We see the dialogue in films again and again. Two individuals, John and Jane, trying to catch a taxi cab, “Where you headed” asked John, “uptown” said Jane, then John replied “me too, want to split a cab?” Just as a taxi cab will cost the same overall price with one person vs two people inside, wouldn’t you rather share and pay less!

The same principle can be applied to shipping cold freight. Shipping some of your product alone can cost big bucks. That same truck filled with other products going to the same location, equals savings for everyone. The image below can help paint the picture of utilizing pool distribution.

Here are some benefits of pool distribution for cold freight:

• Cut freight costs 8% to 10%. This is achieved by leveraging the economies of TL shipments and cost-sharing across pool participants.
• Speed delivery times up to 4 days. Instead of making multiple stops as it travels through the LTL terminal network, product ships direct to the destination region. There, pool distributors sort and segregate products and prepare shipments to specific retailers.
• Meet retailer RAD dates. Unlike national LTL carriers for temperature-controlled freight, who must wait to build full loads, pool shipments combine cold freight for known participants on an agreed shipment schedule.
• Ease your administrative burden. The process of identifying, vetting and managing multiple LTL carriers sucks up time, with little reward other than a stiff LTL bill. Working with a pool distribution partner who has established carrier relationships is far easier to manage.
• Reduce carbon emissions. By combining cold freight by working with temperature-controlled trucking companies you create fewer, fuller loads, which takes trucks off the road. You can then calculate these carbon reductions and include them in your environmental progress reports.
• Reduce damage. The less touches in transit, the less damage. A pool shipment should result in a minimum of 2 less touches per trip compared to LTL. Pool distribution is a collaborative strategy. As pressure increases to reduce freight’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions – and it will – that pressure will trigger more interest in shipper-to-shipper collaboration to combine loads. As with most green freight initiatives, pool distribution helps meet both sustainability and cost cutting goals.

Are you ready to jump into the pool? Contact us today to see how we can save you money.