The food and beverage industry moves fast with the regular introduction of new flavors, ingredients, consumption patterns, and consumer preferences. Staying on top of food and beverage trends and remaining relevant can be a challenge. How does adoption of these trends impact the larger supply chain? They often come with new laws, a surge of […]
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Top 45 Food and Beverage Conferences and Expos
Trade shows are essential for business today. Expos and conferences help to gather industry peers together, share new innovations, host education sessions, and facilitate imperative networking. For the food and beverage industry, there is a seemingly endless list of shows that touch on everything from processing to packaging and niche events that dial into everything from pizza […]
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Difference Between Food Broker, Distributor, and 3PL
Rather than handling sales and shipping for a food or beverage product, many business owners chose to work with partners to ease their workload and expand their growth potential. Working with outside service providers allows a food or beverage brand to focus on its core competencies, access experts without hiring new staff, save money, and […]
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Kroger Vendor Guidelines Updated for On-Time Delivery
(Photo: Matthew Berry/Eagle-Gazette) Since Kroger launched its on-time delivery compliance program, the retailer reports seeing improvements from several suppliers. In response to the success, Kroger is rolling out new parameters to reward high-performing suppliers. Updated Kroger Vendor Guidelines Below are the specific changes that Kroger will be implementing: Any supplier that achieves an average of […]
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Q4 2018 Trucking Industry Update
Here is a summary of the most influential transportation market impacts and predictions, so you’re not left to decipher the plethora of voices online. 4Q Trucking Outlook The average national rate at the close of September was $2.15 per mile. Outbound Chicago held the highest average rate at $2.66 per mile, while Dallas averaged $1.94 […]
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ELD Mandate Report; October 2018 Update
Zipline Logistics’ carrier team surveyed more than 150 trucking companies in our network about the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate and its impacts. Goals of the survey included seeing how the market has adjusted since the December 2017 rollout of the Mandate, what preferences and procedures have changed with fleets, and how drivers and dispatchers […]
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CPG Logistics: Right Carrier Mix and More Communication
Our friends over at the Freight Project Podcast recently had Zipline’s President, Andrew Lynch, on as a guest to talk about how in an Amazon-driven retail and logistics world, shippers who find the right carrier mix and focus on logistics fundamentals can find capacity and compete. CPG logistics managers are facing one of the toughest […]
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List of Top 20 Accessorial Charges
First, what are accessorial charges? Accessorial charges are fees added to a freight bill for additional services that the carrier might provide. These are a la carte, or per service, and outside of standard shipping and receiving. They are mode-agnostic but are known to occur most often with LTL shipments. These charges will oftentimes be assessed […]
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Preventing and Disputing Retail Chargebacks
What are retail chargebacks? Chargebacks are penalties or fees that are issued by retailers when vendors fall out of compliance. Being non-compliant could mean a multitude of things, but the most common reasons are tied to mislabeling, early/late delivery, and incomplete orders. Read more about the top reasons for retail chargebacks here. Vendor chargebacks can […]
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Case Study: Solving for Walmart Vendor Compliance
Strategic appointment times and booking of preferred carriers makes meeting Walmart vendor compliance standards simple. A producer of organic food supplements engaged Zipline Logistics to solve reoccurring delivery problems for one of its largest customers – Walmart. Orders for the big-box store were consistently rejected. This caused orders to be late, extra paperwork, and the […]
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Top Reasons for Retail Vendor Chargebacks
Major retail and grocery stores have all rolled out vendor compliance programs in recent years. Retailers like Walmart, Kroger, Amazon, and Target have instituted vendor scorecards that encourage suppliers to more accurately hit order quantities and timelines. These exist to help the stores remain competitive, lower inventory costs, and keep their shelves full. Vendor chargebacks […]
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To Be a Shipper of Choice, Work with a 3PL of Choice
In today’s tight freight market, shippers are encouraged to be more accommodating to drivers, acting as a “Shipper of Choice”. But being a shipper of choice is often out of a brand’s control and is instead dependent on their warehouse, manufacturing and/or co-packing partnerships. In all freight markets, but especially in tight ones like our […]
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