This Parade feature serves as a double-check to make sure carriers have the right kind of capacity.
Parade’s Book Now Accessorial and ETA Verification Feature Reduces Problems with Book Now Loads
One of the concerns the transportation and logistics industry has shown regarding digital booking is that it’s almost too easy. If all goes as planned, brokerage and carrier don’t have to email a million things back and forth or hop on a phone call to shore up load details. Information, contracts, and load paperwork are passed along digitally.
A lot of information must be relayed and okayed to get a load booked, especially when you’re talking open deck freight. Some in the industry worry that digital booking could make it even easier to miss critical information than it is using legacy processes.
That missed critical information could result in a carrier booking a load that they can’t complete, whether it’s because they don’t have the right equipment, accessorials, or availability.
This exciting Parade feature helps address this issue, helping to ensure Book Now loads only get booked when a carrier can truly handle the requirements of the load.
How Does This Feature Work?
This feature, while very impactful, is also very simple.
When a brokerage is setting up a Book Now load, they can enable this feature that sends carriers a little pop-up verification box before the load is officially booked. That verification double checks with that carrier that they have the necessary accessorials available for the load (like a lift gate, specific types of load securement like a certain number of straps or tarps in a certain size, or chains).
The broker can also add an ETA verification, where the carrier verifies that their driver’s ETA fits into the pickup and delivery windows.
This gives the carrier a second look at commonly overlooked load requirements, allowing them another chance to evaluate their availability. If the carrier realizes they can’t meet the load requirements, they simply exit the Book Now, the load hasn’t been assigned to them, no harm, no foul.
This double-check can help to prevent canceled Book Now loads where the issue was overlooked information. It can also help prevent shippers from rejecting your trailers and incurring a TONU charge due to missing accessorials, the wrong equipment, or a missed delivery window that was caused by a misunderstanding.
Book Now Verification is an Optional Feature
In some instances, brokerages may not want to put this extra step into place. For instance, if a load is basic and has a wide pickup and delivery window, it may not be necessary to add a step to the digital booking process. Or you’re setting up the Book Now to send directly to your most trusted carriers and you don’t need them to verify details they see week after week. No big deal.
This feature is optional, and you can turn it on and off based on your needs for a particular load.
How Will It Help Brokerages?
This feature is particularly helpful for brokerages who handle open deck freight, whether exclusively or occasionally. Because there are so many extra accessorials and tight pickup and delivery windows associated with these types of loads, this extra verification could save a lot of headaches (and a lot of money, too).
It’s also great for loads with tight pickup or delivery windows. For example, grocery loads are often on tight delivery windows since stores have few dock doors and limited staff to unload trailers. If a delivery is late, they may not be able to unload it at all.
Interested in seeing how this feature works for yourself and how it could benefit your brokerage? Reach out to the team at Parade to book a demo here. We’ll be happy to show you how it works!