The logistics industry doesn’t usually change overnight. But sometimes, costs creep up quietly enough that leaders don’t realize how much ground they’ve lost until margins are already gone.
In a recent webinar, Tara Buchler, Strategy Principal at JBF Consulting, and Jai Shahpuri, VP of Business Development at KSAP Technologies, discussed an uncomfortable reality: for many shippers, the biggest risk today isn’t making the wrong decision—it’s deferring the right one.
“Every month of inaction is compounding inefficiencies,” Tara said. “And that cost shows up in your fleet, your carrier network, and eventually in your service levels.”
Watch their conversation here or keep reading for a summary.
The Cost That Hides in Plain Sight
At first glance, the numbers seem incremental. Operating costs per mile are up a few percentage points. Breakeven rates have ticked higher. None of that feels shocking on its own.
But Tara pointed to the fact that roughly 15% of total trucking costs are tied to empty miles, and that number is growing.
“These aren’t massive swings,” she explained. “But at scale, small percentages become very big dollars.”
That’s where the story really begins. Because unlike fuel prices or insurance premiums, empty miles sit in a gray zone - partly unavoidable, partly self-inflicted. And for organizations running a mix of private fleet, dedicated capacity, and for-hire carriers, those inefficiencies tend to multiply quietly.
Control vs. Flexibility: A Familiar Tradeoff That’s Getting Harder
Jai framed the challenge in practical terms. Private fleets offer control, predictability, and reliability, but they’re capital-intensive. Carriers provide flexibility and scalability, but bring volatility and uncertainty.
“Business will always push for infinite capacity,” he said. “But nobody is willing to pay an infinite price for it.”
The mistake, he argued, is treating that balance as something you set once and revisit annually. In today’s environment, the right answer changes daily - sometimes hourly -based on demand, network conditions, and disruption.
Companies that cling to static networks and fixed routes often believe they’re protecting stability. In reality, they’re locking inefficiency into their cost structure.
A Pandemic Lesson No One Wants to Repeat
To make the point real, Jai shared a story from the height of COVID. One KSAP customer manufactured critical components used in disinfectants and antibacterial products - the kind of freight that needed to move without delay.
Then the tenders started getting rejected. Sometimes at a 100% rate.
Carriers were chasing spot-market rates three or four times higher than contracts, and the manufacturer had no choice but to follow. The product had to move, regardless of cost.
“They took a big loss,” Jai said plainly. “But they had no choice.”
Disruptions don’t announce themselves, and when they hit, organizations without visibility or flexibility pay a premium.
What Happens When You Actually See the Network
Companies need to stop treating fleet planning as a fixed exercise and start managing it as a living system.
Using Oracle Transportation Management (OTM) as the backbone, many organizations are adopting fleet-aware, network-aware planning, a model that looks at the entire network, available fleet capacity, and real-world constraints before allocating freight to third-party carriers.
One common fear is that more dynamic planning will hurt drivers. But Tara pushed back on that assumption.
“There’s no zero-sum game here,” she said. “You can still get drivers home, keep them in familiar territories, and operate more efficiently at the same time.”
Jai shared a recent example that proved this point:
A customer complained that drivers were unhappy after implementing fleet optimization. When Jai dug in, the reason was simple: “For the first time in their careers, they actually had to work a full day.”
Routes that once involved four or five stops were now optimized to ten or twelve without violating hours-of-service rules or changing home time. What surfaced wasn’t burnout, but previously hidden waste.
“That’s when you realize how much capacity was just sitting there,” Jai said.
The TMS Is Not the Star - It’s the Hub
Optimization isn’t just about planning better routes. It’s about building an ecosystem where real-time data actually informs decisions.
In-cab telematics, real-time tracking, weather and traffic data, preventative maintenance sensors, temperature monitoring for regulated freight, all of it feeds the backbone. When a delay happens, the system needs to understand not just what went wrong, but what it affects next.
“The TMS has to be the hub of decision-making,” Tara added. “But it only works if the data flowing into it reflects reality.”
Why the Business Case Matters More Than Ever
In a budget-conscious environment, ambition isn’t enough. Leaders need evidence.
“Don’t rely on soft benefits,” Jai cautioned. “There are hard benefits here, but you have to measure them.”
Tara outlined a pragmatic path forward: baseline current performance, understand true cost to serve, model policy changes before committing, and track KPIs before, during, and after change. Tools like logistics network modeling make it possible to test assumptions safely—before real dollars are on the line.
Just as important, Jai stressed phasing.
“You don’t have to swallow the whole program at once,” he said. “Let phase one pay for phase two.”
The Quiet Advantage of Acting Now
The takeaway wasn’t urgency for urgency’s sake. It was clarity.
Markets will swing, disruptions will come, but organizations that continuously tune their networks (grounded in data, aligned across people, process, and policy) are the ones that turn volatility into advantage.
Or as Tara summed it up: “Our job as logistics leaders is to control what we can control. And the best way to do that is through data-driven decision-making.”
JBF Consulting helps shippers unlock cost savings, improve visibility, and build scalable logistics technology strategies. Contact us today to learn how our proven approach can deliver measurable benefits for your organization.
About the Author
Tara Buchler is Principal, Strategy at JBF Consulting, bringing more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of logistics operations and enterprise supply chain software. She partners with shippers to design and implement pragmatic, high-impact strategies that align business goals with advanced technology solutions.
Tara’s unique perspective blends vendor-side product leadership, hands-on implementation expertise, and operational insight—allowing her to provide objective advisory services rooted in real-world experience. Her background includes senior roles at e2open, BluJay Solutions, and LeanLogistics, where she helped shape TMS, visibility, and parcel execution capabilities for global shippers.
FAQs
A private fleet is owned and operated by a company, providing greater control, reliability, and service consistency, while for-hire carriers are third-party providers that offer flexibility and scalability. Most shippers use a combination of both and must continuously balance cost, capacity, and service based on real-world conditions.
Empty miles represent truck movement without revenue-generating freight, directly increasing cost per mile. Even small increases in empty miles can significantly impact transportation spend at scale, making empty mile reduction one of the most effective levers for improving fleet efficiency.
Companies can reduce empty miles by using fleet-aware, network-wide planning that dynamically optimizes routes while still respecting driver home time, compliance rules, and territory preferences. Modern transportation management systems allow higher utilization without extending work hours or reducing driver satisfaction.
A TMS serves as the central hub for transportation decision-making by integrating real-time data from fleets, carriers, telematics, and external sources like weather and traffic. This visibility enables dynamic routing, better capacity utilization, and faster responses to disruptions across the network.
A strong business case starts with baselining current performance, including cost to serve, empty miles, and service levels. Leaders then model policy and network changes, track KPIs before and after implementation, and often phase initiatives so early wins fund later improvements.
