Retail & Consumer Brand Freight, On the Retailer's Terms
The retailer sets the window. Miss it and it's a chargeback.
Routing guides, tight delivery appointments, and a scorecard that turns one late truck into a deduction.
Your freight gets scored the moment it reaches the DC
Big retailers hand you a routing guide and a delivery appointment, then keep score. Show up outside the window, use the wrong carrier, or land short, and the deduction shows up on your next check. The freight arrived late and the penalty is yours.
A launch or a promo raises the stakes. That first shipment to the DC can't slip, because the shelf date doesn't move and the buyer remembers who missed it.
Freight we move for retail brands
- Pallets and cases into retail DCs
- Store-level and cross-dock deliveries
- E-commerce and fulfillment replenishment
- Launch and promotional shipments that can't slip
You hear about a missed window before the retailer does
A slipping ETA you learn about at 6am is a rebooked appointment. The same truck found after the dock closed is a chargeback. That gap is the reason the Worry-Free Standard exists.
Across all shipments, updated quarterly, 98.5% of pickups and 98.6% of deliveries land on time. Every load carries the same standard: Last updated 06/30/2026
- Multiple ETA updates on every load, every day.
- Your driver on the phone, multiple times a day.
- Live GPS on every truckload, so you watch it move in real time.
- A real person reachable 24/7, nights and weekends included.
- If a load runs late, you hear it from us first, with a plan to fix it.
Booked to the routing guide, watched to the appointment
Give us the routing guide and we work to it. The carrier is chosen because it meets the retailer's rules, the delivery appointment gets booked and confirmed, and the load gets watched to the door, so a missed window turns into a phone call instead of a surprise deduction.
When volume climbs for a season or a promotion, the plan flexes with it, up to and including an expedite when a launch shipment can't wait on standard transit.
- Carriers chosen to meet the retailer's routing-guide rules
- Delivery appointments booked, confirmed, and watched to the door
- An early call on any load at risk, while you can still save the window
- Seasonal and promotional surges planned before they hit
- Expedite when a launch or replenishment can't slip
What changed for one consumer brand
A fast-growing consumer brand came to Fello with late deliveries and a freight setup where getting a straight update meant chasing it. We put one point of contact on the account, started flagging problems before they landed, and added weekly recap and forecasting calls. The brand didn't share exact numbers, but the firefighting eased and the delivery rhythm steadied. Read the case study.
"Working with Fello feels less like dealing with a broker and more like having a logistics partner who has our best interest in mind. They're proactive, transparent, and they've taken a huge weight off our team's shoulders. We don't have to chase trucks or beg for updates anymore, it's just handled."
The services your retail freight runs on
Most retail freight rides LTL or partial. All of it rides watched.
How it moves
- Less-than-truckload: cases and pallets into the DC without paying for a full trailer.
- Partial truckload: the in-between size, priced for what it actually is.
- Expedited: when a launch or a stockout can't wait on standard transit.
Where it stages
- Warehousing: inventory held closer to the retailer, ready to replenish.
- Staging and replenishment planned so product reaches the shelf on the date it's promised.
Tell us who you ship to
Name your toughest retailer and your tightest appointment. You'll hear exactly how we'd keep it off the chargeback report.