Expedited Shipping Can Change The Way You Do Business

I’ve worked in the logistics industry for more than 33 years, including almost 25 years at Old Dominion Freight Line (OD). Whether it’s 25 holiday seasons or the transition to the next season, that’s 25 exciting years of seeing the change in this business.

I started at OD around the inception of our Expedited Services, our suite of services for time-sensitive deliveries. It’s been fascinating to see how customer demands have changed over time, as well as how OD has evolved with those demands. We’ve worked hard to develop exceptional Expedited Services to accommodate tighter delivery windows and stricter requirements from retailers. In the last decade, our suite of Expedited Services has grown more than 1,000 percent.  

During this time of year, there are more requests than ever coming in for our Expedited Services, in particular, our Must-Arrive-By-Date (MABD) offering to help with store replenishment. Shipment timing is critical this time of year. Many major retailers require just-in-time deliveries to restock inventories to prevent out-of-stocks. This helps them manage their supply chains more efficiently so they don’t have to maintain large inventories in their warehouses and can avoid the associated inventory carrying costs. Customers can also better plan their manufacturing for the season with this approach, keeping it lean, so they can produce just enough of what’s needed for demand.

My team’s role is to assess individual customers’ situations to figure out the best combination of our services to fit their particular needs — for the holidays and year-round. Add to that, we have dedicated expedited agents assigned to each customer, proactively monitoring and scheduling shipments (and helping protect and even strengthen relationships with retailers in the process). 

I love being able to tell customers, “Yes, we can do that!” We have developed a system that makes what our customers consider extraordinary to be our ordinary, where we help them get their shipments where they need them on time. I particularly love that as a company; we’re able to use our expertise to help deliver when it’s needed most. For example, we leverage our Expedited Services to support Samaritan’s Purse for Operation Christmas Child.

To meet the unique needs of this program, OD developed a custom shipping solution. We drop off OD trailers at more than 156 locations across the country to be filled with shoeboxes of gifts for children in need overseas. We bring these to the distribution center to be sorted, unloaded and reloaded by volunteers. They’re then shipped overseas to be delivered to children just in time for Christmas. We’ve been servicing this program for seven years, and our team is always excited to be a trusted partner of this program.

OD is determined to continue to grow your relationships and drive efficiencies within your own business all year round. Whether it’s delivering presents to children in need or shipping goods for a customer who needs to get their products to a retailer on-time and in-full, our team at OD puts our heart into keeping our promises. That way, our customers can deliver on their promises too.

To connect with OD's Expedited team, call us at (866) 637-7333 or send us an email at Special.Rollouts@odfl.com.