4/07/2025

Top Five Questions to Ask Your Freight Carrier

When selecting a freight carrier, asking the right questions is essential to ensure they meet your business’s needs and provide reliable, efficient, and cost-effective solutions. From technology to experience to equipment and fleet, freight carriers can vary significantly in their capabilities and service levels. Knowing you’ve chosen the right transportation and distribution company from the outset will save you time and money in the long run and help you avoid potential setbacks down the road.

What Questions Should You Ask Your Freight Carrier?

Key elements in a freight carrier’s service offering should let you know early on whether they’re the right fit for your needs. Here are the top five questions to ask your freight carrier:

1. What is your experience in handling similar shipments?

This question allows you to better understand the company’s track record and reliability.

Knowing the freight carrier’s experience with the type of goods you are shipping, volumes in the lanes in which you need service, their on-time delivery performance, testimonials from other clients, and other information such as awards and certifications will demonstrate whether the company can successfully deliver your shipment.

2. What are your service options and coverage areas?

Knowing comprehensive information about your freight carrier’s service offering is essential. Choose a company that provides exactly what you’re looking for, plus additional services that you may need in the future. Does the carrier offer both full truckload (FTL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) options? Are cross-docking services provided? What type of warehousing facilities does the company use? Where are their terminals? These details are critical to the decision-making process.

If you have a particularly challenging receiver or receivers in their lanes, ask how they work with those receivers and what is their track record.

Establish the freight carrier’s geographic coverage and delivery schedule to ensure your goods will be shipped when and where you need them.

3. How do you ensure the safety and security of my shipments?

Gauge their commitment to protecting your goods by asking them about their protocols for handling and securing shipments. What is their safety record? Find out what technology they use for tracking freight and communicating an order’s progress from pick-up to delivery. Establish, if you can, their employees’ experience and training level in ensuring that your goods will arrive safely and undamaged.

4. What is your pricing structure and accessorial list?

Ask this question early on to get a clear idea of the costs involved and to avoid unexpected charges. A detailed breakdown of their pricing model, including base rates, surcharges, and other potential fees such as detention, will help you decide whether the carrier is the best economic fit for your needs.

5. What is your communication and customer service policy?

Transparency and communication are vital in a supply chain; you need to rely on your carrier to resolve issues and keep you informed and updated to your shipment. How do they deal with and communicate issues after hours?

Asking this question will allow you to gauge whether the freight carrier will provide the level of service you need. You can also check reviews and testimonials from other customers for additional insights into the company’s approach to customer support.

Choose Colonial Cartage

Colonial Cartage has over sixty five years of experience in the transportation and distribution industry. With a fleet of more than 200 temperature-controlled trailers and over 70 Peterbilt, Kenworth, and International power units, Colonial Cartage provides temperature-controlled LTL freight consolidation across 26 states in the Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, Upper Midwest, and Great Plains.