape and find ways to refine your shipping strategies.

This process involves checking for invoice accuracy, identifying unnecessary costs, and ensuring optimal service selections. You'll also examine your day-to-day fulfillment operations to identify any weaknesses or opportunities in various areas — for example, evaluating packaging practices, gauging how well pickup windows are working with the flow of your business, and finding inefficiencies in your processes.

7. Seek Help for LTL Optimization

All the above ideas, while valuable in the long run, add time and effort to your already hectic day-to-day workload. A 3PL like Worldwide Express can provide a team of experts with experience in analyzing freight operations for LTL optimization. They can also provide valuable support and expertise in implementing the recommended strategies. If you're a frequent LTL freight shipper, continually assessing and adapting your shipping strategies as markets evolve and your business grows (or faces challenges) is key to success.

Explore the Benefits of Freight Optimization with a 3PL Partner Like Worldwide Express

Worldwide Express has more than 30 years of success in the logistics industry and helps thousands of freight shippers of all sizes move products with great efficiency. We are also part of WWEX Group, alongside GlobalTranz and Unishippers. Combined, these three companies make up one of the largest and most diverse 3PLs in the industry, providing shippers with top solutions that help them succeed. That includes teaming up shippers with top freight carrier solutions and carriers from our network of 75+ LTL and 45,000+ FTL freight carriers!

Ready to learn more about our freight service? Reach out for a free consultation.