Learn

How Iron Margin actually works.

The end-to-end engagement, the eight-step playbook behind it, and the questions that come up most. Toggle the view to fit your situation.

Better rates, better carrier mix, defended every month.

Shipping that wins deals and protects margin.

For the audience-specific version, see or .

Pillar 01: Carrier Strategy

Simple, fast, saves thousands per month.

01
Evaluate
Week 1. We pull your shipment data and analyze your full shipping operation: carriers, zones, volumes, accessorials, and costs across every channel and warehouse location.
02
Negotiate
Week 2. We send RFPs across target carriers, run revisions, and present a one-page recommendation with the top choice and alternatives.
03
Implement
Weeks 3 to 6. We coordinate carrier introductions, integration, rate configuration across your WMS and shipping platforms, and the first test pickup.
04
Optimize
Ongoing, month over month. We monitor carrier performance, audit invoices, defend against rate creep, and re-RFP when the market shifts.

The Advantage

Built for 3PLs who want a competitive edge.

Independent Negotiation, Per-Profile RFPs

We run structured RFPs against each of your carrier accounts and any customer BYO accounts you manage. Each shipper profile gets its own analysis. The result is a competitive rate program you control, with the savings staying yours to keep, share with clients, or use to win new ones.

Your Rate Program, Your Brand

We configure your rate program across your WMS and client accounts so everything runs seamlessly under your warehouse, not ours.

A Sales Advantage That Compounds

Armed with competitive rates, you walk into every sales conversation with something most 3PLs can't offer. Clients stay because the rates stay good.

How It Works

Live in 4 to 6 weeks. Compounding from there.

01
Evaluate
Week 1. We pull your shipment data and analyze your full shipping operation: carriers, zones, volumes, and costs across every client account.
02
Negotiate
Week 2. We negotiate with target carriers, run revisions against first-round offers, and present a one-page recommendation with the top choice and alternatives.
03
Implement
Weeks 3 to 6. We configure your rate program across your WMS and client accounts so everything runs seamlessly.
04
Compound
Ongoing. We help you price services, set the right markup, prep client presentations, and re-RFP carriers when the market moves. The advantage doesn't go stale.

The First Six Weeks

Six weeks to get the program live.

Then it stays live, month over month.

  1. Week 1 Discovery + RFPs go out
  2. Week 2 Recommendation presented
  3. Week 3 Carrier intro + onboarding
  4. Week 4 Test pickup
  5. Week 5 First invoices reviewed
  6. Week 6 First savings review, monthly cadence begins

The Playbook

Eight steps to run a carrier program like an operator.

The sequence we use on every engagement. Most shippers skip three of these eight and wonder why their rates slip every renewal. Run them in order. Each one sets up the leverage for the next.

Same playbook whether you ship in-house or work through a 3PL. Step 1 is where most brands fall behind.

Apply this to your own carrier accounts and any client BYO accounts you manage. Each shipper profile gets its own pass.

Step 01

Know your numbers

Build a clean picture of your shipping profile before talking to any carrier: weekly volume, weight distribution, zone mix, dimensional splits, accessorial exposure. Carriers price on distributions, not averages.

Step 02

Know your market value

Benchmark your effective cost per parcel against what comparable shippers (same zones, weight bands, volume tier) are paying today. Walk into the negotiation knowing the floor, or the carrier will know it for you.

Step 03

Negotiate across multiple carriers

Never run a single-carrier RFP. Parallel bids from UPS, FedEx, USPS, and regional carriers create leverage. Same data file, same timeline, same scoring rubric: symmetry is what makes offers comparable.

Step 04

Weigh more than price

Score every offer on four axes beyond price: customer experience, integration ease, network resiliency, volume commits. A 3% cheaper rate that breaks your SLA is a support ticket backlog with a new name.

Step 05

Commit decisively, decline gracefully

Pick a primary, pick one backup, move on. Splitting volume across carriers you don't need costs you tier discounts at every one. Stay on good terms with all carriers.

Step 06

Integrate and onboard

A signed contract is not a rate. Labels generate, tracking flows, returns route, WMS gets credentials, first pickup happens on the promised day. Onboarding is where savings become real or quietly leak.

Step 07

Monitor SLAs and invoices

Reconcile weekly: on-time performance by zone, claims, dimensional reweighs, accessorials. Dispute what doesn't match. Refund windows are 15 to 30 days, and the money is real.

Step 08

Stay ahead of the market

GRIs land every January. Fuel moves weekly. Carriers enter, consolidate, rewrite peak rules. Your contract locked in a moment; the market did not. Revisit your benchmark quarterly, re-RFP every 18 to 24 months.

Find Your Next 3PL

A structured six-week search.

Same independent posture as the carrier program, applied to finding your next 3PL. A six-week structured search for your next fulfillment partner.

Where we differ from generic 3PL match-makers: we apply your actual SKU and order data to each shortlist 3PL's handling cost AND their negotiated carrier rates. The comparison is true all-in cost per shipment, not a "cost per order" abstraction.

Quoted per engagement. Email to scope.

Qualified 3PL candidates matched to your product, geography, and channel mix.
Reference calls, software demos, FaceTime warehouse tour.
SKU and order data run against each candidate's fees and negotiated carrier rates.
Best and Final Offer round. Pressure on pricing, terms, accessorials.
Service agreement reviewed before signature. Red flags surfaced, leverage flagged.
Benji Stark Elster
Founder and CEO, Freak Athlete
See full case study →

The Ongoing Program

What we do, every month.

Savings defense
Stop carriers from clawing back what you negotiated
3PL oversight
Fit reviews, renewal redlines, vetting on prospects
Trade-off advice
Packaging, speed, claims policy, weighed live
Quarterly market re-check
New carriers, new tiers, what shifted
Markup strategy
Set and adjust margin as carrier costs shift
Sales-pitch playbook
How to price and pitch shipping to prospects
Customer rate refresh
Flag when a customer's rate sheet needs updating
Quarterly market re-check
New carriers, new tiers, what shifted

A fit at $100K+/month in shipping spend.

A fit if you're taking multiple prospect calls a month.

Bi-monthly strategy calls · Slack access · monthly performance review · four-month minimum, then month-to-month.

Reading

Recent thinking.

3PL contracts

5 Things to Look Out For Before You Sign Your 3PL Contract

The patterns that show up across most supplier-favorable 3PL drafts: blank rate cards, exit wildcards, peak storage billing, blank SLAs, and stock-hostage rights.

Read the article →

FAQ

Common questions for brands.

Rate brokers and freight aggregators make money by marking up carrier rates and taking a cut of every shipment you send. We charge a flat engagement fee. The carrier contract is yours, the rate is yours, and the savings stay yours. We get paid for the work, not for sitting in the middle of your invoices.
Monthly retainer, scoped on the evaluation call. The fee is always a fraction of the savings we surface, so you always net positive. We walk through the specifics once we have your data.
No. We negotiate better rates with your existing carriers first. If a new carrier offers meaningfully better pricing, we'll flag it, but you always decide.
You do. We negotiate on your behalf, but the contracts are between you and the carrier. No Iron Margin in the middle, no third-party billing layer, no hidden markup.
Once the new carrier is onboarded, the program stays live. Monthly invoice audits, SLA enforcement, renegotiation when carriers try to claw back, and re-RFPs when the market shifts. Plus commercial support tailored to your side of the table: 3PL selection and contract review if you're a brand, pricing strategy and client presentations if you're a 3PL. The work doesn't end at week six. That's where it starts compounding.
Self-serve apps advertise headline discounts that look great (often 70% off retail), but those are still retail rates with platform margin baked in. At meaningful volume you can negotiate directly with the carriers and get materially better pricing than any aggregator pass-through.
Yes. We can help whether you ship in-house or work with a 3PL. The negotiation work is the same; the integration step changes depending on who's running the labels.
Our fee is always a fraction of the monthly savings we actually surface, so you always net positive. If there are no savings, there's no fee. The math only works in your direction.
An export of your last 90 days of shipping. Each row needs at minimum: origin zip, destination zip, weight, dimensions, carrier, service type, and cost. Format varies by WMS (ShipStation, EasyPost, Shopify, Shiphero, Extensiv exports all work). We'll guide you through the export on the intro call.
Yes. Your shipping data, carrier contracts, and operational details stay confidential. Standard NDA on request before you share anything.

FAQ

Common questions for 3PLs.

Rate brokers and freight aggregators make money by marking up carrier rates and taking a cut of every shipment you send. We charge a flat engagement fee. The carrier contract is yours, the rate is yours, and the savings stay yours. We get paid for the work, not for sitting in the middle of your invoices.
Monthly retainer, scoped on the evaluation call. The fee is always a fraction of the savings we surface, so you always net positive. We walk through the specifics once we have your data.
No. We negotiate better rates with your existing carriers first. If a new carrier offers meaningfully better pricing, we'll flag it, but you always decide.
You do. We negotiate on your behalf, but the contracts are between you and the carrier. No Iron Margin in the middle, no third-party billing layer, no hidden markup.
Once the new carrier is onboarded, the program stays live. Monthly invoice audits, SLA enforcement, renegotiation when carriers try to claw back, and re-RFPs when the market shifts. Plus commercial support tailored to your side of the table: 3PL selection and contract review if you're a brand, pricing strategy and client presentations if you're a 3PL. The work doesn't end at week six. That's where it starts compounding.
Most 3PLs are live with the new rate program within 4 to 6 weeks of kickoff, depending on how many client accounts need configuration in your WMS. From there, we keep the program tuned month over month.
Our fee is always a fraction of the monthly savings we actually surface, so you always net positive. If there are no savings, there's no fee. The math only works in your direction.
An export of your last 90 days of shipping. Each row needs at minimum: origin zip, destination zip, weight, dimensions, carrier, service type, and cost. Format varies by WMS (ShipStation, EasyPost, Shopify, Shiphero, Extensiv exports all work). We'll guide you through the export on the intro call.
Yes. Your shipping data, carrier contracts, and operational details stay confidential. Standard NDA on request before you share anything.

Talk to your outsourced VP of Transportation.

Start with a 30-minute intro call. We learn your setup, prepare a complimentary shipping evaluation, and walk you through your savings potential on a follow-up call.

30-minute intro call. No commitment. Get Your Free Evaluation