Your supply chain
is leaking.
We find where.

The answer almost never lives in the fuel surcharge line. That number gets scrutinized quarterly. What doesn't get scrutinized is the accumulation of structural inefficiencies that compound invisibly: detention fees that became normalized, warehouse dwell time that extended without renegotiation, carrier mix that drifted toward spot market as contract capacity eroded.

Mid-market manufacturers face a specific problem: they're large enough to negotiate, but not large enough to have dedicated rate intelligence. Their contracts were written when volume projections were optimistic. Their carriers know this.

A logistics audit starts not with rate benchmarking but with cost attribution. Where does each dollar actually land? Until that map exists, renegotiation is guesswork. The chart below shows what happens when you separate fuel-adjusted cost from structural cost — for most clients, structural cost is the problem.

This is the most common strategic question we receive, and the answer is: neither, until you've done the audit. Renegotiating contracts on a misaligned lane network locks in inefficiency at a lower rate. Restructuring lanes while your carrier mix is wrong means you're moving freight optimally to the wrong places.

The sequence matters. Phase one is always data: what are your actual lanes, actual volumes, actual carrier performance metrics? Phase two is carrier analysis — where are you overpaying relative to market, and where do you have leverage? Phase three is lane optimization, which often reveals that 20–30% of your volume shouldn't exist in its current form — it should be consolidated, mode-shifted, or eliminated entirely.

For regional 3PLs losing margin on last-mile, the answer skews toward lane restructuring first. Last-mile economics are highly zone-sensitive; a carrier renegotiation that doesn't address zone distribution will underperform. For DTC brands, carrier mix rebalancing typically yields faster returns — the lane structure is often sound, the rates are not.

A logistics audit is not a rate survey. It's a forensic examination of your freight spend — every invoice, every carrier agreement, every warehouse contract, every lane. It answers the question: where did this money actually go, and was each dollar justified?

Our standard diagnostic takes two weeks and covers billing audit (12 months of invoices), carrier contract analysis (rate vs. market, service performance vs. contract terms), lane network mapping, and warehouse utilization review. We deliver a findings memo that quantifies recoverable value before we discuss next steps.

The diagnostic fee is applied to the engagement cost if you proceed. If the audit finds less than the diagnostic fee in recoverable value — which has never happened — we refund it. The model only works if we find real money.