Estes Express Lines
Retail Shipping Made Simple

It's 10:00 pm, and the store closes its doors to customers for the day, but behind the scenes at one of the nation’s largest big box retailers, the work is far from over. It’s no secret the on-demand economy has revolutionized the way brick-and-mortar retailers serve their customers. To keep pace in this evolving landscape, vendors need the help of partner carriers who can reliably deliver the right products in the right quantities at the right time.

Enter Estes Express Lines.
With a 99 percent success rate in meeting all Time Critical guarantees for Must Arrive By Date (MABD) shipments to retail distribution centers, this 90+ year old freight transportation provider knows a thing or two about reliability.

“Estes is North America's largest privately held freight carrier and handles more than 50,000 shipments each day,” says Estes VP of Corporate Accounts and Transportation Intermediaries, Mark Watson. “Thirty-three percent of those shipments are retail shipments, so we not only understand the unique challenges of the retail logistics space, we help shippers rise to them.”

Through Estes Retail Guarantee (ERG), a product the company developed to bring additional peace of mind to retail shippers, Estes offers a financial guarantee of up to twice a customer's freight charges if they miss a delivery appointment, and it results in a chargeback fee. ERG is backed by Estes’ best-in-class Time Critical Guaranteed service, which guarantees all aspects of a shipment, from on-time pickup to damage-free delivery on the appointment date.

One Estes customer, who ships primarily to big box retailers, recently made the decision to switch all its retail freight over to Estes. The customer had been using another carrier but was experiencing significant fines and chargeback fees due to damages and missed delivery windows.
One month since the switch, the customer had yet to incur a single chargeback fee and was thrilled to have achieved a perfect score on its vendor scorecard.

“Estes is blowing my mind right now,” the customer says. “One hundred percent within the delivery window and, equally as remarkable, they consistently hit the actual target date, not just the window.”

On its own, Estes’ Time Critical Guaranteed service includes more benefits than any other LTL carrier: guaranteed on-time pickups, guaranteed on-time appointments, guaranteed on-time delivery, and guaranteed damage-free shipments. Customers also enjoy a dedicated customer care team, round-the-clock support, and enhanced freight monitoring. But for retail shippers who want additional assurance, ERG also eliminates the risk of chargeback fees and other financial penalties.

“Since we first began promoting our retail excellence with MABD and ERG, we've seen a 20 percent shipment increase going into major retailers,” Watson says. “I think this speaks to not only the value of our products but also the trust our shippers place in our freight transportation services across the board."

In addition to its Time Critical Guaranteed service, Estes’ comprehensive suite of freight shipping solutions includes Less Than Truckload (LTL), Volume LTL and Truckload, Custom Shipping and Logistics, and Final Mile. The carrier also has nearly 7,000 next-day lanes and more than 280 North American terminals.

“Many people think of Estes as a reliable long-haul carrier,” Watson says, “but we have the capacity and footprint to handle any kind of freight from line-haul to next-day and everything in between.” Estes's status as a debt-free, asset-based company means it can be nimble and flexible to meet its customers’ evolving needs.

In the world of retail logistics, peace of mind and positive retailer relationships will always win the day. Thankfully, with Estes, today’s retail shippers have a carrier they can count on to deliver both.