In the fast-paced world of logistics, ensuring timely shipments often takes priority, especially when your operations team is under pressure to meet end-of-month targets. In such scenarios, attention to detail in shipping documentation can sometimes be overlooked, leading to costly errors like overcharges, duplicate payments, and other billing issues. If left unchecked, these mistakes can result in significant revenue loss over time.
This is where a freight audit and payment provider becomes invaluable. Beyond simply saving money, freight audit and payment (FAP) services offer critical insights that help optimize your logistics operations. Let’s explore the key benefits they bring to your business:
Prevent costly errors
Freight bills are notoriously error-prone, with common mistakes including unapproved accessorial charges, duplicate bills, and incorrect rates. According to VTM, many of these errors go unnoticed without thorough auditing. A freight audit provider meticulously reviews each shipment, helping to eliminate unnecessary labor costs, avoid unapproved charges, and prevent overcharges for issues like detention. By catching these errors early, you can save substantial amounts of money and ensure your billing is accurate.
Simplify payments
For carriers, timely and hassle-free payments are crucial. If your payment process is disorganized, it can strain relationships with carriers, risking trust, goodwill, and even your negotiation leverage. A freight audit and payment provider can implement a robust system that streamlines payments, ensuring carriers are paid accurately and on time. This not only improves your relationship with carriers but also enhances your overall supply chain efficiency.
Expert insight
When focusing only on internal data, it’s challenging to see the broader impact of your logistics on the industry. Partnering with a freight audit provider gives you access to expert insights that go beyond your internal perspective. Regular audits provide comprehensive spending summaries and identify opportunities for cost savings. This expert analysis enables you to better manage logistics, optimize shipping costs, accurately calculate carrier fees, and much more. The industry knowledge and best practices brought by a freight audit provider give your business a competitive edge.
Save time
Managing freight audits internally can be time-consuming, requiring significant manual effort and investigation. By outsourcing these functions to a freight audit provider, you free up your internal teams to focus on core business activities and customer service. This shift is particularly beneficial for companies looking to promote internal talent and improve management capabilities. Moving away from manual, opaque processes to streamlined, automated systems reduces reliance on individual contributors and enhances overall operational efficiency.
Better integration in freight auditing
Freight audit platforms offer a level of integration that simplifies the complexities associated with different enterprise resource planning (ERP) and transportation management systems (TMS). This is especially critical for multinational companies dealing with transnational and multicurrency transactions, where data can easily become fragmented and obscure. Freight audit providers advocate for better platform integration to improve visibility, control, and savings across your entire logistics operation.
Final thoughts
While the idea of adding a new service provider to your supply chain might seem like an additional expense, a freight audit and payment service delivers a return on investment that can quickly offset its cost. Without such services, you risk overpaying due to manual errors, facing shipment issues from ambiguous terms, and missing out on refund opportunities due to discrepancies and disputes. Investing in a freight audit and payment provider is not just about preventing errors—it’s about gaining a strategic advantage in managing your logistics efficiently.
