If you’re a high-volume shipper, you’re sitting on a goldmine of information: your own shipping data. Every package you send creates a data point that tells a story about your volume, destinations, and service needs. Too often, this valuable information is left untapped, leaving money on the table during carrier negotiations. Instead of relying on guesswork, you can use this data to build a powerful case for better terms. This is the essence of freight contract optimization—turning your historical shipping information into your greatest negotiating asset. It allows you to pinpoint exactly where you can save money and demonstrate your value as a consistent, profitable partner to carriers.
Key Takeaways
- Your shipping data is your best negotiation tool: Before you talk to a carrier, analyze your own freight spend, benchmark your rates against the market, and use specific performance metrics to build a solid case for better terms.
- A low rate means nothing if hidden fees erase your savings: A truly optimized contract goes beyond the base price. Negotiate accessorial charges, establish clear service level agreements (SLAs), and read the fine print to protect your budget and your brand’s reputation.
- Make freight optimization an ongoing strategy, not a one-time task: The shipping market is always changing. Schedule regular contract reviews, build flexibility into your agreements, and continuously monitor carrier performance to ensure your savings last.
What is Freight Contract Optimization?
Freight contract optimization is the process of analyzing and negotiating your shipping agreements to get the best possible rates, terms, and service levels for your specific business needs. It’s much more than just asking for a bigger discount. A truly optimized contract reflects your unique shipping profile—where you ship, what you ship, and how often—to build a smarter, more cost-effective logistics strategy. It’s the difference between an off-the-rack agreement and a custom-tailored one that fits your operations perfectly.
This strategic process involves a deep dive into your shipping data to understand your real costs, including all those complex accessorial fees and surcharges. By identifying your specific shipping patterns and pain points, you can negotiate from a position of strength. The goal of contract optimization is to secure terms that not only lower your expenses but also align with the service quality your customers demand. It transforms your relationship with carriers from a simple transaction into a strategic partnership, giving you the tools to manage expenses and improve efficiency across your supply chain. This isn’t a one-time fix; it’s an ongoing strategy to ensure your contracts evolve with your business and the market.
The Real Cost of an Unoptimized Contract
An unoptimized freight contract quietly drains your budget every single day. The most obvious cost is simply overpaying for shipping, but the financial damage runs much deeper. When your contract doesn’t align with your actual shipping patterns, you get hit with unexpected surcharges and fees that inflate your invoices. These unbudgeted expenses can erode your profit margins shipment by shipment.
Beyond the direct financial hit, a poor contract can lead to operational chaos. Think delayed deliveries that damage your brand’s reputation and strain customer relationships. Companies that overlook freight optimization often find themselves dealing with these exact issues, all while trying to manage rising carrier costs for labor, fuel, and technology. It’s a squeeze that makes it critical to reduce high-volume shipping costs wherever possible.
The Payoff: Key Benefits of Getting It Right
Getting your freight contract right delivers a powerful return. The most immediate benefit is significant cost savings, often ranging from 5% to 20% on your overall freight spend. For high-volume shippers, this translates into a substantial boost to the bottom line. But the advantages extend far beyond your budget. A well-structured contract gives you predictability and control over your shipping expenses, making financial planning and forecasting much more accurate.
Optimization also leads to major improvements in operational efficiency. With clear service level agreements (SLAs) in place, you can hold carriers accountable and ensure more consistent, on-time deliveries. This reliability strengthens customer trust and satisfaction. By tracking the right reporting & KPIs, you gain clear visibility into your entire logistics operation. This data-driven approach separates high-performing businesses from those just trying to keep up, allowing you to make smarter decisions and maintain a competitive edge.
Anatomy of a Winning Freight Contract
A strong freight contract is much more than a rate sheet. It’s a detailed agreement that sets clear expectations for service, outlines every potential cost, and protects your business. Think of it as the blueprint for your relationship with a carrier. When you get these core components right, you create a partnership that’s built on transparency and mutual success, not just a low price point. Let’s break down the essential parts of a contract that truly works for you.
Defining Success: Service Levels and Performance Metrics
Before you can hold a carrier accountable, you have to define what success looks like. This is where service level agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in. As the logistics experts at FleetWorks note, “Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in logistics are quantifiable measurements used to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of freight operations.” These aren’t just nice-to-haves; they are the contractual standards your carrier must meet.
Your contract should spell out specific metrics like on-time pickup and delivery percentages, transit time consistency, and acceptable damage rates. By embedding these standards directly into the agreement, you turn vague promises into measurable, enforceable obligations. This data provides the foundation for productive carrier conversations and ensures you have the right reporting and KPIs to manage performance effectively.
Decoding Your Rates: Pricing Structures and Schedules
The pricing section is often the most scrutinized part of any freight contract, and for good reason. Your rate structure—whether it’s based on mileage, weight, or a flat fee—needs to be crystal clear. But the numbers themselves are only half the story. It’s crucial to know how your rates stack up against the market. “Understanding how your performance compares to industry standards helps contextualize your metrics,” and the same is true for your pricing.
A winning contract has a transparent, easy-to-understand rate schedule that includes all variables, like fuel surcharges. To truly know if you’re getting a good deal, you need to benchmark discounts and incentives against what similar-sized shippers are paying. Without this context, you’re negotiating in the dark and could be leaving significant savings on the table.
Watching for Hidden Costs: Accessorial Charges and Fees
Accessorial charges are the hidden fees that can quickly inflate your freight spend. These are charges for services beyond standard pickup and delivery, such as liftgate use, residential delivery, or detention fees if a driver has to wait too long. Companies that don’t manage these costs often face budget overruns. As one industry report points out, “A careful audit of freight bills can catch small mistakes, such as charges for services not used or incorrect weights.”
Your contract should explicitly list every potential accessorial charge and its cost. The best strategy is to negotiate these fees upfront. Based on your shipping profile, you may be able to get certain common charges waived or capped. An ongoing invoice audit and recovery program is your safety net, ensuring you only pay for the services you actually receive.
The Fine Print: Contract Terms and Renewal Clauses
It’s easy to focus on rates and forget about the rest of the agreement, but the fine print is where you’ll find critical terms that can make or break the partnership. Pay close attention to clauses covering liability for lost or damaged goods, payment terms, and the process for resolving disputes. These details define the rules of engagement when things don’t go as planned.
Also, be wary of auto-renewal clauses. These can lock you into an outdated agreement long after market conditions have changed. True contract optimization involves looking “beyond price” to build a flexible and fair agreement that protects your interests for the long haul.
Your Game Plan for Freight Contract Optimization
Walking into a negotiation without a plan is like trying to build furniture without instructions—you might end up with something, but it probably won’t be what you wanted. A successful freight contract negotiation isn’t about luck; it’s about strategy. It requires a clear, data-backed approach that puts you in the driver’s seat. The goal is to secure terms that reflect the value of your business and align with your operational needs, creating a win-win scenario where your carrier gets reliable volume and you get excellent service at a fair price.
Think of it as a four-part game plan. First, you need to understand your own shipping profile completely. Second, you’ll use that information to build a compelling case. Third, you’ll create leverage by exploring your options. And finally, you’ll focus on building a relationship that goes beyond a single transaction. Following these steps transforms negotiation from a stressful obligation into a powerful opportunity to strengthen your supply chain and protect your bottom line. A well-executed contract optimization strategy is one of the most effective ways to manage shipping costs.
Start with a Freight Spend Analysis
Before you can ask for a better deal, you need to know exactly what your current deal looks like in practice. A thorough freight spend analysis is the foundation of your entire negotiation strategy. This means digging into your shipping data to understand your habits inside and out. You need to know how much you ship each month or season, which services you use most often, and the specific characteristics of your packages—including weights, dimensions, costs, and common destinations. This information is your source of truth. It removes guesswork and allows you to speak with authority about your shipping needs and the value you bring to a carrier. Having detailed reporting and KPIs is non-negotiable for this step.
Use Your Shipping Data to Negotiate Smarter
Once you have your data, it’s time to put it to work. Carriers respond to facts and figures, not vague requests for discounts. Use your shipping analysis to pinpoint opportunities for savings and build a data-driven case. For example, you can show a carrier your high volume on a specific lane or your low rate of residential surcharges to argue for better terms. When you can demonstrate your value with concrete numbers, the conversation shifts from simply asking for a lower price to collaborating on a mutually beneficial agreement. This is also where you can benchmark discounts and incentives against industry standards to see if your rates are truly competitive.
Diversify Your Carrier Mix
Relying on a single carrier for all your shipping needs is a risky move. It leaves you vulnerable to unexpected rate hikes, capacity issues, and service disruptions. It also gives you very little leverage in negotiations. By actively pursuing carrier diversification, you create a more resilient supply chain and introduce healthy competition for your business. When your primary carrier knows you have other viable options, they have a stronger incentive to offer competitive rates and excellent service to keep your volume. Having backup plans, whether it’s a regional carrier for certain zones or a different national provider for specific services, is a fundamental part of a smart shipping strategy.
Turn Carriers into True Partners
While it’s important to be firm in negotiations, the most successful long-term strategies are built on partnership, not conflict. Treat your carriers like the critical business partners they are. When you build a strong, transparent relationship, you often gain access to benefits that go beyond the written contract. This can include better prices, priority service during peak seasons, and more flexibility when operational issues arise. A carrier that views you as a partner is more likely to work with you to find creative solutions and help you meet your goals. This collaborative approach is key to building a contract optimization plan that delivers lasting value and supports your business as it grows.
How Technology Gives You an Edge
Trying to optimize your freight contracts without the right technology is like trying to find your way in the dark. You might get there eventually, but you’ll probably take a few wrong turns and miss some major shortcuts. Technology gives you the visibility and control you need to make smarter, data-driven decisions that directly impact your bottom line. It’s not about adding complexity; it’s about simplifying your process by turning mountains of shipping data into clear, actionable insights.
Modern logistics platforms automate the tedious work, from choosing the best carrier for each shipment to auditing every single invoice for errors. This frees up your team to focus on strategy and building stronger carrier relationships. With the right tools, you can see exactly where your money is going, how your carriers are performing, and how your rates stack up against the competition. This level of insight is what separates companies that simply manage their shipping from those that master it, giving you a powerful advantage in every contract negotiation.
Using a TMS for Smarter Carrier Selection
Think of a Transportation Management System (TMS) as your logistics command center. Instead of manually comparing carrier rates and transit times for every shipment, a TMS does the heavy lifting for you. It acts as a central hub that automatically analyzes your options and picks the most efficient and cost-effective carrier based on your specific rules. This ensures you’re not just defaulting to the same carrier out of habit but are making the best choice every time. A good TMS can also help you with modal optimization, identifying opportunities to switch between parcel, LTL, or other modes to save money without sacrificing service quality. It’s a practical way to enforce your routing guides and make sure you’re always getting the best value.
Gaining Insight with Data Analytics and Real-Time Tracking
Data is your most powerful negotiating tool, but only if you can make sense of it. Technology transforms raw shipping data into easy-to-understand reports and dashboards. You can track key performance indicators (KPIs) like on-time delivery rates, cost per pound, and accessorial fee frequency. This allows you to see exactly how your carriers are performing against their service level agreements. More importantly, you can see how your rates and discounts compare to others in your industry. Using industry benchmarks gives you context and leverage, showing you where you have room to negotiate for better terms. Real-time tracking also provides the visibility needed to manage exceptions and keep your customers informed.
Catching Errors with Automated Invoice Audits
Carrier invoices are notoriously complex, and billing errors are surprisingly common. Manually reviewing every line item on thousands of invoices is an impossible task for any busy team. This is where automated invoice auditing comes in. Specialized software can scan every single invoice and compare it against your carrier contract, flagging discrepancies like incorrect rates, duplicate charges, and service failures that should have resulted in a refund. This automated process ensures you’re not overpaying due to simple mistakes. It’s a straightforward way to recover costs and hold your carriers accountable, making sure you only pay for the services you actually receive.
Connecting Your Systems for a Full Picture
Your logistics operation doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s connected to your inventory, sales, and customer service departments. When your TMS, warehouse management system (WMS), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software are all integrated, you get a complete, end-to-end view of your supply chain. This holistic perspective allows you to make more strategic decisions. For example, you can see how shipping costs impact product margins or how transit times affect customer satisfaction. A fully connected system provides a single source of truth, eliminating data silos and enabling better overall spend management. This big-picture view is essential for identifying deeper inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement across your entire operation.
How to Negotiate Better Rates and Terms
Walking into a negotiation with your carrier without a plan is like going on a road trip without a map. You might get somewhere, but probably not where you intended. The key to a successful negotiation isn’t about demanding lower prices; it’s about building a strong, data-backed case that shows why a better deal makes sense for both you and the carrier. This is where you transform from just another customer into a strategic partner.
Effective negotiation starts long before you sit down at the table. It begins with a deep understanding of your own shipping patterns, a clear view of the current market, and a solid grasp of what constitutes a competitive rate. When you can speak confidently about your freight profile—your volumes, your most-used lanes, your service mix—you change the dynamic of the conversation. Carriers respond to shippers who know their numbers. By preparing thoroughly, you can guide the discussion toward a mutually beneficial agreement that lowers your costs and provides your carrier with predictable, profitable business. This process is the core of true contract optimization.
Do Your Homework with Historical Shipping Data
Your past shipping data is your most powerful negotiation tool. Before you even think about talking to your carrier, you need to analyze your shipping history to understand exactly where your money is going. Dig into your records to identify trends in your volume, the services you use most often, and the accessorial fees that pop up regularly. Are you overpaying for express services when ground would suffice? Are you constantly getting hit with residential delivery surcharges? Carriers listen to facts, and presenting them with clear data on your shipping profile can help you secure better terms. A good spend management portal makes it easy to pull these reports and find your strongest talking points.
Understand Carrier Pricing and Market Conditions
Carrier pricing isn’t set in stone; it ebbs and flows with market demand, fuel costs, and overall economic conditions. To negotiate effectively, you need to have a pulse on what’s happening in the freight industry. Is capacity tight or abundant? Are fuel surcharges trending up or down? Understanding these external factors gives you context for your carrier’s pricing and helps you time your negotiations for when you have the most leverage. For example, if you know a carrier is trying to gain volume in a specific lane you frequently use, you’re in a much better position to ask for a favorable rate. Staying informed shows you’re a savvy partner, not just a price shopper.
See How You Stack Up with Industry Benchmarks
How do you know if the rates you’re paying are actually competitive? The only way to be sure is to compare them against industry benchmarks. Knowing what other shippers of your size and volume are paying for similar services is crucial. This isn’t about getting the exact same deal as someone else, but about understanding the current market rate. When you can show a carrier that your rates are out of line with industry standards, your request for a better price carries much more weight. Access to benchmark discounts and incentives data allows you to ground your negotiation in reality, moving the conversation from what you want to what is fair.
Stay Agile When the Market Fluctuates
The freight market is constantly changing, so a rigid, long-term contract can quickly become a liability. Instead of locking yourself into fixed terms for several years, build flexibility into your agreement. Your goal should be to create a contract that can adapt to market shifts and changes in your own business. This might mean negotiating an annual rate review, including clauses that protect you from sudden surcharge hikes, or securing the ability to adjust your service mix without penalty. By planning for change, you can ensure your contract continues to serve your business well, no matter what the market throws your way. This proactive approach is key to long-term savings and a healthy carrier relationship.
How to Measure Success: Key Metrics to Track
Once you’ve negotiated your freight contract, the work isn’t over. The next step is to make sure your carriers are holding up their end of the bargain and that your optimization efforts are actually paying off. You can’t improve what you don’t measure, which is where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in. These are the specific, quantifiable metrics you’ll use to evaluate your freight operations. Tracking the right KPIs gives you the data you need to hold carriers accountable, spot problems early, and make smarter decisions for your supply chain. This process turns your contract from a static document into a dynamic tool for managing performance and driving continuous improvement. Without consistent tracking, you’re essentially flying blind, hoping the savings you negotiated on paper show up on your bottom line.
Cost Per Unit and Overall Freight Spend
Let’s start with the most obvious one: cost. While keeping an eye on your total freight spend is important, breaking it down further gives you much more useful information. Calculating your cost per unit, cost per mile, or cost per shipment helps you see trends that might get lost in the big picture. Are costs for a specific lane creeping up? Is one type of product suddenly more expensive to ship? Answering these questions helps you pinpoint where you’re losing money. A clear view of these costs is the foundation for effective spend management and shows whether your new contract is truly saving you money.
On-Time Delivery and Transit Time Consistency
A low rate is great, but not if your shipments consistently arrive late. Customer satisfaction and your entire production schedule can depend on reliable delivery times. That’s why you need to track your on-time delivery (OTD) rate, which is the percentage of shipments that arrive by the promised date. Just as important is transit time consistency. If one shipment takes two days and the next takes five for the same lane, it’s impossible to plan effectively. Tracking these service-level metrics ensures you’re getting the reliability you paid for and helps you identify which carriers are dependable partners.
Invoice Accuracy and Claims Rate
Hidden costs can completely undo the savings you negotiated. That’s why tracking invoice accuracy is so critical. How often do you find errors, overcharges, or incorrect accessorial fees on your carrier invoices? A high error rate means you’re spending too much time on corrections and likely overpaying. An invoice audit and recovery process can catch these issues automatically. Similarly, you should track your freight claims rate. A high number of claims for damaged or lost goods points to a problem with a carrier’s handling procedures, which costs you money in lost product and administrative time.
Carrier Performance Scorecards
A carrier performance scorecard brings all your key metrics together in one place. Think of it as a report card for each of your carriers, grading them on everything from on-time delivery and cost per shipment to invoice accuracy and tender acceptance rates. This gives you an objective, data-driven way to compare performance across your entire carrier mix. Scorecards are incredibly valuable during quarterly business reviews, allowing you to have productive conversations based on hard numbers, not just feelings. They show carriers exactly where they’re excelling and where they need to improve, making them true partners in your success.
Common Freight Contract Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
Even the most experienced logistics managers can fall into a few common traps when it comes to freight contracts. These agreements are dense, complex, and full of nuances that can easily be missed. The good news is that avoiding these mistakes often comes down to shifting your mindset from a reactive one to a proactive one. Instead of just signing on the dotted line and hoping for the best, you can take control of the process by understanding where the potential pitfalls lie.
Think of your freight contract not as a static document, but as a living agreement that should evolve with your business and the market. The most effective shippers are the ones who are constantly analyzing, questioning, and refining their carrier agreements. They treat contract optimization as an ongoing strategy, not a one-time task. By learning to spot these common errors before they impact your bottom line, you can secure better terms, build stronger carrier relationships, and create a more resilient supply chain. Let’s walk through the four biggest mistakes we see and how you can steer clear of them.
The “Set It and Forget It” Approach
One of the most costly mistakes is treating your freight contract as a one-and-done deal. You negotiate hard, sign the agreement, and file it away until renewal time. But the shipping industry changes quickly. Fuel costs fluctuate, new surcharges appear, and carrier capacity shifts. Your own shipping profile probably changes, too. A contract that was favorable last year might be costing you money today.
Don’t just sign a contract and forget it. Your agreement should be a dynamic tool. Schedule regular check-ins—at least quarterly—to review performance and costs against the terms. By consistently tracking how your needs and market prices change, you can benchmark your discounts and incentives and identify opportunities to renegotiate from a position of strength, rather than waiting for the contract to expire.
Overlooking Hidden Fees in the Fine Print
Do you know exactly what you’re paying for on every single freight invoice? Many shippers don’t. Carrier pricing is notoriously complex, and it’s easy for unexpected charges to slip through. Things like residential surcharges, dimensional weight adjustments, and fuel fees can quickly inflate your costs. Sometimes, carriers make simple errors, like charging for a service you didn’t use or miscalculating a package weight.
These small discrepancies add up to significant losses over time. The solution is a meticulous invoice audit and recovery process. Regularly auditing every invoice catches these errors, secures refunds for overcharges, and gives you a crystal-clear picture of your true shipping costs. It also helps you spot patterns that might indicate a carrier isn’t meeting their service commitments.
Setting Vague Performance Standards
A low rate from a carrier means nothing if the service is unreliable. If your contract doesn’t include clear, specific, and measurable performance standards, you have no real way to hold your carrier accountable. Vague promises about “best efforts” or “standard transit times” leave too much room for interpretation and put you at a disadvantage when service failures occur.
Define what success looks like from the start. Your contract should outline specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as a guaranteed on-time delivery percentage. It should also detail penalties for failure, like how you’ll be credited for late deliveries. Having strong reporting and KPIs built into your agreement ensures that both you and your carrier are working toward the same definition of excellent service.
Focusing Only on Cost, Not Service Quality
In a competitive market, it’s tempting to choose the carrier with the absolute lowest price. But chasing the cheapest rate without considering the quality of service is a recipe for disaster. Late deliveries, damaged goods, and poor customer support can harm your brand’s reputation and cost you more in the long run through lost sales and unhappy customers. Customer expectations are higher than ever, and a poor delivery experience can undo all your hard work.
Instead of focusing solely on price, evaluate carriers as strategic partners. Consider their reliability, their flexibility during peak seasons, and their ability to provide the data and support you need. Sometimes, paying a slightly higher rate for a more dependable carrier is the smarter financial decision. A well-planned carrier diversification strategy can also help you match the right service level to the right shipment, balancing cost and quality effectively.
Keep the Savings Coming: Your Ongoing Optimization Plan
Securing a great freight contract is a huge win, but the work doesn’t stop there. The shipping landscape is always changing, and so are your business needs. To make sure your savings stick around for the long haul, you need a plan for continuous improvement. Think of it less as a one-time project and more as an ongoing cycle of review and refinement. This proactive approach is what separates good shippers from great ones, ensuring you always have the best possible rates and service.
Schedule Regular Contract Check-ups
It’s tempting to file away a new contract and move on, but that’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Market rates fluctuate, your shipping patterns evolve, and a carrier’s performance can change. Set a recurring calendar reminder—quarterly or at least annually—to dive back into your agreement. Are you still getting competitive rates? Is the carrier meeting the agreed-upon service levels? This regular review process is your best defense against surprise cost hikes and ensures your contract continues to work for you. Getting help with expert contract optimization can make these check-ups even more effective.
Build in Flexibility for Market Changes
The freight industry isn’t static—fuel surcharges shift, capacity tightens, and new regulations appear. A contract that’s too rigid can quickly become a disadvantage. Work with your carriers to build flexibility directly into your agreements. This could mean tying rates to market indices or including clauses that allow for renegotiation if your shipping volumes change dramatically. This adaptability is key to staying resilient. It’s also why having a strategy for carrier diversification is so important; it gives you options when market conditions change, so you’re never locked into a single, unfavorable solution.
Monitor Performance for Continuous Improvement
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Consistently tracking your carrier’s performance is fundamental to long-term optimization. This is where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in. Metrics like on-time delivery rates, invoice accuracy, and cost per shipment give you objective data to evaluate how well your carriers are meeting their commitments. This information is invaluable during your regular contract check-ups and negotiations. With clear reporting and KPIs, you can have data-driven conversations with your carriers, hold them accountable, and make informed decisions to fine-tune your shipping strategy over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I be reviewing my freight contract? You should think of your freight contract as a living document, not a file you sign and forget. A full renegotiation might only happen when the term is up, but you should be reviewing your carrier’s performance and your own shipping data at least quarterly. This regular check-in helps you spot trends, catch performance issues early, and prepare for your next negotiation long before the deadline arrives.
What’s more important in a negotiation: a bigger base discount or better terms on fees? This is a great question because it gets to the heart of smart negotiation. While a big discount looks impressive, hidden costs and accessorial fees can easily wipe out those savings. For many shippers, negotiating caps or waivers on the specific fees you incur most often—like residential surcharges or dimensional weight adjustments—can have a much bigger impact on your final bill. The right answer depends on your unique shipping profile, which is why a deep data analysis is so critical before you start talking numbers.
How much can a business like mine realistically expect to save? While every situation is different, many high-volume shippers see savings between 5% and 20% on their total freight spend after a thorough contract optimization. The final amount depends on several factors, including your shipping volume, the complexity of your needs, and how unoptimized your current agreement is. The biggest savings often come from aligning the contract structure with your actual shipping patterns, not just from securing a higher discount.
My shipping volume fluctuates throughout the year. How can I build a contract that works for me? This is a common challenge, and the key is to build flexibility directly into your agreement. Instead of locking into a single rate structure, you can negotiate tiered pricing that adjusts as your volume changes. You can also include clauses that allow for a formal rate review if your volume shifts by a certain percentage. This protects you from overpaying during slower periods and ensures your carrier relationship can adapt to the natural rhythm of your business.
What’s the single most important piece of data I need before starting a negotiation? If you can only bring one thing to the table, make it a detailed analysis of your own shipping profile from the last 12 months. This includes your package characteristics (weight, dimensions), your most common origins and destinations, and a breakdown of every accessorial fee you’ve paid. This data is your leverage. It allows you to speak with authority about the value of your business and build a case for a contract that truly fits your needs.