The 7 Deadly Freight Sins

Each section reflects a common freight behavior we see as organizations scale not mistakes, but defaults that quietly compound over time.

Recurring patterns that quietly erode transportation performance, accountability, and cost - often inside otherwise well-run organizations.

Most companies don’t struggle with freight because of rates or capacity alone. They struggle because certain habits take hold as transportation programs grow - habits that reduce visibility, dilute accountability, and make issues harder to diagnose.

Over time, these patterns compound. Costs creep up. Claims increase. Service becomes inconsistent. Leadership spends more time reacting than governing.

We call these patterns the 7 Deadly Freight Sins.

This framework reflects what we see repeatedly across manufacturers and distributors who have outgrown execution-only freight management.

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The 7 Deadly Sins

Pride

We’ve Always Done It This Way

Comfort replaces curiosity.
Carrier performance, rate discipline, and market alignment go unchallenged because nothing feels “broken”- until it is.

What it leads to:
Hidden margin leakage and delayed correction.

Greed

Chasing the Lowest Rate

Price replaces perspective.
Freight decisions optimize for pennies saved per load while ignoring reliability, risk, and downstream impact - until service failures force expensive recovery.

What it leads to:
Higher exceptions, damaged freight, lost capacity trust, and costs that surface everywhere except the rate line.

Lust

Seduction by the
Big-Name Brands

A familiar brand, a confident pitch, and enterprise language create attraction - but execution is forced into a standardized model designed for someone else's business - not yours. Requests take longer. Exceptions are discouraged, and accountability disappears behind layers.

What it leads to:

Rigid service, delayed decisions, and a transportation operation optimized for the provider’s operating model instead of your strategy.

Envy

Ignoring the Value of True Expertise

Familiarity replaces specialization.
Freight is managed by capable people but not freight experts while market shifts, fraud trends, and capacity cycles move faster than part-time attention can track.

What it leads to:

Reactive decisions, missed market leverage, and preventable exposure.

Gluttony

Blasting Freight to Everyone

Email blasts create the illusion of competition while eroding leverage.
Loads are sent to dozens of brokers and carriers in search of optionality creating noise instead of leverage, visibility instead of protection.

What it leads to:

Eroded capacity trust, public rate exposure, and higher costs when markets tighten.

Wrath

Making Decisions with Bad Data

Emotion replaces evidence.
Freight costs spike. Expedites multiply. Premium modes are approved “to protect service” without clarity on modal tradeoffs, service thresholds, or true margin impact. Leadership reacts to noise instead of insight and urgency overrides discipline.

What it leads to:

Premium spend without accountability, reactive decision-making, and margin erosion hidden behind “customer satisfaction.”

Sloth

Accepting “That’s How We’ve Always Done It”

Inertia replaces improvement.
Freight processes continue unchanged because they still “work.” No one is escalating problems. No fires are burning. But markets shift, fraud evolves, and capacity dynamics move while your strategy stays still.

What it leads to:

Gradual performance decay, hidden inefficiencies, and a transportation operation that falls behind long before leadership realizes it.