A survey of 240 enterprise shipping organizations across six industries examined how they see, govern, and decide their shipping economics. Every respondent manages a multi-modal transportation network with substantial parcel operations. The results were clear: shipping has outgrown its operating model.
Shipping has become one of the fastest-moving cost centers in the enterprise. Carrier rates change more frequently, surcharge structures keep expanding, and delivery expectations keep rising. The environment has shifted so fundamentally that best practices built for a stable, consolidated carrier market are no longer adequate. The traditional model was built for simplicity: one or two carriers, one agreement, one rate structure, one invoice stream. For many organizations, that was sufficient, and it produced predictable outcomes.
That model is breaking apart. Today, 56% of enterprise shippers manage three or more parcel carriers, and 22% manage six or more. This diversification is a deliberate strategic response driven by the need for pricing leverage, service resilience during peak disruptions, and competitive delivery performance. But it introduces complexity the old model was never designed to handle: more agreements, more surcharges, more invoices, more rules.
Nearly half of shippers review surcharges and accessorial fees only rarely or periodically, and almost all confine contract compliance to monthly or quarterly cycles. Half make pricing and margin decisions without shipping cost data, and nearly two-thirds plan inventory without carrier lead time information.
The way forward runs through specialization: a dedicated operating model that treats shipping with the rigor, cadence, and cross-functional accountability the market now demands—one that is specific to each shipment, continuous, granular, intelligent, and connected across the enterprise.
Read the full report and take the maturity assessment to see where your organization stands.