3 Big Reasons to Outsource Your LTL Freight to a 3PL

A shipping mode that most companies who regularly ship goods are likely to encounter or utilize at least once in their existence (but likely a lot more than that) is LTL freight shipping.

Sometimes a full truckload just isn’t necessary or even feasible. You may not always need to ship enough goods or materials to fill the capacity of an entire truck. And you surely don't want to pay for the unused space to top it all off. For example, in the case of wholesalers, it’s common for shipping companies to send out periodic LTL shipments rather than waiting until they’re low on a product and sending out a full truckload. LTL shipping allows companies to be more flexible with their shipments and find a balance between overstocking and not having enough.

There are actually a lot of great reasons why companies may choose to take advantage of LTL versus FTL. Unlike shipping one full truckload from a single shipper, less than truckload shipping aims to carry a full load comprising shipments from multiple shippers. But while this strategy can save money in the long run if managed properly, it can also often be time-consuming and difficult to manage properly.

To address those hurdles, some shipping companies opt to outsource the management of their Less Than Truckload freight to a 3PL company like Redwood. Doing so allows them to focus their time on other areas of their business while the 3PL does all the heavy lifting.

Let's explore the top 3 reasons you should consider outsourcing your LTL.

A 3PL Can Help You Save Time and Money on Your LTL Freight Shipments

Optimizing LTL shipping strategies and ensuring that it all runs smoothly takes a fair amount of work and ongoing monitoring. To truly pull this off, it requires a significant investment of time to make sure deliveries go as planned and you see a positive ROI.

However, when supply chain companies have a lot on their plate, things inevitably fall through the cracks. And to be clear, this is not an issue that is limited to the size or diligence of the company. In fact, larger businesses are generally the ones that need the most support as they have more touchpoints where something can go wrong. 

Outsourcing LTL shipping to a 3PL saves you time and money by allowing you to put those same resources into other projects. Rather than investing employees’ time in managing LTL shipments, you can rest assured that your LTL is being handled by logistic professionals single-mindedly dedicated to fulfilling your LTL shipping needs.

Furthermore, LTL requires so much frontloading in order to properly manage it all in-house. In fact, the amount of time and money required to manage it yourself may end up costing you more than if it were outsourced.

Access to New LTL Freight Technology

Another way outsourcing your LTL freight shipping needs can benefit your business is that it gives you access to new technology. This comes in the form of tools that your 3PL partner may have available for you to utilize. Managing LTL freight can be a challenge to supply chain companies,. This is especially if they don’t have access to the right technology. Some companies invest funds in new technology that helps with LTL shipping. However, integrating and buying new supply chain tech can be both disruptive and expensive, especially when your employees already have their hands full. 

Outsourcing LTL freight needs to a logistics company will give you access to state-of-the-art technology that improves transparency, supply chain visibility, and on-demand services. All of this without having to purchase or maintain the technology yourself. These technologies will ensure your LTL shipments run seamlessly and that your customers' satisfaction increases with every delivery.

Reduce Risk

Managing risk is essential to the success of every business, and supply chain companies are no different. One way to reduce risk is to reduce and eliminate any complications you can.

Outsourcing LTL shipping needs helps accomplish this by eliminating all of the complications that come along with managing it yourself. It will help you to mitigate risk and loss as your logistics company handles your LTL needs with better real-time data, higher visibility and more effective communication to avoid data silos between your LTL team and others involved in the getting your goods where they need to go. Your logistics partner will be able to easily identify any problems that arise and get ahead of them before they get any worse.

Outsourcing LTL to a third-party logistics company can also allow your 3PL to seamlessly reroute shipments as needed, manage disruptions, and coordinate with wholesalers. This all comes together to give you the comfort of mind that if any problems do come up, you have a 3PL team dedicated to solving them.

Outsource Your LTL Freight with Redwood Logistics

All of this considered, we highly recommend outsourcing your LTL needs to a professional 3PL. It will save you time and money, reduce risk, and give you access to new technology. All of which will help you to grow your business, reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and support your bottom line. It will take some of the burdens off of CSCOs and free up your employees’ time. That extra time can then be dedicated to other projects, ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks. 

So if you’re looking to work with a 3PL to manage your LTL shipments, look no further than Redwood Logistics. At Redwood, we are dedicated to providing the highest quality logistics services to all of our clients. We work with a team of experts who are highly experienced and understand the logistics industry inside and out. With state-of-the-art technologies like our freight management software and transportation management systems, we can provide unique and actionable insights. These are then used to optimize your LTL freight while reducing both costs and risks. 

If you want to learn more about how the Redwood team can help your supply chain company with all your LTL needs, reach out to us here.