Forward Air offers transparent Final Mile shipping that delivers right to your customers’ door that is built to optimize your shipping experience. To prepare for a conversation with the sales team, there are a few questions you should be able to answer.
General Questions
- What type of delivery and/or installation is needed? Is this a drop-off, over the threshold, into your room of choice, or a white glove installation?
- Do you need service to multiple locations? Please be ready to provide a list of those locations or markets?
- Are you looking for a dedicated delivery solution serving only your company or project or could you utilize an integrated delivery where your products would be commingled with other products?
- What issues are you experiencing with your current Final Mile delivery provider?
Delivery Requirements
- Do you have a scope for deliveries that includes volume with SKU and zip code data?
- What days of the week required coverage?
- Is there an expected delivery frequency to meet?
- What are delivery scheduling requirements? This might include approval for text messages or robocall scheduling confirmation.
- Is there a time window for deliveries? For example, deliveries are accepted from 7 am - 3 pm, Monday through Friday.
- What delivery windows are to be provided to customers? For example, a 4-hour window.
- What is considered “confirmation” of a time slot?
- What is the turnaround expectation from the time we receive until the product must be delivered?
- Is the delivery a drop-off with no one present, signature required, a signature required from a customer over 18 years of age, or another option?
- is the delivery frequency set by your client or can we determine the delivery frequency?
Warehouse Requirements
- Would we operate out of our warehouse, your warehouse, back of the store, meet trucks, or will this be a project site?
- What is the square footage space needed for the inventory?
- How many days a week would you expect inbound deliveries to occur? Do you have specific days of the week that are needed?
- What would you estimate to be the average orders per trailer or average pieces per inbound trailer?
- Do you have any special equipment needs (clamp trucks, special forks for mattresses, blankets, parts cage, dry erase/cork boards in the warehouse)?
- Who owns parts, provides parts, pays for parts, and specific vendor requirements that parts must be ordered?
- How long do we hold products awaiting customer confirmation?
- How often are returns processed? Do you have other reverse logistics needs?
Systems
- Would an EDI or API be used for the Forward Air team to receive orders?
- Will invoicing and/or billing be done through an EDI or API?
- Do you have systems in place you would want us to utilize or would we utilize our systems? This could be a set of forms, technology, a communication protocol, or a process.
- Do we need to provide our own inventory management or is this not needed?
Additional Services
In addition to your Truckload shipment, we offer a full range of freight services for an end-to-end solution. Make sure to talk to your sales
- Less than Truckload (LTL)
- Door-to-Door LTL
- Intermodal Drayage
- Truckload Services (TLS)
About Final Mile with Forward Air
Freight forwarders, airlines, logistics companies, non-traditional shippers, and ecommerce businesses can benefit from our reliable, single-source transportation to zip and postal codes and zones across North America. Our final mile solutions streamline your logistics management while providing a seamless customer experience.