Middle Mile Shipping Unlocks Faster Parcel Deliveries
A customer shipping 10 million packages still couldn’t fill the trucks needed for daily departures. For Chris Guggenheim, that experience helped spark the idea behind ClearJet.
On this episode of The New Warehouse Podcast, ClearJet’s founder and CEO explains how the company moves parcels using commercial passenger flights. Airport teams sort the packages, clear them for flight, and connect them with final-mile carriers. The discussion covers three problems familiar to warehouse operators: paying for underfilled trucks, finding room for more carriers, and waiting for returned merchandise. Guggenheim’s examples show how changing transportation between facilities could address each one.
Achieving Faster Parcel Deliveries by Cutting Wait Times
Guggenheim had a large customer and a seemingly workable trucking plan. The customer wanted daily service. The volume didn’t match that schedule.
“The challenge was that they wanted seven days a week and couldn’t fill up the truck seven days a week to all those locations.” By year’s end, a $3.5 million trucking-cost dispute had become a payment dispute.
Waiting for more packages creates its own problems. Guggenheim describes the routine: “Hold that location, fill the truck, go again, fill up the truck.” ClearJet instead books space on commercial flights already serving those destinations. He describes a 5 p.m. Los Angeles pickup reaching the destination carrier within roughly 12 hours. The timing still depends on the ground: miss that carrier’s cutoff, and the package could miss its next departure.
Expanding Carrier Choice From a Single Dock
Sometimes a warehouse can identify the carriers it wants but has nowhere to put their packages. Guggenheim hears that frustration directly: “And so you’re like, ‘Hey, I’d love to use these three carriers. I’ve always wanted to work with them, but I just don’t have enough physical space to do it.’”
ClearJet accepts the mixed volume and separates it at the airport. “And so if you convert just one of those to ClearJet, we’ll get them to all the carriers at once.” Shippers can keep their existing carrier relationships, including contracts with volume commitments.
There’s still a price comparison to make. Guggenheim uses a two-pound package as an example: $2 for ClearJet’s transportation and $5 for regional delivery. At $7 combined, he says, that express shipment can compete with some customers’ ground rates.
Put Customer Returns Back to Work
ClearJet routes returns through postal collection and 95 airports, then trucks them back to retailers. For Guggenheim, that journey costs more than transportation.
“When I’ve talked to retailers, and they told me that the amount of money it costs them for their inventory to be in flux, meaning not available for purchase, is massive.” That expands the calculation beyond return shipping charges. Retailers also need to consider how long products remain unavailable.
Guggenheim connects faster transportation to that opportunity: “By getting their products back to them in two to three days…it can increase their top line and their bottom line.”
Key Takeaways
- Ten million packages didn’t guarantee enough volume for daily trucks to every destination.
- Flight schedules must connect with final-mile carrier cutoffs to deliver the promised speed.
- Sorting mixed carrier volume at the airport can relieve warehouse space constraints.
- Compare air transportation charges and final-mile rates together.
- Faster returns can make merchandise available for resale sooner.
Listen to the episode below and leave your thoughts in the comments.
Guest Information
For more information on ClearJet, click here.
To connect with Chris Guggenheim on LinkedIn, click here.
For more information about faster parcel deliveries, check out the podcasts below.
Parcel Carrier Diversification Strategy for Better, Faster Delivery
