By North Winship, President, Shiplify

Every year, as the holiday season barrels down the supply chain, shippers and carriers brace for impact. Volumes climb, timelines tighten and customer expectations skyrocket. It’s the season of “no room for error.” Yet, one of the biggest drivers of waste, friction and cost remains something deceptively simple: bad location data.

On the surface, an incorrect ZIP code or a missing suite number might seem like a small hiccup. But in Less-Than-Truckload (LTL), where shipments move across multiple touchpoints and LTL tariffs hinge on key classifications, poor data accuracy can snowball into thousands of dollars in accessorial charges, angry customers and wasted capacity.

In short, it’s not just the leaves that are withering away, it’s your margins.

Why Bad Data Hurts More Than Your Wallet

A misclassified destination is not just a paperwork issue, it’s a revenue issue. When you’re expecting a standard delivery, but the carrier arrives at a gated storage facility, the stop instantly morphs into a limited access delivery with its own surcharge.

When an apartment number is missing, you can almost guarantee a redelivery fee, not to mention additional charges for fuel, driver hours and support time.

These scenarios chip away at already-thin margins; even worse, they compound. An incorrect address doesn’t create just one fee, it creates a cascade: appointment scheduling delays, failed first attempts, dwell time and customer churn.

Now layer in the dynamics of the holidays. Peak shipping season magnifies the pain of inaccurate location data. Retailers pull demand forward, shipping earlier to avoid bottlenecks. Online sales spike, with consumers expecting on-time delivery no matter what. Carriers operate closer to capacity, docks run on tighter schedules and windows for delivery shrink.

In this dynamic, there is little tolerance for rework. A failed delivery in July is frustrating; a failed delivery in November or December is viewed as catastrophic. Not only does it cost more but it can also mean a lost sale, a negative review, or a customer who chooses a competitor next time.

The Real Source of the Problem

Much of the blame rests with how location data is captured and classified. Standard tools often rely on broad generalizations when what carriers really need is street-level precision. That small miss can be the difference between classifying a destination as a commercial dock or a residential driveway.

Equally problematic is the lack of metadata around a stop. Does it require an appointment? Is there a guard shack? Are there stairs, narrow alleys, or height restrictions? Without those details, shippers underquote, brokers misclassify and carriers bill for the services they had to provide regardless.

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Industry averages show that failed deliveries routinely cost $17–$20 each. Factor in accessorials like redelivery, liftgate, or limited access (often in the $50–$150 range) and suddenly one bad address isn’t just a nuisance, it’s a margin killer. For high-volume shippers, even a small percentage of failures translates into millions in unnecessary costs every year.

During peak season, those numbers accelerate. With more freight moving through the network, the number of chances for bad data to trigger hidden costs skyrockets. It’s the supply chain equivalent of compound interest, but in reverse.

How the Leaders Are Getting Ahead

The best shippers and brokers are treating location data with the same rigor as they treat rates and routing. They’re validating every address through certified systems, demanding accurate coordinates and enriching data with classification rules that flag residential vs. commercial, limited access vs. standard, liftgate required vs. not.

Most importantly, they’re closing the loop with carriers by mapping location attributes directly to tariff codes. Instead of discovering after the fact that a stop was limited access, they quote it that way upfront, eliminating surprises and smoothing relationships across the board.

While no shipper or carrier can control the weather, fuel costs, or consumer demand, they can control how well they prepare their shipments through data control.

Location intelligence is not a nice-to-have, it’s the foundation of accurate quoting, efficient routing and predictable delivery performance. And when the pressure is highest, accurate data becomes the cheapest insurance you can buy.

In LTL, the invoice always tells the truth. The question is whether you want to hear it before or after delivery.