34th Annual Quest for Quality Awards: Winners come into focus

This comprehensive annual report is the result of a six-month research project conducted by LM and Peer­less Research Group (PRG) that has been known for more than three decades as the single most important measure of customer satisfaction and service perfor­mance excellence available in the logistics and transpor­tation industry.

As we have over those many years, we’re once again using the pages of our August edition to officially announce the results of the carriers, third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and North American ports that have earned the ultimate vote of shipper confidence by receiv­ing the highest scores across our service performance criteria.

Perhaps the most important element to keep top of mind when considering the Quest for Quality Awards is that the winners listed in our pages have been deter­mined by LM readers—the buyers of logistics and transportation services who partner with these carriers and service providers to solve ever-evolving challenges around the clock.

Conducted by PRG, the survey is by invitation only, allowing shippers to vote on the type of services that they use on a regular basis and rank those carriers and providers that they work with every day. In order to evalu­ate a provider, the voter must have experience with that specific provider at some point over the past 12 months.

“Over the many years that I’ve been conducting this survey, I’ve found that carriers and service provid­ers put more weight on winning a Quest for Quality Award than any other accolade in the market,” says  Judd Aschenbrand, director of research at PRG. “And that makes sense because this award goes well beyond name recognition and popularity and is based solely on the performance of the carriers and service providers over the previous year.”

Knowing full well the value of this feedback, I’d like to personally thank all of the readers who took the time out of their busy schedules to weigh in on this year’s Quest for Quality ballets.

For the 2017 survey, our research team received 5,437 total respondents that resulted in 127 transportation and logistics service providers walking away with awards this year. Indeed, it’s this input that makes the Quest for Quality the purest snapshot of carrier and service provider quality available in the market.

“What I’ve found amazing over the years,” says con­tributing transportation editor John Schulz, “is that no matter how many economic, regulatory or operational challenges they continue to face, the carrier and service provider communities find a way to step up to the plate to meet those challenges—and LM readers are proud to reward them with the highest vote of service confidence when they do.”

Now, let’s recognize and celebrate the winners of the “34th Annual Quest for Quality Awards.”