An upcharge for guaranteed on-time delivery is nothing new in the LTL industry. It’s a common offering among LTL carriers, but what isn’t common is an on-time guarantee that waives 100% of the shipping cost – not just the upcharge – if the carrier fails to deliver by the deadline.
That is Roadrunner's (CCJ Innovator, May 2022) new proposition.
The company, which relaunched in 2020, has rolled out its Smart Guarantee LTL program in which shippers who pay an additional 25% charge receive priority service that ensures their freight delivers by the promised delivery date. If Roadrunner runs late with their shipment, the company will waive the entirety of the shipper’s bill.
The offering is currently available in select lanes with plans to eventually expand it network wide. Roadrunner Chief Financial Officer Jack Korslin said the company has been piloting the program under the radar since June and has seen great uptake in the lanes it has offered the service in so far.
“While it's still early days, to date we have had a 100% success rate on all of our guaranteed shipments. We know over time, just the very nature of us continuing to grow this program, we're going to have failures from time to time, but we’re thrilled to be starting off on a strong foot,” Korslin said. “Today, we're consistently delivering in the 93%-plus on-time delivery threshold and even higher in some of our busiest lanes where customers can access this guaranteed product.”
Month to date through October 25, Roadrunner had 97.7% on-time delivery between Southern California and Dallas, 96.9% from Chicago to Seattle and 97.5% from Memphis to Southern California.
“No two lanes are the same, but on the whole, investing in our drivers and our network and our technology has really allowed us to hit those type of numbers,” Korslin said.
