Routing Guide Failures Top 6%: How Shippers Should Rebuild Their Truckload Backup Plan
Tender rejections are climbing again and long hauls are failing most. Here is how to rebuild a routing guide that holds up through year-end.
In this report 8 sections
A routing guide failure happens when every carrier in your guide declines a load and it drops to the spot market. Rates are back above 6% in recent weeks, and long hauls fail most. To fix it, add depth on long lanes, review acceptance weekly, and make your freight easier for carriers to say yes to.
This guide is for shippers, transportation managers, and ecommerce operators who tender truckload freight under contract. Laneage covers freight markets for shippers, and this walkthrough turns the October 2026 data into steps you can take before the holiday surge.
What Do the October 2026 Numbers Show?
The numbers show a market that is stable but fragile. C.H. Robinson's October North America truckload report says routing guide failures peaked at 7.5% over the July 4th period, fell to nearly 5%, then rose above 6% in recent weeks. It says failure rates remain significantly higher than in prior years.
The report scores route guide performance on a scale where 1.0 is perfect and 2.0 is extremely poor. The August average was 1.35 across all North America shipments, better than the prior two months. Hauls under 400 miles averaged 1.25, while hauls over 600 miles averaged 1.51.
The takeaway is simple. Short hauls are mostly fine. Long hauls are where backup plans get tested, and they are the loads that cost the most when they fall to spot.
Regional patterns matter too. The report says the South improved to a score of 1.33 from 1.43 the prior month, while flatbed capacity in the Northeast stays constrained through October. A national average hides these differences, so check your own lanes by origin and destination region before you decide where to spend effort.
Why Are Carriers Rejecting More Tenders?
Carriers are rejecting tenders because their costs are rising faster than many contracts. The same report says diesel tops $8 a gallon in parts of the West, and carriers say fuel surcharges do not cover idle time, extended routing, weather, or temperature-controlled needs. Deadhead miles are eroding profitability.
Labor adds pressure. The report says recruiting and retention are the top challenge for carriers, that pay increases and referral bonuses are becoming necessary, and that federal enforcement on commercial driver's licenses, visas, and English proficiency is expected to shrink the driver pool further. Fleet growth is limited as well.
Put those together and you get a carrier who can pick and choose. That carrier says yes to freight that is dependable and profitable, and no to everything else. Our earlier look at record diesel prices and fuel surcharges covers the cost side in more detail.
How Do You Audit Your Current Routing Guide?
Audit the guide with your own tender data, not with a general market number. Pull the last 90 days of tenders and measure acceptance at each position in the guide, by lane. Most shippers find that a few lanes cause most of the failures.
Work through this short list of checks:
- Rank lanes by the share of loads that fell past the first carrier.
- Mark any lane where more than 10% of loads reached the spot market.
- Check acceptance by day of week, since some days of the week may fail far more often than others.
- Look at dwell time at your dock, because carriers remember slow facilities.
- Compare your contract rate on each failing lane against recent spot quotes.
Be honest about what you find. If a lane fails because the rate is too low, no routing guide design will fix it. If it fails because your dock keeps drivers waiting four hours, the rate is only part of the story.
One more input is worth pulling: the reason codes carriers give when they decline. Many transportation systems capture them. If most declines cite equipment or timing, you have a scheduling problem. If most cite rate, you have a pricing problem. The fix differs, and guessing wrong wastes a quarter.
What Should a Rebuilt Routing Guide Look Like?
A rebuilt guide has more depth on long lanes, clearer rules, and a priced spot option. Think of it as three layers: primary carriers on contract, backup carriers with lighter commitments, and a pre-approved spot source for when both decline.
On lanes over 600 miles, add at least two backup carriers. Share your forecast with them, even if the volume is small. Carriers answer a call from a shipper who has given them notice more readily than a cold tender at 4 p.m.
| Layer | Who belongs here | How to manage it |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Two or three contract carriers with proven acceptance | Weekly scorecard and clear volume commitments |
| Backup | Two or more carriers on long hauls | Shared forecast and agreed rates |
| Spot | Brokers or marketplaces with pre-set terms | Price cap and approval rules |
Our guide on how to negotiate freight rates explains how to trade volume certainty for acceptance commitments. A rate that comes with a promise to take a set share of loads is worth more than a rate that carries no obligation.
How Can You Make Your Freight More Attractive?
You make freight attractive by making it easy and predictable. The report notes that carriers are prioritizing dedicated, repeatable, high-quality freight over inefficient freight. That is a clue about where to spend effort.
Start at the dock. Offer appointment windows that fit driver hours, load trucks within two hours of arrival, and release drivers quickly. Then look at your tender timing. Tendering with more lead time gives carriers room to plan, which is usually better than tendering the same morning.
Consistency also helps. If a lane runs five days a week at the same time, a carrier can plan a route around it. Random one-off loads are the first ones a carrier turns down when trucks are scarce.
It also pays to talk to carriers directly. Laneage's editors find that a short quarterly review with each primary carrier, covering lanes, volume, and pain points, does more for acceptance than another round of rate bidding. Carriers who feel heard tend to protect capacity for the shippers who treat them as partners.
Where Do LTL and Intermodal Fit In?
LTL and intermodal can take pressure off a failing truckload guide. C.H. Robinson's October freight market update reports that freight continues to move from truckload to less-than-truckload, and that intermodal demand is rising as shippers look for diversified long-haul options.
If your loads are partial, a switch may save money and improve acceptance at the same time. Our piece on the shift from truckload to LTL shows which pallet counts work best. For longer lanes with flexible delivery, see our take on intermodal bid strategy for 2027.
Neither mode fits every product. Fragile goods, tight delivery windows, and high-value freight often stay on truck. But moving even 10% of volume off a failing lane can lift acceptance on the rest.
Technology can help, but only if the data is clean. A transportation management system that logs every tender, decline, and accept gives you the history to make decisions. If you still tender by email, start by moving the log to a shared sheet. A simple record of who said yes, who said no, and why is the foundation for every other step in this guide.
How Should You Budget for the Rest of the Year?
Budget on total cost, not linehaul alone. The report advises shippers to watch the growing effect of fuel on total transportation spend. Flatbed is a good example: linehaul rates are down modestly since mid-August, but all-in rates rose about 5% over the same period because of diesel.
The same report forecasts spot cost per mile up 30% for dry van in 2026 and 10% in 2027. Contract rates face continued pressure as carriers win meaningful increases. A budget that assumes flat rates in the first quarter is likely to miss.
Build a spot reserve into your plan. If 5% of loads fall to spot at a premium of 20%, you can estimate the cost and set aside the funds. Surprises are worse than known costs.
Finally, set a trigger for escalation. If acceptance on a lane drops below a number you pick, such as 85%, the transportation lead should call the carriers, review rates, and decide on a fix within a week. A written trigger turns a slow drift into a clear decision, and it keeps one bad lane from quietly becoming a pattern.
Conclusion
Routing guide failures above 6% are a warning, not a crisis. Most shippers can improve acceptance by adding backup depth on long lanes, fixing dock habits, and tendering earlier. The shippers who feel the least pain this winter will be the ones who made carriers want their freight.
Your next step is to pull 90 days of tender data and rank your worst lanes. Fix the top three before the holiday volume arrives. Laneage will keep tracking truckload conditions as the year closes.
