How Sacrificing Reliable Freight Service for Savings Threatens Your Business: Top 5 Risks Shippers Should Know
As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for.” But as shippers try to balance increasingly complex budgets, it’s becoming common to trade quality freight service for savings.
But sacrificing reliable carrier service for lower-priced alternatives can present significant risks. While choosing the lowest-cost port drayage or LTL (less-than-truckload) carrier might look like savings upfront, this route can cost more in the long run.
As shippers navigate the delicate balance between securing low-cost transportation and maintaining reliable service quality, F.O.X. Intermodal gives insight into the top five risks to avoid wasted time, unexpected expenses, and, most importantly, reputational risk with your customers.
Risk 1: Increased Delays and Missed Deadlines
Lower-priced carriers often struggle with on-time pickup and delivery due to overbooking, lack of fleet redundancy, or poor planning, which can cause shipment delays that disrupt supply chains and customer commitments.
It’s this service reliability that shippers miss most. In fact, a recent Shipper Pulse Report from denim shows that the majority of shippers identified service reliability and consistency as their top priority when choosing freight partners — far above price.
Risk 2: Higher Risk of Lost or Damaged Freight
Budget carriers cost less for a reason. While they cut corners on equipment quality, handling processes, and staff training, the result is the increased probability of damaged or lost shipments that result in expensive claims, replacements, and dissatisfied customers.
Case in point: In 2023, shippers reported a 1.94% LTL damage rate — meaning 1 in every 51 shipments resulted in a claim, with the average cost per claim just under $3,800 and large shippers incurring millions in annual losses. These costs compound over time and can be far greater than savings from using a budget carrier, especially when frequent damage erodes margins and forces expensive rush replacements.
Risk 3: Costly Hidden Fees and Surprise Expenses
While initial quotes from a budget carrier may be low, shippers often face extra costs for rescheduling, rush deliveries to fix late shipments, damage claims, and other penalties that erode any upfront savings and result in a higher total cost of ownership.
It’s also important to note that many carriers win freight not by being the most reliable or transparent, but by being the most creative with their pricing. Studies and industry experts have found that accessorial charges (fuel surcharges, liftgate services, residential delivery, detention, and others) can add 15-30% or more to total freight costs above base rates. These are sometimes disguised as coded line items, complicating audit and recovery efforts.
Common types of hidden fees include:
- Fuel surcharges (often 15–25% of the base rate)
- Detention and layover (up to $400/day for schedule delays)
- Redelivery, inside delivery, address correction, and after-hours delivery surcharges
- Dimensional weight and overlength charges — even for minor deviations.
Risk 4: Poor Communication and Limited Visibility
Cheap freight providers tend to offer weaker customer service and lack robust tracking, leaving shippers with little visibility over their freight and limited support when problems arise. These issues make it harder for shippers to proactively resolve issues or keep customers informed. Even the most minor issue at one single point in the supply network can cause massive delays and repercussions that can cost time, money, and resources.
The struggle against less-than-accurate logistics issues without reliable shipment visibility and freight logistics insight is real for shippers. Slow response times, higher error rates, missed loads, damaged goods, and more are just the tip of the iceberg. The less clear the internal and external visibility and transparency, the more likely devastating inefficiencies and disruptions will happen.
At F.O.X. Intermodal, our fleet of trucks is fully equipped for modern, end-to-end tracking, with global positioning satellite (GPS), electronic log data (ELD), camera surveillance at ports, and a computerized inventory tracking system used within our storage partner, Synergy Warehouse, which offers more than 100,000 square feet of storage space. We carefully monitor every shipment and provide proactive updates to clients if there are unexpected delays or issues.
Risk 5: Reputational Damage and Loss of Customer Trust
The scramble for the cheapest drayage quote is real — but at what cost? While shippers, freight forwarders, and brokers are tempted by rock-bottom rates, the outcome often leads to bigger problems.
Repeated service failures, missed deadlines, and ongoing disruptions resulting from low-cost carrier selection can damage a shipper’s brand reputation, hurt relationships, and lead to lost business and negative reviews that persist long after a single shipment problem.
The reality is that carriers offering cheap rates often provide the worst service and are struggling to stay in business with how expensive operating expenses remain, including wages, insurance costs, and fleet maintenance and repairs. In addition, stricter CDL enforcement is reshaping the driver market, reducing the available workforce, raising costs, and making compliance more complex for employers and shippers alike.
Overall, logistics studies found that late deliveries, damaged freight, and poor communication from budget carriers rapidly erode brand reputation, resulting in negative reviews and reluctance among network partners to engage in future projects.
When it comes to safeguarding your freight and reputation, compromising on reliable service is never worth the short-term savings. Smart shippers understand that consistent delivery performance, transparent cost structures, robust tracking, and proactive support are what keep their supply chains resilient — and customers satisfied.
F.O.X. Intermodal is standing by to help you eliminate costly risks, build stronger relationships, and achieve operational certainty with trusted port drayage or LTL service.
Don’t let service failures, hidden expenses, and lack of visibility undermine your business. Take the next step toward freight reliability and peace of mind — and experience the supply chain confidence you deserve.