Twenty years managing a Midwest fleet of forty trucks has taught me to read every line on a freight invoice. Nippon Express wasn’t the cheapest on paper for our electronics lanes, but their ocean LCL consolidation knocked down port handling and drayage enough that the landed cost per unit actually improved. What made me happy was the predictable final bill - no surprise brokerage surcharges showed up after delivery. Their fuel surcharge was steady and applied the way they quoted it; that consistency beat a slightly lower bid that ballooned with hidden fees. Worth it.
Jennie Crona
Member since January 2026
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95 reviews · average 3.6
Bottom line: Redwood's services cost more than they saved us most months. Their managed transportation and RedwoodConnect actually cut admin headaches, but per-move fees and setup/integration charges bled into every quote so the net savings were thin. I run about 40 trucks and have been at this for twenty years, so I care about cents-per-mile - once in a while the tech plus a helpful rep pulled a win out of a tough lane, and that felt real. Yet too many months we saw rate swings, surcharge surprises, or minimums that erased those gains. If your lanes are steady and you can stomach the sticker, it's defensible; for tight-margin regional work I couldn't justify the price.
Their support team stays on the phone until the problem's solved, which is rare in this business. Last month a heavy-haul pickup slid into the evening and my dispatcher couldn't lock a driver; our ALC rep stayed two hours, lined up an alternate carrier and even handled the extra paperwork so the customer didn't miss their window. I've managed a 40-truck fleet for 20 years, so I notice when someone actually follows through instead of just promising. My only gripe is that billing and POD emails can take a day or two longer than I'd like and sometimes need a prodding call. Good people on the front line - if the back office sped up a bit this would be a five-star partner.
I've used the ArcBest mobile app for three years. Most of the time it craps out when you need real-time tracking - location pings lag by 30–60 minutes and manifests won't upload, so drivers sit waiting while I chase confirmations. With twenty years in the business and a 40-truck fleet, that delay turned into two missed pickups last quarter, a $1,200 chargeback, and an afternoon of rerouting that ate driver pay and patience. The app also logs you out randomly and the photo upload feature fails half the time; support asks for logs but the logs are gone because the app crashed - no resolution. If you're counting on a phone to coordinate day-to-day moves, this version makes that harder, not easier, and it cost us hard-earned credibility with a customer we've been growing for years.
…but their support team actually surprised me at times. I've been running a 40-truck fleet out of the Midwest for twenty years, so clear, quick communication matters to me; when a customs snafu hit at the Detroit crossing last quarter, an account rep stayed on the phone and hustled paperwork until the load moved - that was legit. Still, that level of ownership isn't consistent; some issues get handed off three times and then vanish, which cost us a late delivery and an avoidable detention charge. I'm torn - pockets of solid, attentive help mixed with maddening lapses. Three stars: they can do good work, they just need to be more consistent on the customer-service side.
Bottom line: getting started with Ruan was slower and messier than I hoped, so I'm genuinely torn. Paperwork and contracting dragged on - route assignments, insurance details and accessorial charges took almost a month to nail down. We run 40 trucks across the Midwest and after 20 years in the business, the extra hoops for driver orientation and EDI setup felt excessive. Once live, their drivers and local reps were solid and the safety focus showed, which softened the sting. I'll call it a 3/5: worth pushing through if you have the bandwidth, but don't expect a plug-and-play switch.
What stood out was their on-call dispatcher who literally stayed on the phone until a temperature alarm on a refrigerated load was resolved. We had a load of tomatoes headed to Indianapolis that tripped at 2 a.m., and she routed a nearby partner carrier for a quick unit swap while sending time-stamped temp reports every 15 minutes. I've run a forty-truck fleet in the Midwest for twenty years, so I don't hand out praise lightly, but that level of persistence saved the load and kept our customer calm. Paperwork and billing were tidy afterward, and the follow-up email with the full temperature log closed the loop.
I've used the Capstone mobile app for eight months. Most days it drops out in rural areas, loses status updates, and forces drivers to call dispatch - last week a missed check-in cost us a $450 detention fee. With a 40-truck operation here in the Midwest and twenty years in fleet management, I depend on an app that saves changes offline; this one doesn't, so every temporary cell hiccup becomes a paperwork nightmare. The interface is clunky, buttons mis-tap, and signature capture freezes often enough to create backups at docks. We've lost time, reassigned loads, and my drivers are done with the extra work; it's been more trouble than it's worth.
Last month we needed a same-day dray to get inventory to a fulfillment center after a supplier delay and time was disappearing fast. Forward Air came through - trucks showed up exactly inside the two-hour window they promised, which is rare in my experience. I’ve run forty trucks out of the Midwest for twenty years, so I don’t hand out praise lightly; their ETA accuracy cut down the driver reshuffles and detention headaches. The real thing that made me happy was the live scan updates - seeing a trailer hit the gate let me reassign drivers without a bunch of frantic phone calls. Not perfect (a paperwork mix-up cost us one extra hour), but they delivered when it mattered, so they stay on our preferred carrier list.
Bottom line: PSA BDP turned what should have been a three-day detention into a same-night release. A tanker of industrial solvents was held at the terminal because an old EPA form wasn't attached; the driver sat idle and I watched the detention clock climb. Their customs broker - not a templated email but the actual person on the phone - stayed on the line, pulled the exact citation CBP needed, uploaded the corrected document through their portal at 10:30 p.m., and got the gate clearance before midnight. I've managed a 40-truck fleet for 20 years and I've seen every 'fix' that smells like borrowed time; this was honest, fast work that saved us a week of charges. They earned the next tender on that lane - when something goes sideways, you want someone who answers and actually moves the load.
Bottom line: Flexport's real-time ETA updates are the single change that finally stopped us chasing shipments all day. Before Flexport we relied on phone chains and emailed PDFs; ETAs were guesses and surprises were routine. With 40 trucks and rotating drivers, fewer surprises matter - Flexport's alerts flagged a Chicago berth delay last month, we rerouted two trucks and dodged detention charges. The chat and document features kept dispatch, loading docks and customs all looking at the same info, which cut down frantic phone calls. Not flawless - some customs paperwork still needs a hands-on person - but compared with our old broker it's night and day for daily operations.
The tracking actually worked most days. The Werner Logistics platform gave me real-time location that my old regional broker never did, which was genuinely helpful when juggling 40 trucks across the Midwest and trying to promise ETAs to customers. But while the tech was a step up, getting a live person to pull teeth when a load went sideways felt worse than what we had before; my last provider would pick up the phone and reroute a trailer in an hour, with Werner it sometimes took half a day and a ticket number. That delay matters. So I'm torn - billing and visibility were improved, but the human element and ad-hoc solutions that kept my drivers moving are missing enough that I can't give them a strong thumbs up.