Carrier Bid Process: How to Improve Sourcing, Cut Risk
Unreliable carriers can damage your freight, your reputation, and your bottom line. When a carrier consistently misses appointments, makes excuses, or causes freight claims, shippers face costly disruptions that ripple through their entire supply chain.
Everyone remembers the collective groan that emanates from the class when the teacher starts pairing people together to complete an assignment. The whole class simultaneously glances at the one person in class they definitely don't want to work with. Let’s call this person Greg.
Greg is never on time, he always has an excuse and he is, more often than not, going to damage the project in some way, creating more work for everyone.
Bad carriers are just like Greg; while the rest of the class are shippers just trying to complete the project on time and in one piece. As a shipper, it’s critical to your freight, your reputation, and your bottom line to know when it is time to switch carriers.
In this blog post, we'll cover five tell-tale signs that it's time to switch carriers and how to identify when your current carrier relationship is hurting your business.
Late Pickup and Delivery
From a shipper's standpoint, a carrier showing up on time for their pickup or delivery appointment should be a given. Yet bad carriers will consistently miss their appointments for a plethora of unacceptable reasons.
Having said that, there are acceptable reasons for a carrier to miss an appointment. Honestly, the truth is that every carrier is going to miss an appointment or two now and then. What separates a good carrier from a bad carrier, however, is the frequency with which they miss appointments. The manner with which they alert the shipper to the delay is also a tell-tale sign. Their communication regarding the trucks ETA, and the options that they provide the shipper in order to recover and deliver the freight as close to the original delivery date as possible.
A good carrier will alert the shipper to any delay they are facing, provide the shipper with the location of the truck and its latest ETA, as well as provide a reason for the delay; OS&D, driver illness, inclement weather, etc. From there, they will provide a list of all the options that are available to the shipper in order to deliver the freight as soon as logistically possible. A bad carrier will do none of these things. In fact, they will continue to operate behind schedule until the issue is directly addressed by the shipper. By then, the damage is usually already done and possibly irreversible.
A good carrier will identify that they are struggling with on-time pickups/deliveries on a given lane and address this issue internally and with the shipper, in order to offer the best service and communication they can provide.
If you are routinely dealing with late pickups or deliveries, it may be a good time to switch carriers.
Excuses
Excuses are as prevalent in the transportation industry as they are in any other industry.
A shipper can determine a bad carrier from a good one based simply on the excuses they offer as justification for their poor service or terrible rates. A bad carrier always has an excuse for why the truck is late or didn't pick up/deliver entirely. No matter the time of year, there is always something that can delay a truck, and shippers have heard every excuse in the book.
Good carriers, however, will alert the shipper to the issue and provide solutions rather than providing the same rinse and repeat excuses.
Freight Claims
It should go without saying that a good carrier delivers loads on time, but more importantly, in one piece. Claims are, quite simply, ridiculously messy, potentially dangerous, legally confusing, super expensive, and bad carriers are consistently involved in them.
Legitimate claims do happen, and most shippers have a specific process for handling freight claims. However, bad carriers are typically involved in more claims than good carriers, and the reason is simple. Good carriers care about the integrity of the freight they deliver. Bad carriers simply want to get the freight off their truck and get paid as soon as humanly possible. they drive recklessly and faster than is necessary in order to deliver the load. Furthermore, bad carriers push their equipment harder and take poorer care of their assets than good carriers. Because of this they are, more often than not, involved in more accidents, unexpected stops, load shifts, and breakdowns than good carriers.
Poor Communication
The transportation industry can be described as fluid at best. Whether transportation and logistics issues are going to happen in this industry isn't a matter of “if”, rather than “when". Which is exactly why excellent shipper-carrier communication is critical. The greatest carriers on the market run into issues on a daily basis. Some of those issues even affect entire logistics networks and even the availability of certain consumer products. The difference between a good carrier and a bad carrier is how well they communicate these issues with shippers.
Years ago the nation's largest and busiest intermodal hub was stuck by a polar vortex. Nearly every carrier in the region was hampered by record-breaking cold and incredible amounts of snow. Millions of pounds of freight were stuck, buried, or lost in the confusion that followed. In this situation, the good carriers were evident when compared to the bad.
Good carriers alerted their shippers to the numerous lengthy delays and provide updates to shippers as they were made available. Additionally, good carriers provided alternate delivery options in order to recover freight that was stuck at rail yards. They made themselves available and broadened their communication to alert their client base as to not only updates to the whereabouts of their freight, but also to the availability of their capacity and their ability to assist shippers whenever possible. Bad carriers simply left shippers in the cold (pun intended) wondering about the status and integrity of their freight.
Commitment to Capacity
A good carrier will quote their cost to a shipper and honor that rate for the agreed period of time. This is regardless of market shifts or loss of capacity. Poor carriers, when faced with a market shift, will give excuses why they need to charge the shipper more than what was previously quoted. Good carriers stick to their word and honor the rates they provided,. They do so even when that rate will potentially result in a loss of revenue to the carrier. Such a loss is an oversight of the carriers’ pricing team and not that of the shippers’.
Freight markets and the availability of carrier capacity are tighter than ever before and finding the right carrier can be a lengthy and arduous process. Driver shortages and an overabundance of freight have shifted supply & demand firmly into the hands of the carriers. Regardless of the current freight market conditions, no shipper should have to settle for poor service from bad carriers. Luckily your shipping team can now identify the good from the bad and help you switch carriers seamlessly.
Final Thoughts
If you're concerned about any of the issues above, it might be time to reassess your carrier network. Redwood's Open 4PL approach helps our customers not only renegotiate rates, but track carrier's on-time percentage and damages. That's not to mention that we also provide stellar customer service on a continual basis.
Contact our transportation management team to learn how we can help when you get ready to switch carriers.
FAQs
When should you switch carriers for freight shipping?
You should switch carriers when late pickups or deliveries happen repeatedly, communication breaks down, or freight claims become a pattern. Occasional delays are normal, but a carrier that routinely misses appointments and offers little recovery support is hurting service and cost. The key signal is consistency: one miss is manageable, a repeated pattern usually is not.
What are the biggest signs a carrier is hurting your supply chain?
The biggest warning signs are late appointments, constant excuses, poor communication, frequent freight claims, and rate changes that do not match the original quote. When those issues show up together, they can disrupt freight flow, damage service performance, and create avoidable expense. A strong carrier communicates early and offers recovery options instead of leaving you to react.
How do good carriers handle delays differently from bad carriers?
Good carriers alert the shipper as soon as a delay becomes clear, share the truck’s location and updated ETA, explain the reason for the delay, and present recovery options. Bad carriers often stay silent until the shipper pushes for answers. That difference matters because timely communication gives you a chance to adjust delivery plans and reduce fallout.
Why do freight claims matter when deciding whether to change carriers?
Freight claims matter because they are messy, legally confusing, and expensive, so repeated claims are a serious red flag. Some claims are unavoidable, but carriers that carelessness, reckless driving, poor equipment handling, and more accidents tend to generate more of them. If claims keep happening, the carrier may be creating avoidable risk rather than protecting your freight.
What does poor carrier communication look like in real life?
Poor carrier communication usually means no proactive updates, vague answers, and little help when the shipment is delayed. In contrast, reliable carriers share status updates, explain what is happening, and communicate alternate delivery options when needed. In a disruption, silence is often the clearest sign that a carrier is not managing the shipment well.
Should you switch carriers if rates keep changing after the quote?
Yes, repeated rate changes after a quote can be a sign that the carrier is not honoring its commitment to capacity. A good carrier stands behind the quoted cost for the agreed period, even when the market shifts. If a carrier regularly adds excuses for higher charges, that relationship is undermining pricing stability and planning.
What should you review before you switch carriers?
Before switching carriers, review on-time performance, damage and claims history, communication quality, and whether the carrier has honored quoted rates. Those four areas show whether the carrier is dependable or creating hidden freight waste. If multiple problems appear across those measures, it is reasonable to reassess the carrier network and replace weak performers.
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