If your company does business with truckers in North America, we can help. We currently offer our services only in the United
States and Canada, and work only with forwarders or airlines who operate multiple offices.
We need to better control the quality of our trucking network. Can your system help?
Absolutely. Our system ensures that your vendors comply with your quality standards. For example, a trucker will be unable to
invoice you until you have received the POD data and the POD image. No POD, no payment.
We also give your station managers the tools they need to manage the quality of your trucking network. On-line reports rank
each trucker’s success in providing POD data, POD images and billing within your chosen time frames.
Cash flow is always an issue. Does your system require me to pay truckers on a certain date?
No. Forwarders need complete control over their payment terms and schedule – you pay your truckers whenever you choose to.
Our function is to move payable data directly into your A/P system, and with Ex Works you will have that days or weeks earlier
than you do today. But you decide when to pay.
Is this system additional work for my truckers?
On the contrary, there are many advantages for your truckers.
- Dispute transparency. Your truckers will know immediately when disputes arise, and will be able to address them with
you when the files are still fresh. Today, truckers deal with disputes only after invoices have been short-paid – leading to
expensive rebillings, arguments, etc. - Less phone time. Your truckers will no longer spend hours reading POD data to your staff over the phone.
- No mailing cost. Your truckers will no longer make photocopies of delivery receipts or pros, create and print their paper
invoices and then mail the package to you each week. Their saving on postage alone is typically several hundred dollars.
Ex Works brings truckers many of the advantages it brings to forwarders: less labor, better control, a straightforward business
process. And it is entirely free for your truckers.
Don't truckers resist using your system?
At first, many are skeptical. But once they see how easy the system is for them, most actually like it better. Why? It saves them
time. It saves them money. And it is free. See trucker survey.
Many of my truckers are small companies that run their operation manually. Will it work for them?
The fact is, most truckers serving our industry don't use computers to run their dispatch operation – but virtually all have at least
one PC for accounting. The system works for all truckers, whether they run their dispatch operation with scratch paper, grease
boards or complex computer systems. If they can dial into the Internet, they can use our system.
How many of my truckers are likely to participate in your system?
Because Ex Works is so simple and so easy for truckers to use -- and because it is entirely free for them -- you can be confident
that your truckers will comply. Larger truckers who serve our industry are already linking electronically with Ex Works because
they recognize the obvious advantages to them as well as to you, their customer. Smaller truckers are accustomed to adapting
to the important requirements of their clients.
Give me the actual numbers. What percentage of truckers your forwarder clients work with actually participate in Ex
Works?
As of September 1, 2006, the percentage participating is 99.07%.
Who pays for the service – the forwarder or the trucker?
The forwarder.
How is it billed, and is it expensive?
Forwarders are billed at the beginning of each quarter. The cost is a flat charge per station, and is a small fraction of the cost of
doing the same tasks manually.
How much money will I save?
You can calculate it yourself.
Because our system works for 100% of your trucking network, your stations will save a significant amount of labor:
Eliminated:
- calling each trucker for POD’s each morning
- entering the POD data
- receiving the envelopes of invoices and backup each week
- filing POD images
- coding trucker invoices to your file numbers
- checking the trucker’s charge against your estimated payable
- entering the invoice detail at the file level into your computer or A/P system
- filing the truckers’ invoices
Facilitated and standardized:
- dispute resolution.
Most major forwarders estimate that these tasks take one full-time person per station – or more. Looked at another way, large
forwarders estimate that the cost of processing billing alone is between $2.00 and $4.00 per transaction.
For how long will I be committed to your service?
Our contract is simple and straightforward, and you can cancel at any time without penalty if our service doesn’t work to your
expectation. Just as you must prove yourself to your clients without the safety net of an exclusive contract, our service must prove
its value to you every day.
What are the up-front costs?
There are none. We don’t charge consulting, initiation fees, etc. (unless you have unique requirements that lead to customized
programming). You pay the flat cost, period.
How long will it take to complete the integration?
It should take much less than one month – and often just a few days. Ex Works does not require full-blown system integration –
just the exchange of basic flat files.
How much time will it take train the people in my stations?
Close to zero. Your people use only a simple, intuitive screen to accept or reject disputed transactions that have been created by
your truckers. All other billing, and all POD’s, are handled automatically by our system. No training, no manuals.
How much time will it take me to train my truckers?
None; we do it. You send them a letter explaining that your company is now using Ex Works, and we take it from there. We
contact each of your truckers, work with them to set up their logon’s, show them how to use the system and provide technical
support whenever they need it. Their screens are as simple as yours. No training, no manuals.
I’m concerned about security. How can I be sure that my customer list, my rates with truckers or my shipment details won't
fall into the hands of my competitors?
Because we won’t know that information either. The data we exchange does not include your customer names, your trucking
tariffs, or even the weight of your shipments. Nonetheless, we do employ the established, standard security measures
regarding data integrity and password access that are employed by most on-line processing systems.
