Visibility, Transparency, Digitization, and Trust in LTL – ODFL Podcast

  • Visibility, Transparency, Digitization, and Trust in LTL – ODFL Podcast

    You may be too busy to hear the recent podcast I did withย Todd Polenย atย Old Dominion Freight Line.

    To help spare you some time, I took the liberty of capturing the highlights for you.ย I finally had the time myself to listen all the way through as Todd and I talked about Transparency, Visibility, Digitization, and Trust.

    ๐Ÿ“Œ In transportation, Visibility = I have the data you want; Transparency = I am willing to share the data you want; Trust = you believe what I shared with you is accurate.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Digitization gives you facts rather than anecdotes.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Digitization reduces errors, saves time, and promotes the quick capture of big data; it turns events into actionable data.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Digitization is a force multiplier.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ In LTL, it all starts with the BOL.ย And if the BOL is wrong or missing data, it all starts bad from the get go.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ The Electronic BOL is industry-driven; standards are being set collectively and collaboratively by shippers, carriers, and 3PLs.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ The EBOL advances transparency and visibility forward and helps everyone.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Digitization allows carriers to reduce their costs and thereby provide better pricing to customers
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Shipper scorecards allow relevant dialogues to take place between shipper and carrier.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Reducing costs often requires an investment.ย That investment needs to be shared by both sides so both sides can then share the benefits.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Friction preventing shippers embrace digitization includes lack of incentive, cost, and inertia.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Inexpensive TMS systems are easy for shippers of any size to obtain today, and greatly facilitate digitization.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ When carriers ask for change to reduce costs, shippers will ask โ€œwhatโ€™s in it for meโ€.ย Carriers need to be more receptive to helping shippers make the changes.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ The LTL industry is plagued with invoices that do not match the quote or shipper expectation due to reweighs, reclasses, or unexpected accessorials. It all starts with the quality of the BOL.ย This is a massive cost represents a massive incentive for shipper and carrier to work together.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Carriers want accurate shipment data as soon as possible, via the EBOL, and must find ways to incentivize shippers to do so.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Old Dominion desires a partnership where the shipper gets a predictable price for a shipment that matches the actual invoice.ย That is done by timely communication of accurate shipment data (dims, weights, piece counts) plus verified addresses.ย Old Dominion will accept BOL weights and dims within acceptable tolerances.
    ๐Ÿ“Œ Shippers that embrace digitization and the sharing of accurate data will benefit as a true Shippers of Choice.

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