Case Study: Convoy’s Shipper Platform Helps Southwest Traders Beat the Capacity Crunch

Over the last 40 years, Southwest Traders, Inc. has grown from a one-van operation to a food distributor and restaurant supply chain with operations in five states, including four facilities and a satellite location in Texas.

As the logistics coordinator, Tina Sterling is responsible for the backhauls in California, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado. To keep track of where her shipments were at any given time, she worked closely with a small group of trusted carriers.

But she was fed up with the time it took to get a response.

“I was only working with a handful of carriers, so having to wait to get communication back from them was my biggest frustration,” she said. She was making dozens of phone calls and sending tons of emails to find out: Where is my shipment? Where is the driver right now? When will they get to the destination?

“It was taking two to three hours — and sometimes even days,” she recalls, “to get responses back.”

Tina was also contending with the capacity crunch and was feeling frustrated by rising rates.

These factors combined to make her job more difficult than ever, and she was ready to streamline her freight procurement process and cut down on the number of phone calls going back and forth to carriers.

Streamlined freight procurement to save money

Tina learned about Convoy’s digital freight capacity platform and decided to test it out. She immediately liked Convoy’s user-friendly interface.

“It’s easy to use,” she says. “I just get in there and get a rate right away. I can then make my decision on whether it’s a cost-effective carrier choice, book the load, and get a quick confirmation.”

Along with the speedier freight procurement times, Southwest Traders’ logistics team is also saving money and re-allocating its energy and time for more important tasks.

Now, Convoy is usually the first place Tina goes when she needs a truck.