Freight Shipping Blog

Your LTL (Less Than Truckload) Rates Are Going Up!

Posted by Robert Snowdale on Wed, Dec 12, 2012 @ 12:23 PM

Probably More Than You Think!

Carriers take GRI’s (General Rate Increases) every year and in some years more than once per year.  If you make shipments of over 150 lbs and use the major LTL carriers your rates increased just last summer.

Here is a list of some of the top LTL carriers and their summer 2012 rate increases:

ABF (Arkansas Best Freight) - 5.9% increase Effective: 06/20/2012
Conway - 6.9% increase Effective: 06/21/2012
Estes Express - 6.9% Increase Effective: 08/08/2012
Fedex Freight - 6.9% Increase Effective: 07/09/2012
Old Dominion - 4.9% Increase Effective: 08/06/2012
UPS Freight - 5.9% Increase Effective: 07/16/2012
YRC Freight - 6.9% Increase Effective:  06/25/2012

What You Probably Don't Know About These GRIs 

THE PERCENTAGE INCREASES LISTED ABOVE ARE ONLY “AVERAGES” - IN FACT, DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU SHIP TO OR FROM YOUR LTL RATES WENT UP EVEN HIGHER!

The increases listed above are the average increases across all origin and destination zip code combinations that each individual LTL carriers services. These guys are smart! They have analysts and yield engineers who look at all of their shipping history and determine what parts of the country are imbalanced ( i.e. much more outbound than inbound or inbound than outbound) or otherwise problematic for them. They then increase their rates in those areas significantly higher than the “ published” or announced GRI average.

So if carrier A has a balance issue in the Southwest and you happen to be shipping a good percentage of your shipments to or from this area, you didn’t just take a 6.9% increase you might have been hit with a 10% or 15% increase.

Worse, since you’re not on their yield team and don’t know how and where they engineered their base rates, you’ll never know how much of an increase you are dealing with.

Why Distribution Solutions, Inc?

We are DSi, and this is our 22nd year of working with manufacturers and distributors to help reduce their freight costs, and improve their marketplace competitiveness. Our services bring visibility and efficiency to the supply chain through management services and technology.

To compare your current LTL costs to the kind of LTL costs a DSi program can achieve for you, click on the link below:

Compare Your LTL Rates >>

For more information about DSi and how our services may help you, please click on the link below to view a brief 3 minute introduction to DSi:

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Topics: freight cost management, ltl carriers, General Rate Increases

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