Shipping the Order

What happens next depends on whether the supplier uses a carrier for its shipments or operates its own fleet of vehicles. If a carrier is used, there is nothing much to do once the vehicles are loaded but wait for confirmation that the delivery was made on time. In the case of a private fleet, there is a good deal of planning to be done even before the loading begins. This section describes how a supplier operates it own vehicles, assuming for the sake of clarity that these vehicles are trucks. This assumption is realistic given that trucking accounts for 70% of all shipping in the United States by dollar volume, and trucking presents some interesting problems that don't normally arise in transport by other modes.

The basic ...

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