Shippers ask me the same handful of questions in nearly every conversation:
- What does our carrier vetting process require?
- What has changed in that process over the last month?
- What are we doing about it over the next six months?
- How do we determine a carrier is a good fit for their network?
Almost nobody calls me to ask why carrier XYZ is picking up the load today.
For our customers, carrier vetting is no longer a background process. It’s become a front-and-center priority.
I joined KBX Logistics™ in May 2026 after spending much of my career on the other side of the desk. I started with asset-based carriers across dry van, refrigerated, and flatbed, working my way from managing fleets to running a terminal. Later, I moved into carrier operations for a large furniture manufacturer, where I went from selling capacity to buying it.
I’ve spent time on both sides of the table, and that shapes how I think about the carriers we put on a shipper’s freight.
One thing I learned quickly after joining KBX: by the time a carrier shows up to move a customer’s load, the important work has already happened.
They’re already approved to do business with us. They’ve met our insurance and safety requirements. They’re connected for electronic tracking. Nobody on our team should be calling a dispatcher just to figure out where a truck is.
Carriers ask me all the time how they can earn more of our freight. My answer almost always starts with their network.
Before I sign anyone, I look at where their trucks already run against the gaps in our network. If those datasets don’t overlap, I rarely sign them. Adding another carrier to the network just to have another carrier doesn’t create much value for either party.
When there is a fit and the carrier meets our requirements, we work to set each other up for success. We give carriers access to Loadshop™, our KBX load board, where we post one-off spot opportunities. That gives new carriers an opportunity to prove themselves on our freight before they’re considered for committed lanes.
How they perform matters.
We value our incumbent carriers. If our incumbent carriers consistently deliver strong service and remain competitive, creating value, they’ve earned the opportunity to retain that business.
But networks change.
A lane that fit a carrier last year may not fit the same way this year. When that happens, a carrier that has proven itself running our spot freight through Loadshop™ can get a real opportunity to compete for committed capacity.
That means our job isn’t just to vet carriers. Our job is to make sure the right carriers can efficiently identify the freight that fits their networks and compete for it.
That message came through clearly at our 2026 Strategic Carrier Summit in Green Bay. One carrier told me that an RFP from us used to mean sorting through hundreds or thousands of lanes one by one, figuring out which fit their network, and pricing each manually against where they thought the market would land. It could take days, sometimes weeks.
Today, they can run that same analysis through software in minutes.
That matters because a better procurement process should produce better matches, not simply more bids.
I want carriers competing on freight that makes sense for their networks, because those are the relationships that are more likely to perform when the freight actually moves.
Of course, price still matters.
I buy on contract and on spot. A stock transfer, for example, might give me an opportunity to sharpen my pencil on rate. But that load still goes to a carrier that has cleared the same vetting requirements.
Price may determine who gets the load. It doesn’t determine who gets through the door.
And that brings me back to the questions I get from shippers.
When a customer calls me about carrier vetting, they rarely want to know what our standards were six months ago. They want to know what we’re doing today, what has changed, and what we’re doing next.
I owe them a clear answer every time.
And frankly, it’s the same question every shipper should be asking whoever they trust to move their freight:
What has changed in your carrier vetting process lately, and why?
Jared Denniston
VP of Capacity Solutions
KBX Logistics