How We Took Control of Our Freight Costs

Managing a company’s financials is no small task, and transportation costs are one of those areas that can spiral out of control before you even realize it. That’s exactly what happened to us.

As an executive responsible for our P&L, I noticed something wasn’t adding up. Our transportation expenses had surged a few months ago and was only continuing to go up, and all the while the trends were indicating that transportation costs were dropping, but my controller could not tell me why. That’s when I knew we had a major issue on our hands.

Armed with a stack of invoices, I went to our warehouse to speak with our traffic and warehouse managers. What I found was shocking—our invoices didn’t match the original quotes. When I asked my team about the actual NMFC codes and classes for shipments, and how they were determining them, I was met with blank stares. They were hardworking individuals, able to pick and pack shipments efficiently all day long, but when it came to creating accurate and detailed bills of lading, it became clear they were struggling. They were juggling six different carrier websites, trying to pull rates and information for each shipment. Their process was disorganized, and it was obvious that they had no formal system in place for handling the details of freight classifications.

I asked them to show me how they were getting quotes for shipments. To my surprise, they couldn’t walk me through a reliable method. Instead, they relied on memory and experience, remembering which carriers were the cheapest on each lane. This informal approach was a testament to their hard work and familiarity with the job, but it also highlighted a serious gap in the process. There was no standardization, no consistency, and no way to ensure that the quotes they were providing were accurate or aligned with the best carrier options available.

As my business grows, I realized that we cannot continue down this path. We have new clients and, without a scalable system, it’s only a matter of time before we hit a wall. They also were not properly optimizing our inbound transportation, which we did not even realize at the time. The manual, error-prone approach we had in place was simply not sustainable. We need a solution that allows us to handle growth effectively, ensuring every shipment is accurately classified and quoted with the right carrier options at the right time. It’s time to adopt a scalable system that streamlines our freight management and allows us to scale without the chaos.

Discrepancies in linehaul charges, fuel surcharges, NMFC codes, freight classes, and reclassification fees had been piling up for months. But because these costs were buried in complex invoices, no one had caught it until now. I needed a solution fast. I couldn’t afford to spend my days becoming a freight billing expert, but I also couldn’t let this drain continue.

That’s when we reached out to MyFreightAudit.com. Their promise was clear: "We Help Businesses Recover Costs and Provide Visibility with our Freight Audit Services." And they delivered. They helped us resolve reclassification issues by providing a clear understanding of NMFC codes, eliminating unnecessary charges. They trained our dock team on how PCF (pounds per cubic foot) and density-based pricing work, ensuring we avoided costly surprises. They secured density-based and dynamic pricing contracts that reflected our actual freight profile, preventing future billing discrepancies. They automated our GL coding, removing the need for manual adjustments and ensuring accurate financial reporting. Most importantly, they gave us total cost visibility, allowing us to track and control our transportation expenses with confidence.

Problems like this force you to become an expert quickly, but as a business leader, you don’t have time for that. You need a partner who can step in and fix the issue while you focus on growing the business. MyFreightAudit.com didn’t just recover costs—they gave us control over our freight spend. If your transportation costs are out of control, don’t wait until it’s too late. Get a freight audit and take charge of your bottom line.