5 Plays to Run When Volume Tanks and Margin Drops

Freight markets have a way of humbling even the best ops teams. One week you’re covering freight at record margins, the next you’re staring at a half-empty load board, and every rate you quote feels like a knife fight.

When volume is down and margin pressure is up, your instincts might say “cover anything, at any cost.” That’s how you end up bleeding profit and scrambling to explain why your numbers are sliding.

Here are five plays that keep you in control when the market tightens, plus some pro tips on how Cargo Chief can help you run them faster and more effectively.

1. Double Down on Your Core Carriers

When the market’s soft, you can’t afford high-risk experiments on untested carriers. Your best shot at keeping service levels high and margins stable is leaning on carriers you’ve booked with before, those who know your freight, your lanes, and your expectations.

Pull data on who’s delivered for you consistently over the past 6–12 months. Offer them more of the right freight, even if it means holding back on public posting. You’ll spend less time negotiating, see fewer fall-offs, and keep customer confidence intact.

Pro Tip: Cargo Chief tracks every carrier’s booking history and performance, so you can instantly surface your top performers by lane. No manual spreadsheet digging to get clear actionable data in seconds.

2. Cut the Load Board Dependency

When the default response to every uncovered load is “throw it on the board,” you’re putting your buy rate in the market’s hands. In a tight-margin market, that’s a losing game.

Instead, run lane-specific outreach to carriers who’ve historically taken that load. Even if they haven’t hauled for you in a while, reaching out directly can bypass the bidding war and secure better rates.

The more freight you keep off the open market, the more control you have over pricing, and the fewer surprises you’ll face when the invoice hits your desk.

Pro Tip: With Cargo Chief’s vetted carrier outreach, you can automatically target past and prequalified carriers with either MyCarrierPortal, Highway, or RMIS for each load, keeping more freight off the boards and in your network.

3. Automate the First Carrier Touch

Speed kills in a down market, except here, you want to be the aggressor. The carrier who sees a quality load first often books it before they even bother checking the boards.

Automating that first touch means your best-matching carriers see the freight in their inbox or portal in seconds, not hours. That speed advantage is often worth more than any rate cut you could negotiate.

Pro Tip: Cargo Chief pushes load offers to your best-fit carriers the moment they’re available in your TMS – no tab-switching, no delay – so you’re first in front of the right capacity.

4. Hunt for Hidden Margin in Your Data

You already have margin opportunities hiding in plain sight, it’s just a matter of finding them. Go back through past shipments and look for patterns where carriers consistently came in under market.

Once you identify those lanes and partners, feed them more of that freight first. Not only does this protect your margin, but it also deepens the relationship with carriers who’ve proven they can deliver both price and service.

Pro Tip: Cargo Chief’s offer intelligence flags when a carrier’s bid is significantly below market, helping you catch those hidden margin wins before someone else does.

5. Protect Service Like It’s Cash

When margins are thin, every minute spent on coverage, late delivery, damaged load, or service failure is a margin leak. High coverage times, rate concessions, and customer churn cost you more than shaving a few dollars off the buy rate ever will.

Prioritize carriers with a proven record of digital engagement, speed, and low bounce rates, especially on your most sensitive lanes. The cheapest option today is rarely the most profitable over the long run.

Pro Tip: Cargo Chief continuously scores carriers based on booking rate, fall-off rate, and engagement, so you can prioritize those who actually protect your service levels.

The Bottom Line

In a slow market, the difference between barely surviving and staying profitable comes down to discipline, speed, and carrier quality. You can’t control freight volumes, but you can control who you work with, how fast you move, and how much margin you give away.

Run these plays consistently, and you’ll be in a stronger position, not just when the market recovers, but when it inevitably tightens again.

When the stakes are high, sloppy execution kills faster than a bad rate.

Making it through a slow market’s like making the Super Bowl – you don’t get there by calling Hail Marys on every load.