robust technology to intelligently shop carriers is critical the more you add to your portfolio.” Saatva looks at online reviews during the carrier vetting process but takes them with a grain of salt because it’s rare for satis ed customers to leave positive feedback. “If we used Google or Yelp reviews during the initial stages of our vetting, we wouldn’t have been able to build our network at all,” Dimilta says. n
Saatva uses DispatchTrack to provide real-time visibility into deliveries, including scheduling and customer acceptance of the order. “If there are any issues between the customer and our delivery partner, we hear about them right away,” says Dimilta. “It has become an invaluable part of not just our delivery business but also our customer service experience.” SELECTING PARTNERS Especially in the consumer realm, the last-mile experience is intertwined with the seller’s brand reputation, regardless of the delivery contract’s details. Finding last-mile partners is as much an art as it is a science, Dimilta notes, and Saatva has developed its own process for selecting and vetting carriers. “Partnering with smaller delivery partners suits the type of hands-on experience we offer more than dealing with larger delivery companies,” he says. The Saatva vetting process focuses on whether the carrier has mattress- handling and furniture assembly experience, two-person crews, and can commit to the four-hour window for scheduling and delivery times. Other vetting questions dive into the business, such as whether the eet is company or contractor owned and its technology capabilities. Once Saatva brings a carrier onboard, detailed daily, weekly and monthly internal carrier reporting takes place. Carriers that fall below service thresholds are selected for review. Based on monitoring more than 150 carriers over many years, the Saatva team can spot problems and take action. “We are so good at monitoring our partners that we can tell whether or not it’s a new delivery team, even when there’s a mechanical breakdown in our delivery partner’s day-to-day operations,” Dimilta notes. Saatva’s claim rate is less than 1% of all deliveries. When selecting carriers, ask them to provide quotes for actual shipments, using six to 12 months of anonymized data to give a realistic view of lanes
and volumes. “The more data shippers can provide to a carrier, the fewer surprises they have when engaging in negotiations and contracts,” Bourke says. Some 3PLs recommend shopping carrier rates for every shipment. “If you aren’t shopping carriers on every order, you are overspending and under-delivering,” says Sean Henry, co-founder and CEO of supply chain start-up Stord. “At the same time,
DISRUPTIONS MEAN BUSINESS Supply chain disruptions have had a positive impact on expedited final-mile providers. Shipments that used to go less-than-truckload (LTL) now go to last-mile carriers, says The Customized Logistics and Delivery Association (CLDA), which represents the first to final miles of the supply chain in the United States and worldwide. “The delays in the supply chain mean that shippers can’t always depend on LTL transportation to get things where they need when the customer needs them,” says Tim Cocchia, COO of Xcel Delivery Services and CLDA board member. “In these cases, they turn to last- mile delivery partners. “Before the disruptions, LTL could get products to their destinations in a timely manner,” Cocchia says. “But with the disruptions that’s no longer the case. Last-mile providers take delivery of the items, store them in our warehouses until they are needed, and deliver them when it’s time. We have always done some of these deliveries, but the demand has dramatically increased.” IMPACT ON JUST-IN-TIME Supply chain issues have had a dramatic impact on companies that depended heavily on the just-in-time model. “Right now, just-in-time doesn’t work,” says Cocchia. “In the past, just-in-time made economic sense. It worked because those in procurement knew they could wait until the last minute to order what they needed and get it right away. The customer could keep their money in the bank, order at the last minute possible, and have it show up on the day it was supposed to without redelivery and warehousing fees. “Not anymore,” he adds. “Today, companies order products ahead of time because they’re not sure when they’ll come in. They ship those products to last-mile providers’ warehouses to hold them for as long as needed, and then deliver them exactly when needed.”
112 Inbound Logistics • January 2023
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