The 7 places freight spend quietly leaks — and how to plug them

Freight is the line item everyone assumes is already tight. In our experience, it rarely is. Here are seven places spend quietly leaks — and what to do about each.

1. Accessorials. Detention, liftgate, residential, and reclassification charges add up fast and often go unaudited. Start by pulling a 90-day accessorial report and asking which are avoidable.

2. Mode mismatch. Shipments moving parcel that should be LTL, or LTL that should consolidate to truckload, are pure margin left on the table. A simple lane analysis surfaces these quickly.

3. Invoice errors. A meaningful share of freight invoices contain billing errors. Auditing them — and recovering — is often the fastest cash in the building.

4. Dead miles and poor routing. Empty backhauls and inefficient stop sequences inflate cost without adding service. Routing discipline pays back immediately.

5. Stale contracts. Rates negotiated two years ago rarely reflect today's market or your current volume. A data-backed re-bid resets the baseline.

6. Too many carriers — or too few. Both extremes cost money. The right carrier base balances leverage, coverage, and service.

7. No visibility. If you can't see what you pay by lane and mode, you can't manage it. Visibility is the foundation every other fix stands on.

None of these require heroics — just data, discipline, and someone whose incentive is your P&L, not a carrier relationship.