“I want to put in a new order.”

These are some of the best words a shipper can hear from a buyer. But what about if the buyer has only put in an order for half their normal amount? Or a quarter the amount?

In a market punctuated by increasing demand, increasing production, and decreasing carrier availability, shippers are in a race to find carriers to ship their freight. Problems often arise when contracting out carriers due to 1) the shipper’s lack of a carrier network and 2) limited market information.

Your company produces a great product and you need to get your product to your customers. additionally, you need complete control over shipping that product. But do you have complete control? It isn’t enough to package, schedule and maintain visibility of each load – you also have to understand the tariffs of each carrier and know when you might be on the hook for any unexpected fees.

With all the uncertainty revolving around the logistics industry there is one thing that is constant – freight rates are rising. According to a report issued by Bloomberg midway through this year, spot rates have increased by 28% compared to 2017. Trans4cast reports that rates continue to make new record highs with no end in sight. It is projected that rate hikes will slow down in 2019; however, with a slew of new tariffs coming into effect in January, and FedEx and UPS announcing rate increases of 4.9%, it is clear that shippers will not be able to catch a break any time soon.

First of All - What is a GL Code?

A General Ledger Code (GL Code) is a string of alphanumeric characters assigned to each financial entry in an organization’s ledger. A GL Code can indicate basic information such as a debit or credit by location or provide highly specific details about an entry through a GL String. A GL String is made up of a combination of numbers and groups of numbers that when applied uniformly can categorize every point of information for an entry.