What Are Shippers and Carriers — Everything You Need to Know 

Under­stand­ing the dif­fer­ences between ship­pers and car­ri­ers plays a cru­cial role in the intri­cate world of freight and logis­tics, as busi­ness­es seek to run smoother oper­a­tions, save mon­ey and make deliv­er­ies on time. But many com­pa­nies — espe­cial­ly small to mid-sized busi­ness­es — either con­flate these two roles or fail to rec­og­nize how vital these func­tions are. 

In this post, we will define what ship­pers and car­ri­ers are, explore some of the logis­tics trends right now, present exam­ples of cost sav­ings poten­tial in the real world, then wind up with tips you can apply imple­ment imme­di­ate­ly to stream­line ship­ping oper­a­tions in your com­pa­ny. So if you’re a total starter in the world of sup­ply chain or need a quick heads-up on fix­ing your logis­tics strat­e­gy, this guide has got you cov­ered. 

 

🚛 Who Are Shippers and Carriers? 

Let’s start with the basics. 

✅ Shippers 

Ship­pers are the com­pa­nies or indi­vid­u­als who need to move prod­ucts from one place to anoth­er. They could be man­u­fac­tur­ers, whole­salers, retail­ers or e‑commerce brands. The freight belongs to the ship­per and it is up to him to bring him into the sup­ply chain. 

Examples of shippers: 

• A couch man­u­fac­tur­er that sells its wares to retail stores 

• Your data goes up to Octo­ber 2023. 

• A farm that sells pro­duce to gro­cery chains 

✅ Carriers 

Car­ri­ers are the com­pa­nies that trans­port the freight. They own or oper­ate the trucks, ships, planes or rail that deliv­ers goods. Car­ri­ers can sched­ule and exe­cute trans­porta­tion direct­ly with the ship­per or via a freight bro­ker. 

Examples of carriers: 

• Truck­ing com­pa­nies like Schnei­der and J.B. Hunt, or inde­pen­dent own­er-oper­a­tors 

• FedEx or UPS-style air car­go com­pa­nies 

• Rail car­ri­ers like BNSF or CSX 

 

🔄 How Do Shippers and Carriers Work Together 

Smooth Sourcing: The Key to Successful Logistics Operations 

Suc­cess­ful logis­tics oper­a­tions are marked by seam­less col­lab­o­ra­tion between ship­pers and car­ri­ers. Here’s how that process typ­i­cal­ly goes: 

• The ship­per is the enti­ty get­ting freight ready and enter­ing the details of the ship­ment (weight, dimen­sions, pickup/delivery loca­tions). 

• A freight bro­ker (such as The Amer­i­can Truck Inc.) acts as a bridge between the ship­per and a vet­ted, reli­able car­ri­er. 

• The car­ri­er col­lects and trans­fers the freight look­ing to safe­ly, effi­cient­ly, and on-time deliv­er it. 

• Update, track and post ship­ping reports are pro­vid­ed by the bro­ker or car­ri­er. 

 

💡 Real-World Example: Cost Savings with The American Truck Inc. 

A cloth­ing brand based in Chica­go was pay­ing pre­mi­um prices by mak­ing direct book­ings with a few local car­ri­ers. But told deliv­er­ies and lim­it­ed truck projects began to dent cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion. 

Partnered with The American Truck Inc., a tech-enabled freight brokerage: 

• They saw their aver­age deliv­ery time reduce by 18% 

• This access to a wider car­ri­er base enabled flex­i­ble sched­ul­ing 

• They reduced trans­porta­tion costs by 22% via route opti­miza­tion and bid­ding on com­pet­i­tive car­ri­ers 

Result? Quick­er ship­ping, hap­pi­er clients, and improved mar­gins. 

 

📈 Current Trends Affecting Shippers and Carriers 

Deliveries On Time Are A Must 

In an Ama­zon-dri­ven world, busi­ness­es can’t be late with ship­ments. Deliv­ery on-time per­for­mance is a com­pet­i­tive dif­fer­en­tia­tor. Real-time GPS track­ing and pre­dic­tive ana­lyt­ics gives bro­kers and car­ri­ers an advan­tage. 

Logis­tics Is Being Dis­rupt­ed by Dig­i­tal Freight Plat­forms 

Dig­i­tal load boards, AI-based route plan­ners, etc., have deep­er pen­e­tra­tion these days with the car­ri­ers. Full ship­ment vis­i­bil­i­ty is now a base­line expec­ta­tion for ship­pers. This will be a space in which com­pa­nies like Project44 and FourKites lead. 

Driver Shortages and Higher Costs 

Car­ri­er capac­i­ty is tight­en­ing from ongo­ing dri­ver short­ages. This is why part­ner­ing with a bro­ker with access to a large car­ri­er net­work is cru­cial to avoid ser­vice dis­rup­tion. 

Sustainability in Shipping 

Ship­pers Demand More Sus­tain­abil­i­ty In Logis­tics. To meet ESG goals, car­ri­ers have adopt­ed elec­tric vehi­cles, route opti­miza­tion and eco-friend­ly prac­tices. 

 

🚀 Practical Advice for Shippers & Carriers 

Whether you’re ship­ping goods or mov­ing them, here are expert-back strate­gies to opti­mize your logis­tics game: 

For Shippers: 

• Book ear­ly: Allow car­ri­ers or bro­kers advance notice to lock in the best rates. 

• Work with a bro­ker: A bro­ker such as The Amer­i­can Truck Inc. can con­nect you with thou­sands of pre-Vet­ted car­ri­ers. 

• Met­rics you should track: On time deliv­ery rates, claims and cost per mile. 

• Smart pack: Pack prop­er­ly to min­i­mize dam­age claims and save costs. 

For Carriers: 

• Make sure to invest in track­ing tech: Ship­pers want vis­i­bil­i­ty. 

• Set clear expec­ta­tions for delays: Trans­paren­cy cre­ates long-term rela­tion­ships. 

• Diver­si­fy routes: Avoid putting all your eggs in one basket—tune routes for fuel and toll sav­ings. 

• Stay in com­pli­ance: FMCSA reg­u­la­tions, safe­ty scores, and insur­ance stan­dards. 

 

🏆 About The American Truck Inc. 

THE AMERICAN TRUCK INC.: CONNECTING SHIPPERS AND CARRIERS
We are a trusted logistics partner for businesses all over the U.S. We are here to connect shippers and carriers with tech-driven, reliable, and cost-effective freight solutions. 

We help our clients: 

• Get access to a nation­al net­work of reli­able car­ri­ers 

• Real-time track­ing for on-time deliv­er­ies 

• Achieve cost sav­ings through strate­gic route plan­ning 

• Com­pli­ance and logis­tics risk mit­i­ga­tion 

No mat­ter whether you ship five loads a month, or five hun­dred, we are here to help make your freight and logis­tics oper­a­tions smooth. 

 

We can con­nect ship­pers who need reli­able car­ri­ers to car­ri­ers look­ing for con­sis­tent loads. 

The Amer­i­can Truck Inc. for intel­li­gent, scal­able and stress-free freight solu­tions.
📧 Con­tact us today for a free con­sul­ta­tion or a cus­tom quote.