Transcripts
Welcome to Unboxing Logistics, everybody.
Speaker:I'm your host, Lori Boyer of EasyPost, and today we're gonna
Speaker:be going into one of my favorite topics, the parcel carrier landscape.
Speaker:I, this is our bread and butter.
Speaker:This is what I deal with all day, every day.
Speaker:Carriers, I meet with carriers frequently.
Speaker:I meet with shippers all the time, and so I've had a lot of questions about what's
Speaker:going on in the carrier network, what's going on, what's the landscape out there.
Speaker:So I brought in the one and only Nate Skiver, guru and genius of all things
Speaker:carrier, the guy you need to go to if you are having questions about
Speaker:carriers to inform us, let us know.
Speaker:2026. So Nate, I'm gonna throw it over to you.
Speaker:Why don't you introduce yourself and let our Unboxing Logistics family remember.
Speaker:I'm sure they know you, but if they've forgotten, let them remember who you are.
Speaker:Thanks, Lori.
Speaker:And I, I don't know that I can top that intro, so but I'll, I'll, I'll keep it
Speaker:brief here, but my name is Nate Skiver.
Speaker:I'm the founder of LPF Spend Management which is a parcel consultancy working
Speaker:really with package shippers to help them cut costs negotiate contracts
Speaker:and select the right delivery partners.
Speaker:So I've, I've been consulting in, in parcel for the past
Speaker:six about six and a half years.
Speaker:But my, my parcel journey started in 2007.
Speaker:So it's been a bit.
Speaker:Oh, I love that.
Speaker:Which aspect of the consulting do you like the most?
Speaker:Like I was drawn into the negotiations piece because I know that's a
Speaker:lot of people kind of dread the negotiations, but is there a certain
Speaker:element of your consulting that you just love the most or you, you, you
Speaker:are an equal opportunity consultant?
Speaker:I mean, I think there's a couple of aspects of it.
Speaker:One, I mean, I do enjoy the con the the contract negotiation piece, even though.
Speaker:As most people probably are aware us consultants usually work
Speaker:in the background on, on that.
Speaker:So, but advising on what's negotiate, you know, what's going to provide the
Speaker:most value, you know, to, to the shipper through that process, I, I do enjoy it.
Speaker:And really being able to work with so many different companies.
Speaker:Yeah, that's something that really kind of drove me to make the jump six and
Speaker:a half years ago is the ability to work with, you know, different types
Speaker:of companies, different in different industries and markets and, and so
Speaker:that's really been really rewarding.
Speaker:I've, I've been able to build a lot great relationships and meet
Speaker:you know, a lot of great people.
Speaker:Oh, I love that so much.
Speaker:I have to say, working with a variety of companies, I mean, it just really
Speaker:expands what you understand, and you get exposed to so many new things.
Speaker:Back in a previous life, I worked for a lot of years for a business
Speaker:guru, Tony Robbins, and because the way he would bring people in and then
Speaker:I'd help them with their marketing.
Speaker:I worked with so many different companies.
Speaker:It really expands your knowledge and understanding, and you just see
Speaker:all kinds of different challenges.
Speaker:It's really, really fun, challenging, but that's, that's awesome.
Speaker:That's such a wealth of information, so love that you love that.
Speaker:Okay, I wanna talk parcel landscape.
Speaker:We're gonna jump straight into that today.
Speaker:When you're looking at the landscape right now, when you're looking
Speaker:across, you know, we've got national carriers, we've got regional, we've got
Speaker:really unique carriers who are doing things that are new and different.
Speaker:What, what would you describe the current state of our parcel
Speaker:carrier landscape right now?
Speaker:2026.
Speaker:2026. I think two things stand out.
Speaker:One is, there's more competition than ever.
Speaker:So you, you mentioned all different types of carriers which also means
Speaker:that there, there are more options, more options to choose from, which is a good
Speaker:thing, but it introduces complexity.
Speaker:You know, the, the good news about that though, I mean, even though it's
Speaker:complex, is that there is technology available to manage that complexity,
Speaker:which allows shippers to, introduce new carriers, optimize for cost
Speaker:delivery, reliability, and speed.
Speaker:And so there's never been a better time, I think, for shippers to
Speaker:create value through delivery.
Speaker:And a lot of that comes, just comes about from the fact that there are, you
Speaker:know, more solutions than we've seen.
Speaker:And I think there isn't really an unmet need in the market.
Speaker:Yeah, no, I, I think that's absolutely right.
Speaker:Can I ask you, when we talk about all these carriers, there's a few
Speaker:things that I'm kind of interested in.
Speaker:First, national carriers versus regional or alternative carriers,
Speaker:they all have their place, right?
Speaker:For you, do you feel like, you know, the national carriers first
Speaker:are having to respond or seeing, you know, are they changing at all
Speaker:based on all of this new competition, I guess that you're mentioning?
Speaker:Or are they just still so dominant that it's not really impacted them?
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, it's, it's definitely impacting them, and I think
Speaker:it's been something that has been kind of coming, you know,
Speaker:developing for, for several years.
Speaker:So it's not only the competition.
Speaker:But I, I think that was, it's a big part of it.
Speaker:But also it's just how some of the volume in the market has changed.
Speaker:A lot of it is, is ecommerce now.
Speaker:It's, it's lighter weight, ecommerce volume delivering to somebody's home
Speaker:is, is usually less efficient than if you're delivering 10 boxes to a store.
Speaker:And so those things, along with the delivery distance actually
Speaker:has decreased because inventory is closer to the consumer.
Speaker:So UPS, I'll just, you mentioned national carriers.
Speaker:We'll talk about UPS and FedEx for a moment that.
Speaker:This isn't new.
Speaker:They've, they've seen this coming for a long time, but I think, at least
Speaker:my opinion is that this influx of, of competition in, say the past five years
Speaker:or so that maybe UPS and FedEx didn't expect them to all stick around, or
Speaker:at least not as many as, as they have.
Speaker:And so that competitive element definitely is, is a factor.
Speaker:I think a, a response to that is both UPS and FedEx are, well, they're
Speaker:trying to appease shareholders, so that's, that's one thing.
Speaker:They do have to make a profit, and part of the way they're doing that is to
Speaker:increase rates more frequently, which a lot of times it's through surcharges,
Speaker:either a fuel surcharge increase or changing criteria for a surcharge
Speaker:that effectively increases cost for shippers, but it's kind of hard to tell.
Speaker:And so that's one thing I think just through pricing that they're doing that.
Speaker:The other aspect of pricing is, and I'll just use FedEx recently
Speaker:they had a in investor day here, just the second week of February.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And the the quote, and I don't have it verbatim in front of me, but basically
Speaker:a FedEx executive said, if you ship T-shirts, then FedEx might not be for you.
Speaker:And it's, it hasn't really been stated that bluntly.
Speaker:It's pretty reflective, especially with FedEx of how they're approaching
Speaker:volume segments and customers.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so lightweight residential, T-shirts is something that
Speaker:they're not pursuing actively.
Speaker:They'll price it, they'll happily take it if at the right price, but
Speaker:they're intentionally really focusing elsewhere on, you know, commercial
Speaker:shipments like business to business healthcare, things like that.
Speaker:So again, it's not new.
Speaker:Both UPS and FedEx have at least, you know, said they were doing that.
Speaker:But I'm, I'm seeing that summon in how they are, are pricing as well.
Speaker:So I think that's the, probably the most obvious or, or biggest change it is to
Speaker:how they're responding with pricing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's super interesting.
Speaker:I, I was reading something, I was trying to remember if it was something I saw
Speaker:at a show, but in the past shippers had been looking really heavily at
Speaker:cost only with carriers, but we're starting to see a slight shift into
Speaker:where people are also concerned about continuity or just stick around factor,
Speaker:you know, because we do have a lot of new entrants to the market, but
Speaker:people, sometimes companies are folding.
Speaker:You know, we recently saw that with FAST Group.
Speaker:And so there's a little bit of concern on the top, on the side of shippers
Speaker:about some of the alternative carriers.
Speaker:Are, is this an issue you're seeing?
Speaker:Do you agree that they should be concerned?
Speaker:Do you think that that's an overblown fear?
Speaker:I mean, it depends on how you, you frame it.
Speaker:I, I think, yes, there are alternative carriers that will
Speaker:exit the market this year.
Speaker:Like I would be willing to wager a fair amount of money on that.
Speaker:That's that's going to happen.
Speaker:So it's a legitimate concern, but I think it's, it's something to
Speaker:where you, you vet your partners that you choose to work with.
Speaker:And it's a, a risk that you are either willing to take on or not, but it's
Speaker:not as though companies I don't think should ignore options like that.
Speaker:Do your due diligence.
Speaker:Learn as much as you can about the company, their customers, all,
Speaker:all of the things that you can, but don't take on too much risk.
Speaker:Don't devote 40% of your volume maybe to an alternative carrier if you
Speaker:truly had that much of a concern.
Speaker:I don't think you would do that anyway.
Speaker:That's probably pretty obvious, but I think it's, it's really
Speaker:just assessing the risk.
Speaker:Maybe the probability of it happening.
Speaker:I mean, if you knew that it.
Speaker:I could probably do some other things with that type of.
Speaker:I was gonna say, I think they, you'd be better than us.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But I, I really, I think it's, it's only broadly, I guess, valid.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You really have to focus on that particular provider, what.
Speaker:There's a risk for every supplier, every, everything that
Speaker:there's, that they could close.
Speaker:So I, yeah, I'm kind of with you.
Speaker:It's like there's always a slight risk, but if you're doing your vetting and,
Speaker:and keeping a, a healthy mix, which kind of brings me, I like how you mentioned,
Speaker:oh, you know, I'm 40% of your shipments going through someone who's questionable.
Speaker:Do you feel like there is a healthy mix?
Speaker:You know, obviously I still talk with people who are surprisingly large who
Speaker:have a single carrier, and that like blows my mind for so many reasons.
Speaker:Risk themselves, but, you know, not even just cost, but risk.
Speaker:What do you feel like is a good kind of healthy mix for how many carriers?
Speaker:Do, do you have a rule of thumb, like, oh, 17 carriers, way too many.
Speaker:One carrier, way too few.
Speaker:I know it's gonna depend.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:On the company, but.
Speaker:That's exactly right.
Speaker:I would say there's 17 way too many and, and one way too few.
Speaker:It, I hate to say I, I'm just going to open with it depends.
Speaker:And it really does.
Speaker:But it depends a lot of things with a particular shipper and it's, I mean,
Speaker:there's a, there's a lot of factors.
Speaker:How much volume you ship.
Speaker:If you ship 500 packages a day, chances are, there's not going to
Speaker:be a lot of benefit or maybe even ability to use more than one carrier.
Speaker:If you ship 50,000 packages a day, I think you've got some options.
Speaker:And then it's, it's really about how, how intentional you are with your program
Speaker:and if you have very clearly defined goals and you invest time, resources into
Speaker:finding delivery providers, solutions, that fit a specific need, whether it's,
Speaker:you know, delivery speed in a particular geography, or it's a low cost carrier
Speaker:that can help with support the, the lightweight residential packages.
Speaker:It's defining what those like really specific needs are, and then finding
Speaker:carriers to meet those needs.
Speaker:That might look like three carriers for a kind of mid-sized
Speaker:company, something like that.
Speaker:It could be 12 for a really large shipper.
Speaker:And the other thing I think is that, that plays into this is your, I don't
Speaker:wanna say willingness or, and or ability to take on and manage the complexity.
Speaker:So a portion of that is, is technology.
Speaker:So if you have a shipping technology solution in place that can do more
Speaker:than just, you know, rate shop.
Speaker:It's got a lot of intelligence around the estimated delivery date, measuring
Speaker:performance against it, things like that.
Speaker:Taking other criteria into consideration.
Speaker:So I think technology is a big piece.
Speaker:If it's not there, then right now, you probably shouldn't have 10 or 12 carriers.
Speaker:And it's just, it's interesting.
Speaker:There's no one kind of broad, you know, statement to make there.
Speaker:I, I will tell you, I recently, I talked with a, a retailer that
Speaker:is a large retailer, but not one of the largest for sure.
Speaker:Quite a bit of volume.
Speaker:They have 23 carriers.
Speaker:And they manage that complexity through primarily technology.
Speaker:They're very hands-on in managing it, running direct line
Speaker:hauls, zone skips on their own.
Speaker:So, and this isn't a, a Walmart sized company.
Speaker:I mean, this is, you know, a but that's probably the extreme.
Speaker:I wouldn't expect very many, but it's just an example of how different
Speaker:it can be based on, on the company.
Speaker:I think that's so interesting because one of the big benefits
Speaker:obviously to diversifying is saving.
Speaker:Like there's a lot of money that gets lost that you could potentially,
Speaker:by using different carriers, using different routes, using different
Speaker:service levels that you can save a ton.
Speaker:And I could see a little bit of appetite for, I was just reading an article
Speaker:yesterday that shared that a year ago, at this time, 13% of businesses were
Speaker:eating the extra costs that we've seen, all these rise in costs, and today it's
Speaker:40% of businesses are eating the costs.
Speaker:Because they don't wanna pass it on to consumers.
Speaker:I think that kind of shows though, we've got to find ways to save.
Speaker:Outside, you know?
Speaker:You have to be creative.
Speaker:Being able to have that many carriers, they can't save a lot of money.
Speaker:Where do you see, so for regional carriers or even for any of the
Speaker:carriers, you know, what are maybe signs that you know, it would be a good
Speaker:fit to use maybe a regional carrier.
Speaker:Are there situations, I guess, when somebody's shipping that you would say,
Speaker:oh, you're shipping a lot in this area, or you're shipping a lot of this type of
Speaker:good, or, you know, that certain regional carriers might fit, or the, you know,
Speaker:what is their, their bread and butter?
Speaker:What is their, their hot stuff?
Speaker:If we're talking regional carriers, they're, you know, regional for a reason.
Speaker:They, they, they cover a very specific geography.
Speaker:And some of them even more so, I guess, specialize in you know, residential for
Speaker:sure, maybe even lightweight residential.
Speaker:And so it kind of goes back to what I said earlier about like
Speaker:defining very specific needs, requirements, goals, whatever it is.
Speaker:If that's there, then use or find providers, regional carriers, that have
Speaker:a strength, some type of differentiating value that you don't get maybe
Speaker:with your current national carrier.
Speaker:And, and a lot of times with a regional carrier, I'll say in many cases they're
Speaker:favorable from a cost standpoint.
Speaker:Not always, but, but they are, and, and that's one benefit for sure.
Speaker:The other one can be within, they say the Southeast, just as
Speaker:an example of the United States.
Speaker:They can be maybe faster depending on, on if it's residential and
Speaker:they deliver seven days a week.
Speaker:That's pretty common for a lot of regionals or alternative carriers.
Speaker:One thing where I think maybe, I don't wanna say isn't a fit, but it,
Speaker:it might be a bit misaligned, is if, you know, there are some regional
Speaker:carriers that have expanded over time.
Speaker:So maybe they started in a one region.
Speaker:Or, and then they've opened, you know, operations in other large
Speaker:markets or maybe an entire region of the US, and now they're kind of
Speaker:connecting those two networks or areas, or maybe it's three or more.
Speaker:That's where some carriers, I mean, especially if that's a new kind of
Speaker:development might not be as efficient as if they are concentrated in that,
Speaker:you know, initial service area.
Speaker:And so what happens is, you know, the, literally the further that
Speaker:those packages travel they're touched more times through.
Speaker:From the original region?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Is what you're talking about.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If you say ship from the southeast.
Speaker:And originally you were working with a regional carrier only in the
Speaker:southeast, service is very strong.
Speaker:You know cost is what it needs to be.
Speaker:Then that carrier has expanded to, maybe it's a little bit more
Speaker:on the East Coast in New York, New Jersey, something like that.
Speaker:If you start to move that volume out to a longer distance it can
Speaker:be less efficient for that carrier.
Speaker:That's not, you know, how they've developed their, their service even
Speaker:though they're offering it now.
Speaker:So there can just be some service inconsistency costs might
Speaker:be elevated for that carrier.
Speaker:Over time, they might come back and need to raise rates.
Speaker:So I think it's, it's really defining which providers, regional carriers,
Speaker:where they're strong and then aligning that to what your needs are.
Speaker:I know that sounds super simple, but I think that's where.
Speaker:I was gonna say it sounds simple, but how do they do that?
Speaker:And obviously their own needs they look at, but how do you
Speaker:recommend people figure out which carriers are strong in which areas?
Speaker:I mean, honestly, to gather information just on your own, just research.
Speaker:But, but really it's, it's directly, I mean, that helps you, I guess, determine a
Speaker:list, you know, a list of carriers, right?
Speaker:That, that might fit a, a need.
Speaker:You know, of course if you have someone in your network, you know, works with that
Speaker:carrier, collect information that way.
Speaker:You can work with a third party consultant who can help with that too.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But then also it's engaging directly with the carrier.
Speaker:I mean, I know you can't do that with 20 of them maybe, but, but that's
Speaker:where you kind of start to distill that list down to maybe, I think these
Speaker:three or four are probably the ones we need to really get into detail with.
Speaker:And you go through and evaluate their capabilities.
Speaker:And as best you can, determine, I think this is a fit.
Speaker:And ultimately, and this is not what a lot of, I think companies want to
Speaker:hear, if it's an alternative carrier we're talking about, you won't know
Speaker:100% if that carrier meets your needs until you start working with them.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And you start measuring it.
Speaker:And, and I think that can be, it's not as much anymore as it used to be,
Speaker:but that can be kinda a sticking point.
Speaker:Where a, a company is hesitant to do that, but you literally won't know until you,
Speaker:you start to actually work with a carrier.
Speaker:Okay, so that triggered two questions for me.
Speaker:One, which I'm gonna come back to is when people are reaching out to carriers,
Speaker:are there specific things that you would recommend that they ask or that
Speaker:they're trying to vet that would help.
Speaker:But two, so you can come back to thinking on that one, but two when you
Speaker:are, you've decided on one, you say, okay, I'm gonna try out this carrier.
Speaker:Do you have a certain amount that you suggest, like, oh, I'm just gonna give
Speaker:them 2% of my, you know what I mean?
Speaker:Like how much is a test?
Speaker:Well, the second one depends.
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:And, and what I.
Speaker:Nate, you're always saying It depends.
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:'Cause it's complicated.
Speaker:You're exactly right.
Speaker:And so you threw a percentage out there and that's fair.
Speaker:Like, that's, that's probably the, the best reference point to start with.
Speaker:But if you ship, again, from one distribution center, let's just
Speaker:say retailer shipping from a a DC.
Speaker:If you ship 50,000 packages, then two or 3%, eh, yeah, that, that's probably,
Speaker:maybe the bare minimum that might be enough for a regional carrier to handle.
Speaker:And so part of that is understanding the requirements.
Speaker:This kinda goes back to the first part of the question, I guess, is understanding
Speaker:the capabilities that the carrier has and not just kind of what they have
Speaker:on their website, but when you get into the details, and this is kind
Speaker:of, kind of addressing both questions or part of the questions they want.
Speaker:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker:Is the volume a lot of times will be a big factor in fit.
Speaker:And if this particular carrier maybe, if they have volume minimums a lot of times.
Speaker:On a daily basis because they have to make the best use of their
Speaker:assets you know, the pickup, the middle mile, things like that.
Speaker:And if they've got a volume minimum of 2,000 packages a day, and let's change
Speaker:the total number you ship now let's just say you, you only ship 10,000 a day.
Speaker:Well, you have to determine like really, really vet then that service
Speaker:provider and be highly confident they're gonna meet your needs and
Speaker:you can provide that much volume.
Speaker:Because really the last thing you wanna do is commit, like start working
Speaker:with a carrier and then you can't supply the volume that they need to
Speaker:provide you with competitive pricing.
Speaker:And so and so, I think that's where you have to just communicate very clearly.
Speaker:It has to be transparency on both sides.
Speaker:A carrier can't overcommit, and you have to be very cognizant of
Speaker:the amount of volume that you're, you're willing to, to commit.
Speaker:I mean that's, I think, maybe more of a basis on actually working with
Speaker:them, you know, a, a test that, that really I'll say highly depends because
Speaker:some carriers will actually do that.
Speaker:They'll a pilot, they'll just agree, we will move less volume than is kind of
Speaker:optimal for us for a certain period of time so you can validate the service.
Speaker:Other carriers might not be open to that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And and which is.
Speaker:You can ask, right?
Speaker:Fair.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The worst thing that can happen is they tell you no.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And if that's something you require though to actually vet the, the carrier
Speaker:and the service before committing more volume, and they won't do it,
Speaker:well then you've gotta move on.
Speaker:Yeah, no, I love that.
Speaker:It made me think when we were talking about what you would ask carriers do you
Speaker:recommend also vetting with other shippers who are using the carrier in your area?
Speaker:If possible, how, how do you go about doing that?
Speaker:If, I mean, there's, there's a couple ways to do it.
Speaker:Ideally, you would, you being the shipper, would be able to find,
Speaker:determine other retailers on your own that you can kind of independently.
Speaker:Not the ones the carrier sends you to.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I mean.
Speaker:Their favorite customers.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, they're, they're,
Speaker:self-preservation.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I guess let's get in the game here.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Send you to a customer that they've lost.
Speaker:We all do it.
Speaker:We know.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so that, that can be kind of difficult.
Speaker:Don't ignore the ones that the, the carriers willingly provide.
Speaker:I would still at least talk with one and, and talk with the company that however
Speaker:you wanna approach it, but that is at least somewhat similar to, to your, your
Speaker:volume profile or something like that.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:But yes, I mean, that's.
Speaker:It's kind of difficult sometimes particularly if, if that carrier
Speaker:hasn't been in the market that long.
Speaker:And, and that's kind of leads to that a little bit of kind of unknown or not
Speaker:truly knowing until you work with them.
Speaker:And what your risk tolerance is, you know?
Speaker:How comfortable are you taking a risk?
Speaker:And hopefully if they are new and they don't have a lot, they should
Speaker:be willing to offer you a lot more and recognizing you're taking a risk
Speaker:and maybe doing some of those test shipments and all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker:What's interesting recently, Nate, is I feel like we're seeing a lot of shippers
Speaker:being really concerned about things like surcharges, but not just surcharges.
Speaker:It's like the unknown.
Speaker:So I recently did a deep dive into all of the calls done at EasyPost.
Speaker:You know, of course we deal with carriers all the time, and so, one of the number
Speaker:one things people were mentioning on calls is feeling like they had a lack
Speaker:of transparency with carriers not knowing when a surcharge was gonna
Speaker:suddenly appear or seeing charges on their bill that they did not expect.
Speaker:And feeling kind of this uncertainty about when extra charges may pop up.
Speaker:Do you have any recommendations for people around that issue?
Speaker:Yeah, there, there are a few things you can do.
Speaker:And really, the, the way that I guess that, that surfaces, we talked
Speaker:about it a little bit earlier.
Speaker:Most often, not always, is, is UPS and FedEx just based on how they price.
Speaker:Their, their pricing is very complex.
Speaker:The past year, little over a year, they have changed the pricing,
Speaker:increased rates or, or changed surcharges much more frequently.
Speaker:So usually that's probably going to be the driver of those, those concerns
Speaker:is guess in FedEx, how they price.
Speaker:I mean, one is if you have the internal resources, if you have the personnel, um
Speaker:to, to really dedicate at least a person to managing, building that parcel program,
Speaker:but really staying on top of the market.
Speaker:I don't have, you know, it's part of what I do.
Speaker:One other way to do that, of course, is to partner with a third party whether
Speaker:it's, you know consulting I do that, I provide that type of value to clients.
Speaker:There are other, like parcel spend management companies that as part of
Speaker:the services they offer is making sure that they're on top of pricing changes
Speaker:and they can inform their customers.
Speaker:And then the other thing I think to maybe go down into that just a little
Speaker:bit in more detail is if you have a parcel spend management, you know,
Speaker:provider solution in place, use it.
Speaker:Use, use the intelligence.
Speaker:Because.
Speaker:So true.
Speaker:So true, Nate.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:It's there, there's a dashboard.
Speaker:I maybe look at it once a week and if there's something really
Speaker:wrong, then I, I might look at it and, and try to dig into it.
Speaker:That doesn't work.
Speaker:And especially not with the, the pace of change with pricing.
Speaker:And really the impact.
Speaker:There are the, the best example, I think probably, the most impact is the one that
Speaker:was recently made, both UPS and FedEx made changes to the criteria for the
Speaker:additional handling and the large package for UPS or oversized for FedEx surcharges.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So for companies that ship heavy and or bulky items.
Speaker:Yeah, it was massive.
Speaker:It could be massive.
Speaker:I had a, a client that ships basically like home medical equipment.
Speaker:Scooters and, and different things like that.
Speaker:11% total cost increase if it's, if it's unaddressed.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And
Speaker:that, I mean, that's pretty extreme, but it's still, that's the type of
Speaker:thing you won't know about certainly if you don't have visibility to
Speaker:the charges when they happen.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:But ideally you'd like to have, you know, be on top of
Speaker:it from when you see it coming.
Speaker:Because it does, it gets announced, you know, it's very subtly
Speaker:posted on UPS and FedEx websites.
Speaker:Often, not always, the sales contacts for those carriers don't proactively
Speaker:come out and tell customers.
Speaker:So you have to go find it.
Speaker:And you have to either have a partner in place or be willing
Speaker:to do the work yourself.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's why people are end up being surprised.
Speaker:They don't find out about it until it's suddenly being charged.
Speaker:And yeah, it can be really, really, really costly.
Speaker:We're about at our time where we're gonna wrap up, but I have two last
Speaker:things I want to talk to you about.
Speaker:First.
Speaker:If somebody, let's say you're a mid-size shipper, and they're looking
Speaker:at 2026, what is a piece of advice?
Speaker:What should they go do?
Speaker:One thing that you would recommend they go do.
Speaker:You know, should they designate a person to be overseeing their carriers?
Speaker:Should they, you know, set up a time whatever, one thing specifically
Speaker:actionable that they can do, should they just be following certain people?
Speaker:And then I would love to hear more about you specifically, and like kind
Speaker:of who your ideal company is, who may wanna come to you and, and use you
Speaker:and your services and, and just really learn a little bit more about what
Speaker:they would get from working with you.
Speaker:So first, piece of advice, and then tell us more about, you know, who, who
Speaker:is listening, who might actually be interested in kind of working with you.
Speaker:Yeah, I think with the, the mid-sized company, right, that's what you mentioned.
Speaker:And we have all sizes listening.
Speaker:Sure, sure.
Speaker:Mid-size, we'll get that.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:I think there are a couple of things.
Speaker:One is really, really stay on top of, we kind of, we just kind of talked
Speaker:about this, is the rate increases.
Speaker:And it's, it's UPS and FedEx, also the Postal Service.
Speaker:And, and those kind of mid-sized companies are working with.
Speaker:At least one or maybe two of those carriers.
Speaker:Just depends.
Speaker:I know I said that a lot, but and especially if there's lightweight volume
Speaker:the Postal Service might be in place.
Speaker:And they're all, again, raising rates more frequently.
Speaker:And you have to stay on top of that.
Speaker:I think as a result though, because of some of the challenges we just talked
Speaker:about is you have to in parallel actually.
Speaker:Some of the things we've talked about as well is research carriers and determine
Speaker:if they're a viable alternative for part of the volume that you can move from a
Speaker:UPS or FedEx or, or the Postal Service.
Speaker:And don't wait until it's a, a significant issue.
Speaker:So don't wait until your costs have increased by 15%.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You actually do that work and sometimes you, you have to do
Speaker:the work and the analysis to determine if there are solutions
Speaker:or if there's value to be gained.
Speaker:There might not.
Speaker:There, you could end up in a place where, okay, this is the best I can do.
Speaker:But you, you have to do that work.
Speaker:And it's, it's in parallel with staying on top of your, your existing, you
Speaker:know, program and, and the costs.
Speaker:You have to in parallel do that research.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And vet those carriers and determine.
Speaker:If or when I need to, these are the two or three or something like
Speaker:that, that I'm gonna reach out to, to see if I can make a change.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:I challenge, I'm throwing out the challenge to everyone listening,
Speaker:watching today, put a time on your calendar in the next week.
Speaker:Block off one hour and sit down and do some of these research items
Speaker:that, that Nate's thrown at you.
Speaker:Because it will really give you comfort and visibility and help you alleviate
Speaker:some of that feeling of like, oh no, I'm a little worried that something
Speaker:might happen and I just don't have time.
Speaker:Just put it on your calendar.
Speaker:One hour.
Speaker:And, and take some time.
Speaker:I think it'll be huge.
Speaker:So, Nate, tell us about you then.
Speaker:So if somebody's also just listening and just like, okay, I don't have
Speaker:time, I don't have one hour, Nate.
Speaker:How could they come to you?
Speaker:But also, you know, who is the right person to come to you?
Speaker:So what, what's the right fit for you and, and what do you provide?
Speaker:I, I think so a lot of the consulting that I do with
Speaker:clients is, is project based.
Speaker:So it's, it's finite project work.
Speaker:And there's, there's two core project service offerings that,
Speaker:that, that I have with, with clients.
Speaker:One is all call kind of a traditional what a lot of companies would, would
Speaker:know of a contract negotiation project or a, a parcel RFP.
Speaker:In that case, it's a, a company that has knowledge enough to
Speaker:know we need to bid our business.
Speaker:So something is driving that.
Speaker:Either there's significant, significant cost that needs reduced and as opposed
Speaker:to just negotiating with their current carriers, they know competition
Speaker:will help get the best results.
Speaker:Contracts could be expiring, you know, something to where they've decided,
Speaker:we need to find the best carriers.
Speaker:We need to negotiate the best rates we can in agreement terms.
Speaker:Let's find help doing that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so in those cases from a, a client, you know, kind of company standpoint,
Speaker:what I would, I guess, considering my background is enterprise retail.
Speaker:I would say that the, the client base though really kinda mid, mid,
Speaker:mid-size companies is what I would kind of, you know, broadly say.
Speaker:I mean, I've had clients with as, as little as $2 million annual spend up
Speaker:to in excess of a hundred million.
Speaker:But really where those projects, I think provide the, the most value and, and where
Speaker:I can efficiently work with clients is in that really two to $20 million range.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:And it's those that again, know they need that, you know, expertise
Speaker:the, the heavy lifting on the analysis and things like that.
Speaker:And then the other one, just real briefly, is for companies that don't
Speaker:necessarily know if there's an opportunity and I'll perform a program assessment.
Speaker:That's exactly what it sounds like.
Speaker:It's evaluating the current program from a contr an agreement term standpoint.
Speaker:Rates, providing feedback that's much more detailed than benchmarking it.
Speaker:It's very, very specific about where I would expect the pricing to be for
Speaker:a company of that size and, and spend.
Speaker:And then there's, there's recommendations also with that of if you choose
Speaker:to do it on your own, this is what you could potentially achieve with
Speaker:savings, different carrier options.
Speaker:If you contract and, and work with, with me on an RFP project, then this
Speaker:is also what you can expect from a savings perspective and carrier mix.
Speaker:So those two things, I think are the, the best examples of, of client projects.
Speaker:And largely that what I'll again say, kind of mid, mid market maybe,
Speaker:maybe two to $20 million in spend.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Where, where should they reach out to you?
Speaker:LinkedIn, website.
Speaker:LinkedIn is, LinkedIn's the best best way to do it.
Speaker:I, I love it.
Speaker:If you don't follow Nate on LinkedIn.
Speaker:Totally do.
Speaker:When we were talking about research, he's throwing up the info for us there,
Speaker:so follow, keep up to date with it.
Speaker:There, there's so much for us to know and fortunately we can just steal
Speaker:some of it from Nate's brain, so.
Speaker:Yeah, sure.
Speaker:That's what I like to do.
Speaker:Steal my knowledge from others, so make sure you're following.
Speaker:Nate, this has been really, really great.
Speaker:I appreciate you coming on.
Speaker:Carriers is a complex world.
Speaker:Continuing to get more complex.
Speaker:But I think we can't just hide it from it and hope that maybe it
Speaker:doesn't turn into a problem, so.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Nate, any final words?
Speaker:Final words?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:We've, we've, we've talked about quite a bit.
Speaker:I appreciate, always love to, to chat and I look forward to,
Speaker:to doing it again next time.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:We'll see you all next time.
Speaker:Alright.
