As we have discussed in previous posts, when using an expedited ground freight carrier such as ExpeditedFreightQuote.Com your transit times will be much less than other modes of ground transit. If you have not been in the logistics industry very long, you may wonder why some carriers have faster transit times to the same destination than others. This post aims to help those that are new to transportation understand the “why” around this. There are three things you m ust consider to understand why ExpeditedFreightQuote.Com has faster transit times than LTL common carriers:

• Days counted for transit times
• Team vs Solo Driver or rail consolidation
• Control and flexibility over the freight.

Once we go over each of the above items in detail you will understand why some ground transportation is faster than others and determine what mode of transportation is right for you.

Days Counted When Calculating Transit Time

ExpeditedFreightQuote.Com always uses weekdays when calculating the transit time. This means even if your shipment is picked up toward then end of the work week, we will count the weekend as days in transit. This differs from LTL common carriers or brokers who often count their transit time in business days not including the day of pick up. Let’s use an example of a shipment picking up in Los Angeles, CA on Thursday and delivering to Newark, NJ. The expedited ground transit time is going to be 3-4 weekdays where an LTL common carrier is likely going to be 5-6 business days not including the day of pick up (depending on carrier)

In this example, the shipment that moves through ExpeditedFreightQuote.Com will deliver on Monday afternoon. The shipment that moved through LTL common carrier will likely not deliver until Thursday or Friday and perhaps not even until the following Monday depending on if it was consolidated or not. As we can see in this example the shipper has shaved at least 2 days off the transit time and perhaps as much as 7 days by moving via expedited carrier. If you are moving a low value, not time sensitive product perhaps you don’t care and LTL is the mode for you. However, if timing and delivery is important to your business it is important to choose a carrier and company you can rely on and can deliver quickly.

Team VS. Solo Driver or Rail Consolidation

Another factor you must consider to understand why ExpeditedFreightQuote.Com’s ground transit time can be faster than others is how the freight travels across the country to reach the final destination. When using a common carrier, LTL freight if often consolidated onto a rail container to travel across the country or it moves via a network of LTL Hubs. This slows down transit times for two reasons. If it is being consolidated onto a rail container you must first wait until that container is full before it even leaves the origin city and then it moves via rail which is slower than over the road. If it is moving via truck, that truck likely has multiple stops at different LTL hubs across the country before reaching final destination further causing transit time delays.

With ExpeditedFreightQuote.Com we pick up the freight at the origin city, transfer to a line-haul truck which moves directly to the closet destination city. We then transfer the freight to the final mile delivery truck for immediate delivery. In addition, all of our drivers work as teams. This means the truck is continually able to drive by switching off drivers while the other rests. By moving your freight directly with team drivers we are able to further reduce the transit time you experience as that truck never stops moving until it reaches destination.

Control and Flexibility Over the Freight

The final factor that helps reduce transit time when using expedited ground freight is the amount of control and flexibility we have over the entire shipment. ExpeditedFreightQuote.Com maintains control of your shipment from pick up through to delivery. Unlike LTL brokers, the team at ExpeditedFreightQuote.Com is able to react quickly and get your shipment out for delivery as soon as it arrives at the destination. Do you need a weekend or holiday pick up? No problem, with expedited ground freight you are provided a dedicated account manager who is available to answer your questions 24 hours a day 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Having this level of control and response times further enables our team to shave time of your ground transit.

While this post may have been common knowledge for those who work in Logistics, I hope it was able to provide some valuable insight to those who are new. In a world where it is important to be first and fast, having an expedited ground option for your deliveries is crucial to any successful logistics strategy. Request a free online quote from me today at www.expeditedfreightquote.com and see what we can do for you and your team.

By: Erik Bendiksen- Senior Account Executive- ExpeditedFreightQuote.Com