Digital platforms have plunged into the world of freight, promising to automate practices that pull time from truck capacity.
Over the past two years, these solutions have included solutions for parking, yard management, trailer pooling, dispatching and more.
Freight platform Convoy has worked to provide solutions for these time burdens and now the carrier users will be able to leverage its latest achievement — instant bid responses.
The company has been rolling out the new feature to users throughout January. Starting Friday, 98% of bids on Convoy-sourced loads will receive immediate bid feedback.
“While the time spent searching for loads is really up to each carrier, every step of the process from bidding to booking to load confirmation can now be completed in just seconds in the Convoy app,” Grant Goodale, company co-founder and carrier experience officer, told FreightWaves. “The speed with which carriers can now book their schedules is a real game changer.”
The common bidding practices at brokerage houses — even many digital platforms — can be extremely time-consuming with over-the-phone negotiations and emails back and forth with shipper customers, leaving carriers waiting hours to receive feedback.
Goodale explained that this was part of a continued strategy for the company to provide more useful tools to carriers as they navigate a soft market.
“Truck drivers deserve the tools to operate as efficiently as possible, maximizing time spent earning, improving cash flow and increasing take-home pay,” Goodale said. “As part of that, we’re always looking at ways to offer increased flexibility and dependability surrounding the ways carriers find and complete work.”
The Convoy team has provided different solutions to help carriers adjust from the high rates of 2021 to the normalizing market of ’22. These include quick pay with lower fees than competitors, integrations with other brokers to improve load choices and a commitment to standardizing scheduling integrations to eventually improve carrier turnaround.
Related: Convoy, J.B. Hunt and Uber Freight call for standardized scheduling API
Goodale told FreightWaves that building these tools to provide proper bidding response is complex, but it’s the perfect moment to show Convoy’s commitment to carriers.
“As we continue through this soft market, we believe there’s ample opportunity to help carriers earn more with less hassle by helping keep their trucks full and cutting down on their operational costs,” he said. “This feature uses Convoy’s dynamic pricing models and also takes into account changing market conditions to immediately evaluate and respond to carriers’ bids in real time.”
Watch now: Navigating Volatility in Freight Markets: Convoy’s Dan Lewis talks with Craig Fuller
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