Carrier tariffs favor carriers.
Every discount you negotiate comes off a base rate the carrier wrote. Whose base you negotiate from matters as much as the discount.
SHIPPER-SIDE FREIGHT ADVISORY
One true
freight number.
A clearer path to control.
Carrier tariffs are written for carriers. Rob and Nick work for the shipper: they rebuild the base you negotiate from, get every shipment on the right carrier, and prove the savings on every freight bill.
- No-cost study
- ~60 days from “yes”
- Shared-risk model
THE WHOLE PICTURE CONNECTED
Built for the shipper’s side of the table
Finance leaders Supply chain leaders Business owners
SHIPPER-SIDE ONLY
We’re not freight brokers.
We work for the shipper.
A freight broker makes money on the spread between what the shipper pays and what the carrier is paid. The more you pay, the more there is to keep, so a broker’s incentives work against yours. We work for the shipper, never the carrier: no markup on your freight, no carriers to sell, and your carrier relationships and contracts stay yours.
TopicA freight brokerElite Logistics
How they’re paidThe spread between what you pay and what the carrier is paid.No markup on your freight. We don’t buy or resell capacity.
Who they work forBoth sides of the load: the shipper buying and the carrier selling.The shipper, never the carrier. We have no carriers to sell.
Carrier relationshipsThe broker stands between you and the carrier.Your carriers and contracts stay yours, and you pay your carriers directly. We run or facilitate the renegotiation on your behalf.
Who decidesThe load goes where the broker places it.Your choices stay yours: the least-cost or routed carrier is returned for every shipment.
What you can seeThe price you’re charged, not what the carrier is paid.Every freight bill audited against your own contracts, and savings verified by an independent auditor you choose.
Shipper-side only, no broker pitch. See how we work
01 / THE DISCONNECT
Everyone touches freight.
Who owns the number?
Purchasing has the contracts. Operations has the movement. Sales sets the terms. Finance has the bills. The cost is scattered, and the gaps between handoffs become everyone’s problem and nobody’s priority.
- “Carriers are always calling to complain.”
- “Refunds keep showing up in the mail.”
- “Balance-due bills drive the team crazy.”
- “The reports always have something wrong.”
- “The same problems come back again and again.”
- “And the big one: what about our money?”
Who touches freight
01
Purchasing
Inbound terms, vendor freight, contracts
02
Operations
Carrier selection, routing, service
03
Sales & customer service
Outbound terms, what customers are charged
04
Finance / AP
Freight bills, accruals, allocation
02 / WHY IT HAPPENS
The rules favor the carrier,
not the shipper.
Even smart shippers overpay. They aren’t careless; the structure is set up that way. Savings leak in the gaps between the tariff, the contract, the routing decision, and the freight bill.
Easy isn’t optimal.
One tariff and one flat discount is simple to administer, and it leaves money on the table lane by lane, weight break by weight break.
Inbound freight isn’t free.
It’s embedded in the product price, added to the invoice, or paid on collect terms. Either way, you pay for it.
Decisions happen per shipment.
Without the right rate in front of the person tendering the load, even the best contract won’t get followed.
The “best” tariff depends on the lane.
Same carriers, same class, same year: two shipments, opposite answers.
Tariff A is the lowest base, 16.6% below the highest.
The same Tariff A is now the highest. The lowest is 17.5% below it.
2.9% the best single tariff vs. the highest
4.8% the blended base vs. the best single tariff
7.6% the blended base vs. the highest
Historical study using 1997 LTL tariffs. Carrier names are withheld, and several of those carriers no longer exist. It’s shown to illustrate the method. Figures are net spend per shipment (lanes) and in total (mix). Bars are scaled to show the differences, not from zero. Your freight mix will produce different numbers.
03 / OUR APPROACH
Four connected steps.
One true freight number.
Each step feeds the next. A better base only pays off if it’s negotiated, followed on every shipment, and proven on every bill.
- 1
Build
a shipper-side blended base tariff
Designed around your lanes and weight breaks, with one universal contract, rules, and fuel platform for every LTL carrier.
A base that positions you to save. - 2
Negotiate
every contract on the new base
We run or facilitate the renegotiation of your LTL agreements and confirm your carrier footprint with you.
Contracts written from your side. - 3
Route
every shipment to the right carrier
Rates, discounts, minimums, fuel, and transit times loaded into rating & routing, so every tender is the no-excuses decision.
The contract actually gets followed. - 4
Prove
savings on every freight bill
Audit & pay checks each bill against the contract and measures realized vs. missed savings, transaction by transaction.
One true freight number.
The method, in the open.
Our method is documented in The Shipper’s Almanac, a free, education-first library for shippers, edited by Rob Balawender. Read it before you ever talk to us.
Visit The Shipper’s Almanac04 / KEEP WHAT YOU SAVE
Savings only count
when they reach the bottom line.
A better contract is the start. Terms, execution, and measurement decide how much of it you actually keep.
Your terms decide who keeps the savings.
- Inbound
- Validate vendor freight, whether it’s embedded in price, added to the invoice, or paid collect. Then rationalize terms and monitor compliance.
- Prepaid
- Savings go directly to the bottom line.
- Prepaid & add
- A margined rate equalizes savings, with no impact on your customer.
Bills paid like your toughest customer would.
- Every bill matched to the shipment and checked against the contract before it’s paid
- Transactional and structural problems cleaned up, not passed back to your team
- Accruals, allocation, GL coding, and reporting in one place
Things get better when you measure them.
Each bill is rated three ways: historical cost, what was paid, and the least-cost option. That shows realized savings and exactly where the rest is leaking.
Month 133%
Month 253%
Month 373%
Share of available savings realized, by month, over one quarter of a historical engagement. Shown to illustrate the method.
05 / HOW AN ENGAGEMENT WORKS
Low risk to start.
About 60 days to go-live.
The freight bill review is always free, so you see the opportunity before you commit to anything. Built for shippers spending $750K+ a year on freight.
- Weeks 0–2
No-cost study
Complete a short shipping survey and share a 60-day sample of paid freight bills. We rate it against a new structure and review the results with you in about two weeks.
You get: hard savings potential, and where it comes from.
- ~60 days from “yes”
Build, negotiate, implement
- Wk 1 Agreement & requirements review
- Wk 2 Internal process review, on site
- Wk 3 Bid results & carrier footprint
- Wk 4 Sign-off
- Wk 5 Final carrier negotiations
- Wk 6 Implementation meetings
- Wk 7 Internal test
- Wk 8 Go live
- Ongoing
Shared risk. Shared reward.
A transparent share of verified savings, or a project fee if you prefer a fixed price. Every bill is measured, so both sides see the same number, and you always know exactly what we earn.
If we can’t help, you keep a free report card.
PROOF / TRACK RECORD
Brands we’ve helped.
Names you’ll recognize.
Across their careers, Rob and Nick have worked on freight programs for global manufacturers, packaging leaders, retailers, and energy companies—spanning TMS implementations, freight payment and audit, and carrier sourcing.
Showing all 11 brands.
Logos are trademarks of their respective owners and are shown for identification only. Engagements reflect work by our principals, Rob and Nick Balawender, and do not imply endorsement.
06 / THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE WORK
Agents of change,
on the shipper’s side.
Talk to the people who do the work. Rob and Nick bring decades of experience across LTL tariff and contract strategy, freight audit and payment, transportation management systems, and shipper operations.
Request a discovery call
Rob Balawender
Principal · Editor, The Shipper’s Almanac
Works for the shipper, never the carrier, across LTL tariff and contract strategy, freight audit and payment, and shipper operations. Edits The Shipper’s Almanac, the education-first library for shippers.
Nick Balawender
Principal
Works for the shipper, never the carrier, across LTL tariff and contract strategy, freight audit and payment, transportation management systems, and shipper operations.
Rob Balawender · Nick Balawender · Balawender & Associates LLC
- We work for the shipper. Never the carrier, and never a report left on a shelf.
- Your choices stay yours. You keep control of carrier decisions and the direction of the work.
- Straight answers. Scope, assumptions, and remaining gaps made clear, with references gladly provided.
THE ONE-PAGER
The whole approach on one page.
The problem, the four steps, and what a no-cost study shows you, in a letter-size PDF you can pass around.
QUESTIONS
Good questions
to ask first.
What does the no-cost study need from us?
A short shipping survey and a sample of paid freight bills. Sixty days is typical; one to three months is ideal. We rate the sample against a new structure and walk you through the results in about two weeks.
How long until the program is running?
About 60 days from “yes”: requirements and process review, bid results and carrier footprint, sign-off, final carrier negotiations, implementation, internal test, go-live.
Do we have to change carriers?
Not necessarily. We renegotiate your LTL agreements on the new base and confirm the carrier footprint with you. Routing rules can include client-mandated carriers and facility routing guides.
How are you paid?
Two ways, and you always know exactly what we earn. Most clients choose a transparent share of verified savings, measured bill by bill. If you prefer a fixed price, we offer a project fee set by scope and spend. The gain share is ongoing, with an exit clause. You pay your carriers directly, and savings are verified by an independent freight auditor you choose. The freight bill review is always free.
Who is this built for?
Shippers spending $750K or more a year on freight, typically manufacturers and distributors with meaningful LTL, truckload, or parcel volume.
What if you can’t find savings?
Then congratulations: you leave with a free, independent report card on your freight program.
07 / A GOOD PLACE TO START
Start with a
no-cost study.
Tell us where freight is creating uncertainty. We’ll follow up to set up a conversation, and if it makes sense, the study.
The worst that can come out of it is a free report card.
Prefer email? Get in touch