DAYLIGHT REVEALS MODEL BEHIND FASTER TRANSIT AND LOW LTL RATES. FINANCIAL STABILITY IS KEY.
Long Beach, CA, August 10, 2009. LTL carrier Daylight Transport has taken a different route since 1977.
Even as many carriers are reporting losses and precarious financials, Daylight is enhancing its LTL services, investing in IT, and carrying a solid balance sheet. This takes innovation, which has been a Daylight cornerstone for 32 years.
Daylight is known for speed. Long-haul LTL transit times across the country are 2 to 3 days, standard. Says CEO and founder Richard Breen, "Daylight is super fast. But we're not more expensive. In fact, many times we're less expensive than anybody else. We can do this because of our financial stability and our business model."
(VIDEO: Richard Breen, CEO: "Inside Daylight")
Investing more, charging less: an LTL shipping paradox
Breen emphasizes that it hasn't been easy. "It costs us more to put two-man sleeper teams on our coast to coast lanes, but we do it. Years ago we brought speed and reliability to the LTL world by using sleeper teams, and we haven't stopped. No LTL carrier is as fast as Daylight between LA and the East Coast, or as consistently on time. But to compete in this market, our LTL rates have to be lower than competitors who are slower and less consistent. Believe it or not, we've found ways to make this model sustainable."
Daylight Transport has been able to sustain this counter-intuitive rate/quality equation through a combination of business structure, streamlined systems for efficiency, and a proactive culture. "We use our financial strength to help customers get more for their dollar," says Breen.
Empowering the front line
Anticipating a sharp downturn in the economy and the freight transportation sector early last year, Daylight acted decisively.
Daylight began empowering front line team members, such as Account Executives and CSRs (Customer Service Representatives), to make independent decisions that normally would need a supervisor's approval. "We knew that in tough times our customers would need even more flexibility from us, whether in customizing a service to help with a supply chain issue or handling an unusual problem resourcefully. A CSR will use his or her own good judgment to make a customer-friendly decision on-the-spot," says Greg Steele, Senior Vice President of Sales.
The company gives special recognition to people who take the initiative and deliver on Daylight's promise of being more flexible and proactive. Just the other day one of Daylight's newest customers, who had experienced damaged freight with their former carrier, wanted to know the exact condition of a shipment as soon as it arrived at our delivery terminal. Daylight's CSR at origin called the CSR at the receiving end and asked her to take a cell phone picture of the freight, which was in perfect condition, and email it directly to the customer.
"The customer needed reassurance beyond our normal electronic report, so we gave it to them," says Steele. "Interactions like this are taking place at every level at Daylight. Flexibility is all about doing things the customer's way, not making them conform to ours. At another carrier, the CSR would have had to ask a supervisor to ask a manager to go through a chain of command at the other end before taking action. Being flexible saves time and money, makes our customers look better to their customers, and builds relationships."
Servicing customers instead of servicing debt
Daylight Transport is debt-free. Richard Breen says that he has been rigorous about maintaining this position ever since he founded the company in 1977. Daylight's debt-free status and cash reserves have a direct impact on customer service. Carriers who are caught short can be forced to cut service levels, which can mean slower transit times, late deliveries, or inconsistency.
Trusted advisors optimizing supply chains and simplifying life
Daylight's sales force is trained in the disciplines of supply chain management and consulting. "This way we can be flexible in the areas that matter most to the customers, save them money, and simplify their lives," says Steele. How much could the customer reduce DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) and improve cash flow by cutting LTL transit times 3 days? How much could be saved annually by being able to ship a couple days longer when an order is filled, instead of sending stragglers by air at the last minute? Does a customer have an overtime problem managing shipments going to big box retailers? For the latter issue, Daylight has a Vendor Compliance Services group to take over that function and reduce costly charge-backs.
In the end, it's all about passion and unwavering vision. Breen says, "If we can't be better, faster, and more flexible so we can give our customers real value, I don't belong in this business. It's why I started this company in the first place." Based on the results, it looks like 32-year-old Daylight is going to be in business for a very long time to come.
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Company Contact:
Greg Steele
DAYLIGHT TRANSPORT
1501 Hughes Way
Long Beach, CA 90810
1-800-468-9999
gsteele@dylt.com
www.dylt.com
DAYLIGHT TRANSPORT DELIVERS RELENTLESS NATIONWIDE ON-TIME SHIPPING
Long Beach, CA - March 31, 2008 - Daylight Transport today announced the release of their enhanced non-stop nationwide point-to-point and Critical Care time definite shipping solution services.
Daylight Transport's non-stop nationwide point-to-point network guarantees faster transit times: typically up to three days faster than competing companies - without a negative impact on customers' transportation budgets. Daylight has one of the most comprehensive freight networks in the industry. Since we don't manage a break-bulk system, our expedited sleeper teams enable us to keep shipments moving when other competitors are stopping off at their regional distribution centers or break-bulks. To demonstrate this, we can pick up a shipment in Los Angeles, CA on a Thursday and load it direct to our Miami, FL facility for delivery on Monday. Not a week later, I'm talking about two business days later.
As Daylight continues to grow they haven't lost sight of their customers' expanding needs and will continue to help them to achieve greater goals with the release of their new Critical Care time definite solutions. We delayed the release of this addition to be 100% certain that this offering was going to complement the suite of Best-in-Class services we currently provide to our customer base. If an already industry-leading average days-to-delivery of 2.96 days wasn't good enough, we just became even faster with our Critical Care offering, so, if you need a delivery made 10:00 am, next day from Austin to Boston; we can do it. Second-day before noon, from the Big Apple to the Big D; we can do it.
Over 30 years ago, Daylight Transport pioneered one of the first guarantees of on-time delivery on LTL shipments and today, as an expedited less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation and logistics company, Daylight Transport continues to be an integral part of its customers' success by delivering their products faster.
You cannot buy or sell a product if it's stuck on a train or in the middle of a break-bulk System. Every day that we deliver our customers' products faster means more selling days for them, or increasing their cash-flow by getting paid for the product faster. Speed plays a large part in solving fundamental business problems
Daylight Transport provides transit times that are two to three working days faster than many of its LTL competitors and has one of the lowest claims ratios in the industry--roughly one-third of the industry average.
Founded in 1977, Daylight Transport is a privately held expedited LTL transportation and logistics company headquartered in Long Beach, California and offers expedited LTL freight delivery and guaranteed time-definite service in addition to air freight, volume, and truckload services nationally as well as full-service warehousing and logistics services in the California market. Daylight Transport has approximately 400 employees and has been nationally recognized as Inbound Logistics' Top 100 Motor Carriers, Los Angeles Business Journal's 100 fastest-growing companies four years in a row, and one of Los Angeles Business Journal's largest privately held companies. For more information, visit www.daylighttransport.com. 1-800-468-9999.
DAYLIGHT TRANSPORT REACHES 30-YEAR MILESTONE - REINVENTS CUSTOMER SERVICE
Long Beach, CA-September 15, 2007-Daylight Transport today... announced that they had recently achieved a corporate milestone by reaching the 30-years-in-business mark and have also unveiled a new customer-centric strategy based on a new corporate mission statement. Part of reaching the milestone was recognizing the importance of their clients and prospects and as such, Daylight Transport's executive team developed a new mission statement: Learn, Innovate, Succeed, Daylight.
At a recent executive retreat, we developed a simple, clear, concise, bold and exhilarating mission statement that is understandable and extremely applicable to everyone, stated Kacey Fallert who took the reigns of Daylight Transport president in June 2007. With all of the internal excitement leading to the launch of our new mission statement and 30th anniversary, our teamwork is stronger, explains Fallert. Our employees are motivated and committed to providing the best service possiblewhich equates to our customers getting their needs fulfilled.
Daylight Transport provides transit times that are two to three working days faster than many of its LTL competitors and has one of the lowest claims ratios in the industryaveraging 0.6 percent of sales, roughly one-third of the industry average. Daylight Transport has approximately 400 employees and has been nationally recognized as Inbound Logistics' Top 100 Motor Carriers, Los Angeles Business Journal's 100 fastest-growing companies four years in a row, and one of Los Angeles Business Journal's largest privately held companies numerous times as clear testament to their superior customer service and corporate culture.
In the past 30 years Daylight Transport LLC has delivered literally hundreds of thousands of shipments cross-county. Daylight pioneered one of the first guarantees of on-time delivery on LTL shipments and today, as an expedited less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation and logistics company, Daylight Transport continues to be a big part of its customers' success in getting freight delivered safely and on-time across the United States.
Daylight Transport is a privately held expedited LTL transportation and logistics company headquartered in Long Beach, California. The company was founded in 1977 originally as an air freight company before perfecting a ground-based network that currently competes with air freight networks, offering deferred air transit times at standard truck rates. Daylight offers expedited LTL freight delivery across the U.S., and offers guaranteed time definite service in addition to air freight, volume, and truckload services nationally as well as full-service warehousing and logistics services in the California market. For more information, call us at 1-800-468-9999.
