How to lose a shipper in 10 days? Step one: make them log into six different portals. Step two: send a demurrage bill they can’t dispute without going on a PDF-fuelled scavenger hunt. Step three…well, you get the general idea.
In this episode of Don’t Dwell On It, Harris + Sydney look at rail from the customer’s perspective. From small aggregate operations and big-box retailers to global chemical, coal, and energy companies, rail shippers span a huge range of industries. And between the portals, PDFs, and spreadsheets they juggle just to find out where their freight is, it’s no wonder so many keep choosing truck – namely for its reliability, real-time tracking, and ETAs that can actually be planned around.
The takeaway is that railroads aren’t going to get volume by default. They have to earn it by being easier to work with, being transparent on rates, and giving ETAs shippers can rely on. Or, basically, the opposite of everything in the first paragraph!