Bear Transportation Services is committed to excellence and professionalism for our customers by providing them with the best highway services. We specialize in full truckload movements and have the ability to handle your less-than-truckload needs as well as specialized services such as cranes and forklifts. With over 20 years of expertise and commitment to quality and customer service, Bear Transportation Services continues to surpass others in the industry by following guidelines designed to provide total customer service, protection, and satisfaction.
Our brokers work with each customer to develop a unique transportation solution that fits the specific needs of the customer. We provide cost-effective solutions that will allow us to provide the best service. Our rigorous Carrier Selection ensures that only top quality carriers will have access to our customers’ freight. We follow your load through every step of the process from Tender to Deliver. Furthermore, our custom-designed transportation management system has the latest technology that provides monitoring for every carrier we utilize and every load that we move.
Carrier Selection
Bear’s number-one priority is to provide excellent service to our customers. To ensure that the carriers we utilize will uphold this standard of excellence, Bear has a rigorous selection process for its carrier vendors. In order for a carrier to establish a relationship with Bear Transportation Services, a carrier must be able to meet the following criteria:
- Must have been in business for at least 1 year
- Must have a minimum cargo insurance of $100,000 and $1,000,000 liability insurance
- Must have a minimum of two trucks
- Must have central dispatch
- Must have direct contact ability for drivers via mobile phone, pager, or satellite system
- Must agree to and sign our Broker/Carrier Contract
- Must have updated equipment preferably no older than 5 years
Additionally, Bear constantly monitors each carrier’s authority, insurance, and supplemental licenses such as licenses for hazardous materials hauling. If any one of these items lapses, we ensure that all of the current documentation is obtained prior to allowing the carrier to enter your facility.
We maintain a live database of available equipment for those carriers that have established a relationship with Bear. Also, our company philosophy that carriers are the core of success has enabled us to establish long-term relationships with the nation’s best. We offer our regular carriers programs such as our Preferred Carrier Program to increase our retention of quality carriers.
Your Load Start to Finish
In our industry, communication is the key to success. Thus, this concept is the center for the processing of all loads in Bear Transportation Services.
Securing the equipment
Each Bear employee thoroughly qualifies a carrier prior to tendering the load to the carrier. The qualification process includes:
1) Verifying that the carrier has the proper equipment needed to perform all aspects of the load
2) Verifying pickup and delivery times to ensure the carrier can meet those obligations
3) Checking our database to verify that all of the carrier’s records on file, such as insurance and authority, are current.
4) Checking our database for service failures for the proposed carrier
If any of our documentation is out of date, the employee will obtain current documentation prior to proceeding with the booking process. Furthermore, if any carrier receives three service failure notices in a twelve-month period, they are removed from the Bear system and loads may no longer be offered to that carrier. We log service failures for situations such as missed pickups, late deliveries, last minute fall off, repeated equipment failures, or other service-related issues, which might negatively affect the shipment.
Once all information has been properly verified, a carrier is sent a binding rate confirmation that will provide the carrier with documentation of the load’s requirements to reduce any misunderstanding. This confirmation must be signed and returned to us prior to the carrier’s driver being dispatched.
Dispatch
Each driver is required to contact Bear for dispatch. This allows us the opportunity to verify once again that the driver has the sufficient time and equipment to meet all the requirements for the load. We provide the driver with all the necessary information to pick up the load, including but not limited to directions to loading facilities and pickup numbers.
Once the driver is loaded at the shipper, he/she must call in to Bear to verify that there were no problems with the process and confirm the receipt of the correct bills, product, etc. They are also provided with 24-hour emergency telephone numbers with which they may contact the broker or expediter in the event that there is a problem with the load in transit.
Check Call
Communication is the key, and drivers are required to check with Bear no later than 10:00 AM Central Standard Time each day so we may monitor the progress of the load. In the event that there are any issues, the brokers proactively respond and notify the customer if the issue will result in a delay of delivery.
Deliveries
Our job is not complete until we verify with the receiver that your product has arrived in good condition. If there are any overages, shortages, or damages to your product, the broker will immediately contact you to discuss what the best course of action is for the situation.
Technology
Bear understands that efficient processing of information is crucial to order processing for all parties involved. We have the capabilities to conduct business with our customers based on their preferred method, EDI or Web Tracking or other.
Bear’s transportation management system is designed to not only track and process customer orders but also provide protection at each step of the process. The system is designed to ensure that every carrier we use has sufficient and active insurance to cover each load for cargo value and, when appropriate, reefer coverage as well as hazardous material certifications. If any carrier that is considered does not have the appropriate coverage or certificates on file with us, the system will not allow the expediter or broker to move forward with the matching process.
Furthermore, our system is networked through our offices nationwide. This enables us to maximize the advertising exposure for each load and allows us to rapidly redirect staff to handle any of your business volume surges.
Bear Transportation Services
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