Building trust in alternative carriers

With the current volatility in logistics, from fluctuating demand to tight capacity, having strong relationships with carriers can significantly impact your bottom line. When carriers have to choose between multiple loads, they’re going to prioritize those from shippers who make their lives easier. This isn’t just about paying top dollar; it’s about being efficient, predictable, and understanding the carrier's needs. Providing flexible pickup and delivery windows, accurate load information, and minimizing detention are some of the critical ways you can stand out. These practices don’t just improve your reputation—they streamline your operations, cut costs, and enhance efficiency. A shipper who consistently respects that time is invaluable. If you’re a shipper of choice, carriers know they’re less likely to run into delays, waste time on the dock, or deal with miscommunication. This trust turns into loyalty. The key to becoming a shipper of choice starts with communication. Clear, upfront information about shipments, loads, and expectations reduces confusion and allows carriers to plan efficiently. Carriers appreciate transparency, and in return, you get a reliable partner who’s more willing to work with you, even in difficult circumstances. It’s not just about relationships; it’s also about operations. Leveraging technology to optimize your supply chain can make you more attractive to carriers. Automated updates, seamless payment systems, and real-time tracking are features that carriers appreciate, and they demonstrate that you value efficiency just as much as they do. With these measures in place, you’ll find that more carriers are willing to work with you—and even prioritize your business over others. In times of capacity shortages, this can be the difference between getting your freight moved or facing costly delays. Moreover, building a reputation as a shipper of choice creates long-term benefits. Over time, it becomes easier to negotiate favorable rates, secure capacity, and establish a consistent network of reliable carriers. #Trucking #OwnerOperator #SupplyChain

Remember booking a bus ticket 15-20 years ago? It was close to a nightmare. You had to visit multiple travel agents or stand in long queues at bus stations, hoping to find a seat. Prices were inconsistent, schedules were unclear, and there was no way to compare operators. You had no idea if your chosen bus was reliable, comfortable, safe or even on time. Cut to today: You open an app, check routes, compare operators, read reviews, pick your seat, and pay online—all in minutes. This transformation wasn’t accidental. It was the result of solving a fragmented market through a digital marketplace. Why Are Fragmented Markets So Challenging? Industries like travel, logistics, and services often start as fragmented ecosystems where buyers and sellers operate independently, leading to: ▪️ Lack of Standardisation: Different vendors, inconsistent pricing, and no quality control. ▪️ Discovery Issues: Finding the right service provider is tough due to limited visibility. ▪️ Low Trust: No reviews, no credibility checks, and unreliable payment processes. ▪️ Limited Tech Adoption: Many suppliers operate offline with manual processes. In such cases, a marketplace isn’t just useful—it’s essential. From Frustration to a Scalable Marketplace - In 2006, RedBus’ founder, personally experienced this frustration when he couldn’t book a bus ticket to travel home. He saw the massive inefficiencies in India’s bus booking system and set out to solve it. 💡 Building Trust & Aggregating Supply (2006-2010): The biggest challenge? Getting bus operators to digitize inventory. RedBus gave them free inventory management software, which allowed real-time seat availability and reduced dependency on offline agents. 💡 Scaling & Customer Adoption (2011-2014): Introduced online payments, mobile booking, and customer reviews, making bus travel safer and transparent. Hit 1 Crore tickets sold in 2012, proving marketplace adoption. 💡 Multi-Modal & Tech-Enabled Experience (2017-Present): Introduced hotel bookings, ride-sharing integrations, and enterprise solutions for corporate travel. Leveraged Tech for dynamic pricing, seat recommendations, and predictive bus tracking. RedBus didn’t just create a booking platform—it rebuilt the bus travel industry with: ✔ Standardized Pricing & Transparency ✔ Secure Online Transactions ✔ Reliable Seat Availability & Live Tracking ✔ Customer Ratings & Reviews for Trust Great marketplaces don’t just connect buyers and sellers. They create value by organising fragmented industries, setting standards, and building trust. Similarly the long term visioned folks here at Fitsol have faced similar challenges on another sector, and we are set out to solve for this. Watch out the space for more updates. Akshay Anand Vikas Sunil Manoj Kunal Sidharth Ankit #marketplace #techenabled #fitsol #startup #fragmentedmarkets #acurioushumanbeing

UK carrier verification currently takes days, or even weeks, to complete. Qualified trucks sit empty while 3PLs pay premiums for overused carriers. Here’s how verification friction wastes capacity, and how to solve this: Historically, freight moved within close partner networks where carriers and 3PLs worked together repeatedly. That model works, but it’s imperfect. Especially as recent years have brought dramatic change: Volatility is standard, costs are unpredictable, and net-zero deadlines are looming. Facing this, 3PLs are searching for more efficient models - and the stakes are high. When a 3PL hands over critical cargo, it entrusts a third party with customer value and reputation. Proper licensing, reliability, and service are essential. A single failure can undo years of relationship-building. To manage this risk, many 3PLs created in-house verification systems: Checking certificates, reviewing compliance, and running processes that take days or weeks. They work, but are expensive, slow, and rarely scalable. Most providers remain tied to small pools of familiar carriers. The result is structural inefficiency. Carriers with capacity drive empty for lack of access, while 3PLs pay premiums to overused carriers. Empty miles rise, flexibility falls, and emissions grow. What began as a safeguard has become an industry-wide constraint. A better model treats trust as infrastructure: Instead of static approvals or one-time checks, verification runs continuously in the background. Carriers onboard instantly, and 3PLs flexibly tap wider networks without manual friction. This architecture relies on ongoing verification, dynamic scoring, and systematic proof over personal referrals. By embedding verification into the ecosystem, trust shifts from bottleneck to enabler of growth. We built Trustd to provide this capability, integrated into the TEG Logistics Technology platform. Trustd automates verification, monitors compliance continuously, and makes reliable capacity accessible at scale. The effect is immediate: Onboarding times fall from weeks to minutes. Carrier pools expand from dozens to thousands. Costs reduce. Emissions decline as networks operate more efficiently. Just as physical infrastructure once unlocked new possibilities, trust infrastructure now powers digital logistics. Adopters will gain efficiency, sustainability, and resilience. Learn how TEG’s trust infrastructure can transform your logistics operations - or stay ahead of the market with our free TEG Price Index: https://lnkd.in/eZTgQHqF