Study Finds Traditional Freight Shipping Inefficient & Costly According to Shippers across the US

Inefficiency - Not Just the Labor Shortage - Is Breaking Supply Chains

Flock Freight®, a technology company that is reinventing freight shipping with its patented shared truckload service, partnered with Drive Research to release its 2022 research study, “Inefficiency - not just the labor shortage - is breaking supply chains,” which reveals that shippers in the U.S. are struggling to ship over-the-road freight efficiently due to rising costs, shrinking size restrictions, underutilized trailer space, and delivery delays.

The COVID-19 pandemic set in motion an unprecedented logistics and transportation crisis, crippling supply chains around the world, and stretching shippers to the limit as consumer demand increased.

In the continued wake of this crisis, driver shortages and port delays are often cited as the cause for ongoing supply chain disruptions, but a crucial piece of the puzzle is being overlooked: The trucks clogging roadways and dockyards are moving at less-than-maximized capacity.

“The supply chain issues we saw during the height of the pandemic continue today and act as proof that shippers and carriers are an essential piece in keeping the economy and our lives running,” said Oren Zaslansky, founder and CEO of Flock Freight.

“These survey results - from shippers experiencing these disruptions first-hand - are very telling that traditional shipping methods are not enough to keep trucks running. Flock Freight's shared truckload technology enables shippers to move their freight faster, cheaper, and with less damage than the traditional shipping methods that have so-far shaped our supply chain.”

Flock Freight's survey of 200 transportation and logistics professionals found that the industry's traditional shipping methods - partial truckload (PTL), truckload (TL), and less-than-truckload (LTL) - resulted in increased fees, shipment delays, and late deliveries. For all shipping methods, 100% of respondents reported that their freight arrived late in 2021 and was delayed between one and four days.

Other key findings (broken down by shipper challenges) include:

Cost Inefficiency

• 1 in 2 shippers are paying for air in underutilized truckload shipments 
• 100% of shippers incur accessorial fees, and 27% of them experience them often
• Accessorial fees are costing shippers on average $411,239 a year, with large enterprise shippers incurring closer to $900,000
• On average, $566 in OTIF (on-time-in-full) fees are charged per shipment, racking up to over $290,000 per year

Delivery Inefficiency

• 100% of shippers had to remanufacture & reship goods due to damage, with over 1 in 4 need to do so often
• 96% of LTL shippers experience delays between 1-4 days, with some even experiencing 5-6 day delays
• 1 in 3 shippers often wait to send a shipment until they can fill an entire truckload trailer
• Of the truckloads booked in 2021, over half (51%) were moving at partially empty

Download Related Resource

Shippers Nationwide Find Traditional Freight Modes Inefficient and Costly
This report reveals new data and actionable insights to help today’s shippers overcome their most pressing challenges. Download Now!

Flock Freight is the first company to figure out how to pool shipments at scale, creating opportunities for shippers and carriers the industry has never seen. Its guaranteed STL solution - FlockDirect™ - solves the pain points of traditional shipping modes by fundamentally changing the way freight moves. STL places shipments (from multiple shippers) that are traveling on a similar route onto the same truck, optimizing the best possible route so freight never loads or unloads between pickup and delivery, minimizing potential delays and damage. FlockDirect™ fills trucks to capacity, and reduces the cost of shipping midsize freight, which maximizes carriers' earnings, eliminates unnecessary mileage, and contributes to a more sustainable supply chain.