From the category archives:

Tips for Traffic Managers

Creating More Profitable “FREE FREIGHT” Rules

by George Muha January 16, 2012

HAVING AN EQUALIZED “FREE FREIGHT” PROGRAM KILLS PROFITS, SO CHANGE IT It’s common for shippers to have an equalized free freight program. What I mean by equalized freight program I am talking about offering “free freight” to customers who purchase a certain amount of volume of goods, regardless of their geographical location. The problem is [...]

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The Supply Chain Self Test

by George Muha October 18, 2011

The book The New Supply Chain Agenda (Harvard 2010) outlines an excellent strategy to help companies achieve supply chain excellence. This book also has some very effective self surveys to help companies identify the current state of things concerning their own supply chain operations. However, I like to keep things simple and wanted to share [...]

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Freight Audit Companies Fall Short in this One Area: Aged Invioces

by George Muha October 11, 2011

This post is going to be short, sweet and to the point. I love what a good freight audit company can do for a shipper! These firms usually can process invoices way more effectively than a shipper can on their own. In addition, some of these firms can output metrics and business intelligence that can [...]

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What Time Limit Does a Freight Carrier Have to Send an Invoice

by George Muha September 28, 2011

One question I get a lot is about the time frame in which a carrier has to invoice a shipper. Shippers get surprised when a freight invoice pops up twelve months after a shipment was executed and they feel there might be some clause that gets them off the hook. Well, I’m here to burst [...]

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Is it Legal to Mark Up Freight Charges?

by George Muha September 21, 2011

Is it legal to mark up freight charges? No, its not. So lets load up the paddy wagon and start bringing American businesses to justice! Okay, I’m only partly kidding around so readers can relax. Technically it’s not illegal to mark up freight charges but in so doing suppliers may be violating the purchasing terms. [...]

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How Bad Are Parcel Companies Screwing You?

by George Muha September 13, 2011

One thing I hear a lot in the voice of shippers is their lack of confidence when it comes to their parcel pricing programs. Recently a shipper told me, in a boasting kind of a way, of the new discount he just achieved with UPS. Then he immediately asked me if I thought that was [...]

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The Great Divide: Sales vs. Operations

by George Muha August 12, 2011

I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a company that didn’t have a huge disconnect between sales and operations. But this week the gap widened to an all time record at one company I visited when a senior operations manager loudly and almost proudly proclaimed in his office, “Our sales people are idiots!” After he uttered [...]

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Better Understanding Fuel Surcharges

by George Muha July 26, 2011

Fuel has jumped an unprecedented 32.34% from the 2nd quarter of 2010 when diesel was $3.03 per gallon to 2nd quarter of 2011 when fuel was $4.01 per gallon. The good news though, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s projections, is that fuel will hover around the four dollar range through Q4 of 2012. [...]

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The Secret to Fighting Freight Capacity

by George Muha June 8, 2011

I am going to cut to the chase; the secret to combating a capacity trucking market is…(drum roll please)…LEAD TIMES! End of article. Thank you for bringing the potato salad! We’ll see you again at the 4th of July picnic! Okay, okay, okay! I’ll give you a little more but I am still going to [...]

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Supply Chain Necessities When Planning an Acquisition

by George Muha April 4, 2011

When a company wants purchase another company, nothing makes this process smoother than having a well run supply chain in place. Having a high proficiency in supply chain operations is most vital when evaluating a selling company, negotiating at the bargaining table and transitioning once the sale is complete. A lot of companies I work [...]

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