Most food and beverage brands follow a familiar path when it comes to shipping, leveraging accounts with the national carriers: UPS, FedEx, DHL, and building operations around those networks. It’s logical – these are the most visible, most established providers in the market. But for perishable shipping, that approach can leave a lot on the table. Regional carriers offer differentiation typically not available from the big 3, which can make a substantial difference in the final mile journey and overall customer experience.
National carriers are built for scale. They are designed to move a high volume of packages across a wide network, but required inflexible standardized processes to make it work cost effectively. This is fine for many product categories but not especially well for perishable products.
Every shipment has a time constraint, and every delay has a consequence. Every delivery impacts the customer experience, especially for perishable products. It’s not just about moving a package from point A to point B, it’s about what happens if it doesn’t arrive on time or as expected.
Why Regional Carriers Are Becoming Core and Not Supplemental
Larger brands that are actively optimizing their networks are now treating regionals as core partners and not just for overflow capacity. Regional carriers bring capabilities that are difficult to replicate at scale: geographic density, flexibility and speed of execution, and a more collaborative approach.
- Performance in Dense Markets
Regional carriers often outperform nationals in specific geographies where their routes are tighter, drivers know delivery environments, and networks are built for local density. Customers can quickly and easily adjust deliveries to suit their schedules: delay by a day, specify exactly where to leave an order, receive up-to-the-moment delivery timings and more. - Flexibility and Speed of Execution
When something goes wrong, and it might, responsiveness matters. Unlike highly standardized national networks, regional carriers are often able to adjust delivery instructions and reroute in real time, plus solve issues without long escalation cycles. - A More Human, Collaborative Approach
The difference between a vendor and a partner is the ability to collaborate and solve problems together in real time, essential during peak season, weather disruptions, or service issues.
Why Aren’t More Brands Using Regional Carriers?
In most cases, it comes down to three things:
- Awareness
Many brands simply don’t know these alternatives exist. For some companies, it’s UPS or FedEx and that’s the entire consideration set. - Perceived Complexity
Managing multiple carriers can feel like more contracts, more systems, and more operational overhead. Without the right tools or partners, that could be a valid concern. - Resource Constraints
Even when the benefits are clear, teams may not have time to evaluate new carriers, the internal expertise to manage them, or the bandwidth to implement changes.
The Reality: Multi-Carrier Doesn’t Have to Be Complex
A multi-carrier strategy doesn’t have to be complex, especially if your perishable fulfillment solutions provider manages it for you. ColdTrack combines national carriers for broad coverage and inserts regional carriers for performance and cost optimization. This approach improves delivery speed and reduces overall shipping costs while providing service redundancy and enhancing the customers’ experiences and reducing those negative cost impacts such as later deliveries or other poor service attributes. They’re complementary to national carriers’ strengths.
ColdTrack’s CRO Warner Siebert was at Home Delivery World, Nashville, in May on the Jitsu Panel Discussion.
The Home Delivery World event took place in Nashville, TN on May 20 and 21, as part of The Future of Parcel Transportation track. Jitsu, offering fast, reliable, and affordable last mile deliveries, hosted a panel discussion where ColdTrack’s Chief Revenue Officer, Warner Siebert, participated to offer the perspective from a perishable fulfillment company’s view, managing final mile deliveries for perishable products for hundreds of perishable brands.
One of the most important themes Warner discussed at the event was how companies define cost. In too many cases, it’s being defined incorrectly. Too often, decisions are made based on the shipping cost per package and it’s a race to the bottom. But that’s only part of the picture. The real cost of shipping, perishable shipping in particular, includes consideration for potential late deliveries, damaged shipments, replacement orders, customer support overhead, and unfortunately, lost customers.
The lower the rate, the more likely these additional costs will creep into the landed cost of the products and the balance sheet. A lower upfront cost can quickly become more expensive if it impacts delivery performance and customer retention. And in perishable DTC, that ripple effect is significant.
See the full recap of the discussion here.
