If Your Freight Could Speak, What Would It Say?

You don’t always need a new provider — sometimes you just need a new perspective.

Every shipment has something to say. Maybe it’s pointing out inefficiencies, highlighting risks, or suggesting a smarter route. The key is paying attention to the signals your freight is already sending.

“I could be closer to your customers if you rethought where I’m staged and fulfilled.”

Stuck-in-Storage Sally

FulfillMore Industries

“I’m costing you more than I should. Smarter distribution could reduce miles and spend.”

Costly Carl

SpendWell Supply

“My overseas origin feels risky—maybe it’s time to diversify sourcing closer to the U.S.”

Risky Ricargo

GlobalSource Unlimited

When you take time to “listen,” your freight can reveal where you’re losing time, adding unnecessary costs, or missing opportunities to be closer to customers. By uncovering these insights, you can build a supply chain that runs faster, leaner, and smarter—end to end.

Sometimes, listening to freight changes everything.

Take KICKER, a leading audio brand. Their freight was telling them: “I could get to customers faster if I were staged closer to demand.” By shifting distribution to the East Coast and leveraging Averitt’s Charleston facility, they cut LTL miles by up to 75%, reduced transit times, and improved speed to market.

Watch the video to hear their story.

Kicker started out with Stillwater Designs, and I was playing in a rock and roll band and made speakers as a hobby. I was approached by a friend to build a speaker for a pickup truck. I did that and that became very popular and we developed that through the eighties and it grew really rapidly. Today we have six hundred and some different products that we sell all over the US, internationally. Early on when I took the director of distribution role, I had some challenges in front of me. At a certain point, management came to me and asked me to investigate alternative warehousing. You know, Averitt has solutions for that. Kicker used us for LTL, and when we opened the door to a broader conversation with Kicker speakers, we took a look at where their big customers were. They were bringing most of their goods to the eastern two thirds of the United States. We have a lot of our big customers out there. It only makes sense to shorten the distance to decrease our our transit time. So what we took a look at for them was how can we cut miles out of their supply chain. We took a hard look at Charleston, South Carolina. All of the ports that they were sourcing from in the Pacific Rim, they were could very easily bring those goods into Charleston just as easily as they could LA Long Beach and ultimately Stillwater. So we sold them a little bit of warehouse space in Charleston. We're doing the drayage of the container from the ocean port to our facility. We're storing those materials for them in Charleston and doing LTL and small package fulfillment out of our Charleston facility. The end result with saving the money on the transportation, it also allowed them to be a day faster on their service to get it to their customers. And that was a big win for Kicker. I think we're winning. I really do. That's the feedback we're getting in the field. It's changing their order patterns because it's getting to them sooner. It's showing up without damage. It's on time. They've got great relationships with their drivers. In a nutshell, I think it's really working out well for everybody and we're just happy it's going this direction. Most customers know us as an LTL services provider, but we're very good at these other things that are not LTL. We have an outstanding truckload product, an outstanding expedited product. As a freight forwarder, we have outstanding specialists that can help get goods from overseas. You're going from Oklahoma to New Jersey or Miami, there's delays and, you know, everyone's been able to turn that into a couple day run. Our customers in turn are happier with it. It's a solution all the way around. We are the power of one. The cultural similarities between Averitt and Kicker like you could sit there and switch shirts from one person to the other. It didn't take too long to realize how special Kicker was and what their culture is and how similar that is to our organization. We want to partner with people that have that same service mindset. People that that are interested in continuous improvement and working together and partnering, I think are super important to us. You know, Averitt's just a phone call away. I deal with a lot of problems, so it helps to have partners in place to assist with those problems. It certainly makes my job and life a lot better.

Sometimes, growth depends on getting every link in the chain connected.

That was the case for Spectra Gutter Systems, the nation’s largest manufacturer of gutter rainware products. Their freight was saying: “I need a single, streamlined path from port to customer — too many providers are slowing me down.”

By leveraging Averitt’s end-to-end network, Spectra consolidated import drayage, warehousing, and nationwide distribution under one roof. With inventory positioned closer to demand and specialized handling to protect delicate products, Spectra improved efficiency, cut down on damage, and ensured 98% on-time LTL performance across their branch network.

Watch the video to hear their story.

My name is Alan Hensley. I work for Spectra Gutter Systems and based in Atlanta, Georgia. We're the largest manufacturer of what they call gutter rainware. We manufacture from the raw material that comes in, and then we have our branches around the country, and we retail it out from there. Our manufacturing has grown, and we are now into importing. And so that's allowing us to use Averitt for importing. They also have the fulfillment centers where we can store stuff or have it transloaded. Alan contacted me and wanted to know if we could be of assistance. We were able to create a solution where Averitt will dray the containers when they come in to either our distribution and fulfillment centers to transload or directly to Spectrum gutters. Back in 2017, we started out using Averitt to do some of our truckload logistics to our different branches. And over time, we integrated the LTL system as well into a 3PL system we already have. They're able to help us get our new product we're having made overseas into the port and then to get it to our facility in Atlanta. I don't have to worry about having different people to pick it up at the port and different people to get it to us. It's just one place, one stop, and they handle it from there. Our technology will give them complete visibility of their product from the time that it ships to the time it arrives to their door. You know, we want it looking pristine when it gets there. The box is not crumpled and torn up. That says a lot as well. So they transport that when it leaves our facility in that condition and it gets to the customer in that condition. Our goals for the future for Spector Gutter Systems is to be in all the states, across the country. We have a five-year goal to have be a billion dollar a year company, and we're gonna need lots of transportation. They're gonna need a great partnership like we have, with Averitt. This allows us not to have to slow down, but we can keep it going to where we have facilities to store it in in the fulfillment centers that are out near our branches. And then we can propagate it out from there and it goes across the country. So they'll be a big part of helping us to grow. I think we can help them put their product in different locations to beta test on areas they wanna grow in without making a full commitment of staff and resources. That is a great enhancement and a great partnership because as we grow, we don't have to necessarily put on drivers and trucks right away to be able to do that. We can use their system and their dedicated drivers to be able to do that. There's that Power of One to help us to grow. Well, the reason why we're calling it Power of One, is Spectra Gutter Systems are using our truckload, our LTL, and are integrated to provide solutions for them. We are also expanding into distribution and fulfillment as well as possibilities of dedicated that would help them grow closer to that one billion dollar goal. It's the power of one company being able to meet all of my logistic needs. The deal about Power of One - I always like to come back to the relationship. Averitt believes in taking care of the relationship and and the person, not just the business. Whatever my problem is, they are solution to help us to solve it. And they will go to whatever extreme it needs to be to make it. Whether it's making room in a warehouse, it doesn't matter. I want a partner that's like that and Averitt fulfills that for us.

Ready to Hear What Your Freight Is Telling You?

Every supply chain has hidden signals—missed opportunities, wasted miles, or risks waiting to surface. The difference comes from taking a moment to listen and act. Our team is here to help you uncover smarter, simpler ways to move freight—no pressure, no strings attached.

Let's hear what your freight has to say. Schedule a consultation below.

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