Parcel Strategy Playbook: Building Carrier Trust & Unlocking Better Rates

[00:00:00] Chad Warzecha: To unlock, though, the best rates, you’ve got to offer carriers value. And I’ll just go back, when you over-diversify – I’m not saying don’t diversify. I’m just saying when you over-diversify, you’re not giving a carrier incentive to work with you. You’re giving a carrier incentive to put handcuffs, keep your business, you know, locked up with them.

And so, I think simplicity really scales businesses. When you get over complex, it kills it. Don’t make it so hard on yourself with, you know, eight different routes – that doesn’t show up in your rates, either – when you’re splitting volume and adding technology to split that volume and you’re going to have missed sorts on your docks and missed carrier pickups. Why would you want to manage all of that when you can create value for the carriers?

[00:00:47] Glenn Gooding: Welcome to Parcel Perspectives, the podcast dedicated to small parcel shippers. I’m Glenn Gooding. In each episode, we dive into insights, best practices, and strategies to help you navigate this complex and costly market.

[00:01:03] Glenn Gooding: Hello, everyone! Welcome to another edition of Parcel Perspectives. I’m Glenn Gooding. I have an excellent guest i’d like to introduce the audience to: Chad Warzecha. Chad’s the president of NXTPoint Logistics. Today, we would like to have a conversation, I think a very timely and pertinent conversation, around building a world class final mile solution as a 3PL.

What does that look like? What do you have to consider? And we’ll take a few twists and turns and hopefully, leave you with some nuggets at the end to take and apply. Chad, welcome.

[00:01:42] Chad Warzecha: Thank you, Glenn. Good morning and good morning to the audience listening in. Hopefully that includes all seven or 8,000 followers out there.

[00:01:49] Glenn Gooding: Yeah, I hope so. I hope so. We try and maybe we’ll grow it between you and I. Maybe we’ll go viral, Chad. Never know, right?

[00:01:57] Chad Warzecha: That’s right. I hope so.

[00:01:59] Glenn Gooding: Do you want to tell anybody a little bit more about yourself and NXTPoint Logistics before we kind of dive into this, I think, interesting topic?

[00:02:09] Chad Warzecha: I’d be happy to. Maybe, maybe more so NXTPoint, just simply because I really love the brand. For those that may be unfamiliar with it, NXTPoint Logistics is a third-party logistics provider that offers end-to-end solutions, but as the name implies NXTPoint, we offer or service every point within the supply chain – so, first mile, middle mile, final mile, home delivery. That includes the typical things that many 3PLs offer, you know: warehousing and distribution and transportation and value-added services. We’re kind of segmented into a couple verticals that differ from maybe the rest.

So we have a third party or a contract logistics – beg your pardon – contract logistics vertical that’s led by Lee Kirk, a Chief Operating Officer, that manages that portfolio. 

There’s another segment that is managed logistics. So, that’s a lot of non-asset based, but managing big projects for companies like McDonald’s or Starbucks. If they’re adding stores, for an example, we’re opening those. We’re procuring in many cases, getting the product throughout the supply chain. 

And so, we have a really great support team and brokerage services, performing all of that work. A really good business and we find a lot of customers have a lot of value – they really value our expertise in that space, in the brokerage and transportation arm. 

And then, we’ve got a home delivery business. We were just speaking, previous to the call, starting about a big conference coming up here next week. And that’s a great business led by another Chief Operating Officer, Michelle Bailey.

And so, think of like customers like General Electric and Home Depot, where you would go and buy something, we’re inside your house. So, you know, I like telling this story all the time. A lot of times we’re getting packages to your home, but very few companies are inside the house.

And so, this is where we’re inside the house delivering, installing white glove service, so the quality is, you know, next level. And so, and then we have a final mile piece and a reverse logistics piece. So, I think a lot of companies claim all of these types of things, whether they’re small customer or small companies that may not have the sophistication or large customers or companies that are just private equity owned or, you know, global conglomerate, that just don’t move.

You know, there’s 25 decision makers, a lot of red tape. They advertise it, but it’s not that. So, we have a really great organization, part of a company that’s been around, since 1919 from the Suddath family, 106 years old, and just really very people-driven and customer-focused and that’s what we’re about. 

So, we’ve rebranded from Suddath Global Logistics about a year and a half ago. So, the name may be a little bit new to some of the listeners. But we’re making big investments, growing, adding facilities. We’ve got – we’ll be north of, you know, 4 million square feet here – on another new announcement coming out.

[00:06:06] Glenn Gooding: Excellent. 

[00:06:07] Chad Warzecha: So, that’s NXTPoint in a nutshell.

[00:06:10] Glenn Gooding: Exciting. What a rich legacy. Very, very rare in this space to hear about 106-year-old company that has established trust to get inside of – in consumers’ homes. That’s something to be proud of.

[00:06:26] Chad Warzecha: Yeah. And it’s a really great organization, Glenn. There’s about 35 or so owned facilities across the network and hundreds of agent locations in addition to that. So, it’s big, with deep, deep know-how and expertise. I mean, it is [a] high quality organization that are led by the people.

[00:06:51] Glenn Gooding: Great. Well, let’s dive into this subject. I’m excited about this one. Little background on me for the listeners who may not know. Back in the day when I managed pricing at UPS in their corporate headquarters, I was responsible for the 3PL vertical from a pricing perspective. Now, we’re going back several years, probably 18, 19, 20 years on that agenda, or in that timeline.

But I think this is an important dynamic to put out there in the ethos here so we can kind of talk about it and then bring that around world class. I can tell you from the carrier perspective, the carriers have always had a bit of a tepid appetite or a tepid perception of a 3PL.

The reality has been is, or the question that the carrier would ask is, “What value is this 3PL bringing into the equation? Or are they merely being a wedge between the carrier? And the brand, are all they doing is just reselling a rate?”

So, as a result of that concern, that concern that still lingers in today’s market, it can be challenging to get best in class type of programs in place as a 3PL. So, the reason bringing that up is we’re going to talk about, I think, some key components to overcoming that issue.

And really putting together a world class program as a 3PL. The way I see it in my lens – I would like to dive into these details with you, Chad, is if I were to break it into three primary pillars of differentiation in the marketplace: one is value creation – it’s a lot to talk about on that.

Number two is credibility. And then, like anything that’s important to me in a business partnership is trust. Really, really critical, particularly in the 3PL space. But let’s dive into value creation, if you don’t mind for a minute, Chad.

[00:09:13] Chad Warzecha: Yeah.

[00:09:14] Glenn Gooding: So, if we were to look at value creation, there’s so many ways to view this.

One is – let’s think about it from a brand perspective. I think there’s a lot of things that 3PL can bring of value to a brand. You think about a small and medium sized business, we think about the small parcel market today, historically legacy perspective, it’s been a duopoly. You’ve got UPS, FedEx and you’ve got USPS who plays a niche role.

I think that’s changed a lot in 2025. I think there’s a lot more going on. Hard for a small brand to break that duopoly paradigm when you don’t have the volumes to justify interacting with an asset-light gig economy, final mile solution, or some of these other potential solutions out there that do a real nice job.

And so, right off the bat – you can weigh in on this – I think that offering value with regard to opening a brand up to additional sourcing opportunities they couldn’t do on their own. Does that make sense?

[00:10:28] Chad Warzecha: Yeah. Yeah. It’s a great question to start the conversation off with. First of all, and I think the parcel shipping is having a moment – you know, right now, parcel is having a moment in our industry.

[00:10:41] Glenn Gooding: Couldn’t agree more. 

[00:10:42] Chad Warzecha: I won’t even mention, you know, the tariffs, but you got the rate, the carrier rate changes. You got the post office, there’s excess capacity, and the volume is kind of just slushing around right now amongst the carriers. And I think most people, they’re all looking for rate relief, you know?

And I think this is where 3PLs, we give ourselves a bad name – other people, not NXTPoint, but I think it does give 3PLs a bad name to your piece there, because I think the industry likes to blame the carriers and I take a very different view of this. When those 3PLs are out of touch and don’t know how to build a parcel program.

And I’m going to make my point back to the value here for a second – so, there are emerging delivery service providers today, right? The gig economy models. Maybe they have some sophisticated technology apps. There’s the regional carriers – they’re regionals for a reason, and the thing is, to me, all carriers don’t want your volume, you know? Don’t assume your carrier – all these carriers want your volume, and they’ll let you know by the contract that you’re holding in your hand if they want your volume. It’s pretty evident, right?

[00:12:17] Glenn Gooding: You’re precisely correct.

[00:12:19] Chad Warzecha: Yeah and so a couple things I would say on the value creation.

One is know your PLD, or Package Level Detail. There’s more to the label than meets the eye. But you start with understanding your avoidables: you know, redelivery fees, packaging fees, zone management, know how to dynamically route your business. 

We’re blaming – the industry’s quick to blame UPS, or – and I’ll say I’m agnostic for the sake of this conversation for carriers’ purposes – but you know, the post office – Ground Advantage – just is going to see another four point what, 7%, rate increase July 13th. We just had a 3.9% in January, so that’s 10% in six months, and even those that are on NSAs, are short-lived. They expire next year. So, we blame UPS in this instance when the customer, the 3PL customer or, you know, business, should be looking internal. 

And you have to have relationships at the right level, not at the kids’ level. And a lot of value creation to me comes from beginning with the end in mind. You’ve got to know what your assignment is. Whether it’s a FedEx or UPS, whomever, they value growth and they value volume into their system – the right type of volume. 

So, what UPS likes may not – UPS’s network is not the same as FedEx’s networks. It’s not the same as DHL’s networks, and it’s not as the post office’s network or regional carrier. They’re all very, very different networks and they all thrive on very, very different product parameters and/or package parameters and, you know, product type and we try to compare and contrast service levels. And I’ve always thought that’s not the right way to do it because those carriers have different networks. 

And so, it’s just a naiveness and you know, companies don’t know how to put a parcel program together, so they get upset when, you know. the ground six-pound rate doesn’t match up and align to the other carrier’s ground six-pound rate. And so, value creation comes from understanding – like any negotiation, I think it comes from understanding the other party, what their needs are and their needs change based on capacity but you should grow with them. And when you send a signal to the carriers that you’re over-diversifying. That’s not a growth – that’s not a buying signal, right? That’s – you’re sending a signal that you’re not going to grow with that carrier. They’re not incentivized to put together compelling rates.

They’re not going to do it on the first round or second round or third round of negotiations. They’re going to start managing volume and they’re going to start managing, I think, your contract to lock you in. They now care about making sure you don’t – that volume doesn’t leave their network, but they’re not looking to grow with you because you’re not looking to grow with them.

So, I think value creation to me is, and it’s going to lead to trust, and I think credibility naturally in this conversation, but – 

[00:16:02] Glenn Gooding: A hundred percent.

[00:16:06] Chad Warzecha: – you’ve got to prioritize your objectives. There’s – I think you know it better, Glenn – there’s probably 600, I think, negotiating points in a contract and –

[00:16:14] Glenn Gooding: Just a few.

[00:16:15] Chad Warzecha: Yeah. And everyone just locks in at that rate. And, so to me, you may negotiate a contract every four years or whatever the term of your agreement is. The carriers are doing it multiple times daily. They’re experts. They know your data better than you know your data, and they know your contract better than you know your contract, and they will grow with you and put incentives.

I mean, just this morning, I saw a very interesting read, you know, one of the – it’s starting to leak. Not everybody’s getting the rate increases, so now it’s starting to come out. These massive rate increases have been pulled back and others are taking the burden. And the reason they’re taking the burden is because they sent signals that, you know, they’re not looking to grow. 

And now, there’s some rate relief publicly coming out and speaking on behalf of NXTPoint: we don’t have these rate increases to the extent that competitors have, and it’s sad to see, but that’s the result of just mismanaging relationships. 

So, I think value comes from – really, it begins with knowing the assignment and what are you trying to solve and begin with the end of mind, kind of work backwards. And so, I’ve always approached it, Glenn, and you sitting in that seat previously on the pricing teams, I would assume you value that too when a 3PL is growing, we lean into growth, we’re growth oriented, and we’re going to bring new business constantly. We have aggressive growth goals, but we want to give you the business that fits your network and regularly and not threatened to move it.

I mean, we’ve gone through, you know, the industry’s gone through a lot of things, whether it’s disruptions or COVID or strikes or price increases or just all sorts of things. And [I’m], you know, very loyal when it comes to the relationships at the right level because they follow you. 

I think there’s so many side conversations that happen and you got to know who you’re talking with. And like I said, send a message that you’re committed to the relationship and it begins there. 

Value creation begins with showing you’re committed. So, those are my, I guess, initial, immediate thoughts on how do you create value?

So if I can – if I’m out working with a prospect or an existing customer and building a parcel program, I want to talk to that customer and say, you know, “I really think your volume is best sitting on this carrier. Here’s why.” 

It’s not always rates – three months from now, trust me. By the end of the year, we’re going to be talking about service and peak and some of the regionals don’t have the capacity and, can’t guarantee pickups and it’s going to be a whole ‘nother – the regionals won’t have the ability to absorb this. And then, service is going to be king come peak, and you put your whole peak business at risk because you tried to do something in May. And so value is a lot of things. But I like to talk to a customer and say, “I think your business is good here. Here’s why.”

And stay with the right carrier through thick and thin. And in the end, a lot of customers are getting rate increases, but in the end, some aren’t. And I’ll just kind of leave the listeners with that. There are organizations like NXTPoint that don’t have the rate increases and it’s built on relationships and trust and value that we’re giving good business back to the carriers to build back. So, that was a long answer per Chad.

[00:20:55] Glenn Gooding: My goodness. I think, you hit so many valuable points, Chad, and I’d like to go back and maybe, drill into a few here.

I think one key takeaway on this that’s very important – growth: You have to be growing. You have to be growing. In order to attract brands, you have to bring inherent value to those brands. So, you have to bring, I think, a robust and sophisticated, multi-carrier potential solution to a brand to align with a client experience and what they want to do.

I think you have to bring relevant expertise to help them better understand the impact of the delivery experience to the growth for their brand. I think you have to bring expertise and help them navigate the shopping cart, right?

And, those things. And, you know, I’ve determined I need to take you on the road with me, Chad, with what you said there.

So when you – I think a really important thing is, “What does a good package look like?” And that’s a relative term, isn’t it, Chad? So go ahead. I mean, it’s a relative term. 

[00:22:13] Chad Warzecha: I was going to say, the answer is it definitely depends. You know, the answer is, it depends what a good package profile looks like.

Kind of back to that comment is, it depends on the carrier’s network because they’re all, like I say, different, and you can’t compare the carrier side by side in that way. That is such an absolute mistake. And that’s just a difference of people who know how to build a parcel program and those that don’t, and you can’t rate shop against all those carriers. They have different networks and so, if you grew up in it like you have or I have, or other people – listeners – have, you know that, but those that haven’t, they’re just so – you know, their customers are so underserved by that lack of understanding. 

So, it depends, and not only does it depend, timing is important because what a good package profile or package parameters are today may be very different than it was two years ago. Things change, right? So, capacity changes, routes change, you know – certainly, the post office. 

So, you’ve just got to really be constantly – and ask. Ask your carrier, and not your, you know – in no disservice to anybody local – I’m just saying, have multiple levels of relationships in these –

[00:23:47] Glenn Gooding: Multiple levels of relationships, transparency, collaboration.

[00:23:52] Chad Warzecha: Yes. You know, you can’t have one local relationship or one level up relationship. It’s, you know, back to the “don’t sit at the kids’ table,” but you’ve got to have the right relationship in these organizations and ask, “What kind of business do you need?” 

And don’t mislead them. They know somebody from UPS, had talks to their friends in FedEx. The industry talks and they know you’re shopping it around. They know what you’re doing and so, you’re negotiating from a position of horrible credibility and they’re just going to manage margin at that point.

So, I think that’s what I’ve prided myself on. And you know, our team is just [all] trust and transparency and even if it’s bad news, be upfront about it and it works. It’s worked for me. So, to unlock, though, the best rates, you’ve got to offer carriers value. 

And, I’ll just go back, when you over diversify – I’m not saying don’t diversify. I’m just saying when you over diversify, you’re not giving a carrier incentive to work with you. You’re giving a carrier incentive to, put –

[00:25:13] Glenn Gooding: Handcuffs on you.

[00:25:14] Chad Warzecha: – put handcuffs, keep your business locked up with them. And so, I think simplicity really scales businesses. When you get over complex, it kills it. Don’t make it so hard on yourself with eight different routes. Now that doesn’t show up in your rates, either when you’re splitting volume and adding technology to split that volume. And you’re going to have missed sorts on your docks and missed carrier pickups.

Why would you want to manage all of that? 

[00:25:56] Glenn Gooding: Agreed. 

[00:25:57] Chad Warzecha: – when you can create value for the carriers. So, that’s my thoughts on anything value. 

[00:25:58] Glenn Gooding: Agreed. [Do] You mind if we dive into maybe a couple specific examples to give the listeners an idea of like alignment? I’d love to explore that with you a little bit.

Is that alright? 

[00:26:05] Chad Warzecha:Yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:06] Glenn Gooding: So, I play in data all the time. You imagine, a carrier looks at NXTPoint’s PLD [or] Package Level Detail. They evaluated – to your point, they know the data better than the average consumer by far. They’re in that all the time, and they see an average zone of a five. 

That presents some challenges. It already is a chink in the armor for a 3PL in that environment because the 3PL isn’t doing anything to bring the product, to bring the packages more efficiently aligned with the carrier network. NXTPoint has 35 wholly owned operations nationwide with a hundred other partners out there. That’s a tremendous opportunity to leverage your operational footprint to appropriately align with the carrier and carriers of your choosing to make your parcels more efficient. 

Another interesting example: No mystery. I can tell you, lightweight residential deliveries are a problem for UPS. They are problem for FedEx. I can tell you, I can tell the listeners why. You know, average system-wide number of parcels per residential delivery in a national small parcel network are probably 1.1, 1.2 parcels per delivery. 

So, you think about UPS as an example – they are the largest employer of teamsters in the world. Teamsters signed a very lucrative labor agreement. UPS drivers are far and away the highest paid delivery providers out there. They do a wonderful job, but the fact is they’re the highest paid. UPS is an asset-based carrier. They own the package car. They’re paying a driver top dollar to drive to the house, turn it off, select the one package, walk to the doorstep, and come back.

The revenue per stop for 1.1 packages per lightweight delivery is very, very low. It’s very hard for UPS to cover their expense of paying for that delivery. Now you counter that and you take a look at a gig economy scenario. They want the lightweight business. Why? Well, their cost structure’s different. They’re paying a flat expense per parcel to that driver, and that driver is operating in a personal delivery vehicle. It’s smaller. 

So, larger packages would impact that driver’s ability to earn. They want smaller, lighter, higher numbers of packages. It’s a great example right there whereas A UPS would love a a 20 pound residential delivery with another parcel coming with it.

The revenue for that makes it easier for them to cover. So, it’s important to know those types of things. And to your earlier point, collaborate with the carrier and say, “Hey, here’s my portfolio. Tell me where you want to compete. Tell me what’s important to you. What does this look like?”

“Hey, I have an operation in Louisville. If I move more product to Louisville in an expedited phase, is that better for your UPS?” I would intend it is because you eliminate origin air fee expense, right, to Worldport. And you can offer things of value to your brands now – a later pickup time, later order fulfillment, right? You know, if you want to position a warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee, that’s going to afford operational and efficiency advantages and aligning with a FedEx Express, right? 

It’s things like that that I think are critical in your alignment and your collaboration with the carriers to your earlier point.

Don’t over-diversify, but bring, align your volume with the volume they want and then actively engage and collaborate and grow that area with them, right?

[00:30:31] Chad Warzecha: You know, it’s interesting, Glenn, when I was making the comment at the top of the conversation about not everybody is having these imposed fees that you’re seeing on the headlines, right? The 40, 26% and so on. 

And, so I’d asked, you know, just a really simple question, which is, NXTPoint has these, as you mentioned, 35 owned facilities, a couple hundred agent locations where we work out of the home delivery and final mile, and with the post office, NSA being impacted, I said, “Well, what if we acted on behalf of the post office and leverage our own network, where we have a couple hundred locations, agent networks, and operate our own LTLs and our own brokerage services and our – obviously these, the footprint, which were extremely differentiated in that regard? 

And I said, what if we, I say, monetized it, but what if we used it and injected it to the proper point that you were getting the benefit of the post office?

Would that take – would that strip out that cost in the system? And the answer of course, is yes. I’m like, okay, so what if we do that and bypass, do what the post office would’ve done and inject it to that last point, and then, you know, can you deliver it now cheaper? Yes. I’m like, okay, great. Can the rates not be changed?

Oh, oh, you know, dot, dot, dot. Yep. Great, not only that, but cheaper, maybe as it turns out than even the post office could have done it, because – so, you know, that’s value. You talk about creating value, not just for this particular carrier that I’m speaking about, but think about the value that we just created for our own organization, but customers that we serve that don’t see the increase and they see – to go back, imagine going and seeing these elevated rate increases. 

And me being able to pick up the phone to a customer and say, “Hey, don’t worry about what you’re hearing in the headlines and the news. That’s all true, but your rates not only are not affected. I’m happy to share with you that we’re reducing your cost by 7% because of what we just did.”

That’s like a 45% swing. Imagine getting that phone call. That’s what I love about in this organization. We have the ability to unlock the potential. So, we have a great network. We just view – we view our network as an asset. Our people are an asset who get creative and think about solutions and – but that’s value creation.

I mean, that’s value creation.

[00:33:38] Glenn Gooding: It’s massive. And the other lens on that, beside cost, Chad, is in that environment, it’s very possible that you’ve improved the customer experience as well.

[00:33:49] Chad Warzecha: Big time. Big time. And you’ve skipped all that. So I think, you know, if you think about it the right way, but if your mindset is, you know, “We got screwed by a carrier and we’re going to move all the volume and move it to another one,” just wait, just wait.

Three months from now when service and all sorts of other increases will come. I mean, I used the appointed to the post office. Maybe they’ve increased 10% in six months themselves, and they’re going to continue also. Don’t be surprised with now what? Because the options are limited, they will start to impose their own new rate structure, too.

[00:34:37] Glenn Gooding: They will. They’re kind of the – they’re the rising tide that raises all ships with regard to the lightweight residential market, Chad.

[00:34:45] Chad Warzecha: And, yeah, so were all these other groupings. So anyway, but value creation is you got to do what’s good for your own people, do what’s good for the carriers, do what’s good for your own company, “is it good for your customers?” and, not be so, you know, inexperienced around, putting a parcel program together 

[00:35:12] Glenn Gooding: A hundred percent. And when you do that properly, you’re credible to the carriers. You’re trusted by the carriers. You avoid that very slippery slope of suddenly putting the carriers in a defensive posture where they now have to defend their share of your purse.

[00:35:32] Chad Warzecha: You know, I remember Glenn, during – was it two years ago during the threats of the strike? You know, the Teamster strikes and people were peeling off that business, going to a competitor.

And, you know, I remember having the conversation. It’s like, “Look, I’m sticking by you. You’re going to figure it out. And I’m not going to divert at all, and I’m staying by your side – even through a strike. We’ll figure this out together. It’s a reputable organization that’s going to figure it out.

And I remember being rewarded on other things for other areas that they showed flexibility and at that time and I distinctively recall a colleague who was like, “I’m moving it all.” And then, they got trapped. They moved it all, and then they got stuck with rate increases, you know, two years ago from the other competitors.

So, people forget – we all – as humans, it’s, “What have you done for me lately and what’s the new cycle at the moment?” And that’s what people remember – what’s happening currently – but they easily forget kind of the – I take a long term view on pretty much on everything.

[00:36:52] Glenn Gooding: Yeah. I think that’s very smart, very smart. Good. We’ve really, I think, hit pretty heavily on credibility and trust on this too heavily through this dialogue,

[00:37:12] Chad Warzecha: You know, I think on the credibility piece, I do think also there, Glenn is – I’m sure you’ve seen it plenty – one thing you have to do is you have to be authorized: who in the relationship is authorized to make decisions? It’s a little cat and mouse right in the beginning when you’re negotiating, and I just always want to be the cat here, right, in this scenario, not the mouse. But they need to know who’s in charge and that’s true of any time you’re negotiating, but there’s so many levels of discussion and it quickly – you think you’re friendly, you’re letting your guard down, and it all kind of, you know, flows.

But I feel like credibility is, you know, you should expect there to be four or five rounds of a negotiation, right? You have absolutely, absolutely – you have to have patient. It’s like if you’re buying a car, you can’t walk into the dealership and get the best price. The car dealership wants to know that – that’s why they’re always insistent to buy today. They want to know that you’re a serious buyer, right? And they’re collecting information. 

When they’re talking to you, they want to know that you’re a serious buyer, that you’re approved for if you’re getting a car loan, right? They try to run that credit check early right in the process, right?

They’re collecting their own level appeal deal a little bit, but they’re collecting information. They want to know, “Are you credible? Are you going to purchase that car?” So, same with the carriers. They want to know – the reputable carriers – I’m not talking [about] some of these emerging ones, right, which you should probably be concerned about if you’re only going through a round or two.

I would actually be concerned if you think you’re getting the best deal after one or two conversations. “You’re crazy.” It should be a process, right? It should take time.

And so, think of all these – think of the companies today that are probably switching volumes to another carrier, and they’re doing it over the weekend, or they’re doing it over the last week or maybe even two months. You’re not getting the best – a good contract should take – you should allow yourself some time to get to that, you know?

So, I think credibility is also who’s in charge here, you know? And if you’re going to maintain these really good relationships. So, that’s just another maybe point on credibility. I always prided myself, and I remember one area that I give one of my prior leaders a lot of credit for is that they allowed me to be in charge and everybody knew who the decision maker was. I was empowered to do that. 

I’m very fortunate in my current role. I have a great leader in Mike Brannigan and Steve Suddath, the chairman – they provide amazing empowerment and when I’m out talking, there’s no red tape. Nobody’s needing to worry “Do I have to go get an [approval]?” No. You know, they’ve empowered me to do that, which gives you credibility – gives me credibility, [and] makes, all the difference. 

Mike trusts me. I trust the organization. That organization trusts me. And so, when I’m interacting out here to make decisions, they’re not worried if I have to go get approval. They’re not worried that it’s a big, big deal and there’s no red tape, there’s no BS. Now that some of that’s the power of the people – you know, our culture – some of it’s the structure as well, right?

Back to the – we’re not some foreign entity. We’re not some private equity. Or, we don’t have to deal with that, you know – those, constraints. And that then leads into the trust. I think, back to, “Is it good for the customer? It’s good for the company, good for our stakeholders.”

But, yeah, I just think to kind of summarize that, or to close that – about the contract, length of the time –It’s like two dogs seeing each other through a fence. You know you’re going to be there for a while. You know those two dogs are going to be there for a while, right, when they are looking at each other through the fence.

And that’s how the contract negotiation should work. You know you’re going to be there a while. You got two dogs looking at one another through the fence. But don’t violate – do not violate the trust and start moving, slushing your volume all over one. It’s bad for you, it’s bad for your customers, it’s bad for the relationship.

It’s bad when you need to come back into – when you reach back out. Even when you end a relationship, end it obviously the right way – if you do end it. But don’t end it the way people do. So, [a] parcel program is no small thing. It’s not meant for the faint-hearted as you know.

[00:42:45] Glenn Gooding: No, it’s complex, it’s dynamic. It’s a living, breathing thing that has to continually be managed, measured, continually collaborating with clients, with carriers, fine-tuning, all the while never undermining that credibility, never playing games, never making false promises – you know, saying you’re going to do one thing if you get this and you do another after the fact.

Like those things – those things really get you longer term, right?

[00:43:27] Chad Warzecha: Yeah. Yeah. And I’ve moved plenty. I’ve moved volume in the past. I mean, it’s not to say that I haven’t, but you do it in a way that’s transparent and explain why you’re doing it.

So, for all of the listeners, I would just plug and invite anybody to join NXTPoint Logistics, you know, and follow us on LinkedIn and invite you to a conversation to see if we can help.

I mean, we are really committed to helping your brand grow and scale the right way. And not so much caught up into these price wars and having to move – we just anticipated and had relationships early and the right type and really, really proud. Really, really proud of the teams managing it.

And you heard on the conversation, we have a pretty vast network that we’re able to put to good use. 

[00:44:32] Glenn Gooding: A hundred percent. That sounds like you have some excellent things going. Chad, with NXTPoint, I’m honored to have you on the call, on this podcast with me. 

I think for our listeners, if we were to kind of summarize our conversation, we talked a lot about value creation, critical credibility and trust, knowing your package detail and actively collaborating with the carriers to source the volume that they want and to efficiently and effectively align with their operations, right? 

And if you do that in a measured, in a deliberate and consistent manner, those things will pay short-term benefits and dividends. But even more importantly, they pay long-term dividends for you, right? Because you continue to build that reputation of trust in being a solid operator. 

And to your earlier point, when the market starts to capitulate and we see crazy increases go out there, not everyone gets those crazy increases, do they, Chad?

[00:45:46] Chad Warzecha: I mean, I’m a living example of it, you know? And, so not everybody gets it. Not everything is as published, you know? And you want to be making those phone calls of being able to help customers avoid that and lock that in advance and put their minds at ease that they weren’t – they didn’t incur that. 

But I really do think there’s a lot of reasons for it, but not everybody has to, you know, be burdened with it. It’s not a – case in point. I know we’re ending our – we’re up on our time, but a great case in point is if you look at what’s announced with a network that shall not be named. But they do it in tiers, right?

Hey, one is 40% increase, another’s 30, another’s 26, another’s 18, another’s, you know, single digit. And then there’s a group that’s, say, zero. And I’ll leave the listeners, you know, kind of with that kind of thinking – that there’s tiers for a reason, and those tiers are based on several factors, relationships, the type of package parameters, the signals that you’ve given that carrier of what you plan to do. You know, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. 

[00:47:14] Glenn Gooding: And so, and the relationships at the right levels –

[00:47:16] Chad Warzecha: Yes. And the relationships at the right levels, all of the above. You know, D. All of the above, and som that’s why there’s tiers, right? Just think about that by default, right? 

[00:47:28] Glenn Gooding: Great. And hope the listeners now know how to get a hold of you, Chad, which is great. I hope we’ve added value to your day. Chad, I can’t thank you enough for your time and your perspective on this.

Lke I said, I think I need to handcuff you and drag you on the road with me. You talk a lot the same way I do and have a similar philosophy toward this. And it’s refreshing. It’s not often you come across someone that’s philosophically aligned on this type of subject, so, well, thank you.

Really appreciated the time, Chad. Thank you so much.

[00:48:04] Chad Warzecha: Thank you, Glenn. Yeah, thank you all.

[00:48:05] Glenn Gooding: Thanks, listeners. Please, if you like what you’re hearing, please give us a like, please refer us to others, please subscribe. We’re available on all of the different podcast channels. You can find me on YouTube, you can find me on LinkedIn.

Happy to be a resource for any of your follow-up questions. Maybe I’ll steer you towards. Mr. Warzecha and NXTPoint Logistics. 

Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day, and thanks for another episode of Parcel Perspectives.

[00:48:42] Glenn Gooding: Thanks for listening to Parcel Perspectives hosted by me, Glenn Gooding. I’ve been in the small parcel space for 37 years, starting with a deep and broad background, working for one of the major carriers as an operator and industrial engineer, later managing pricing at the highest level for the largest, most complex shippers in the world.

Since then, I’ve been a national thought leader and worked to help drive strategy for clients from Fortune 50 companies to start up e-commerce businesses, helping them more competitively align in this complex and expensive market. 

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