If you’ve been in supply chain for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed how many people have an alphabet soup of letters after their names: CLTL, CSCP, CPIM, CLTD, CSSBB, and more. Certifications are everywhere. But here’s the thing: not all of them make a real difference.
There are over a million credentials out there in the U.S. alone, yet research shows only about 12%* lead to meaningful pay increases. That means most professionals are spending time and money on credentials that don’t move the needle. The real question isn’t “Should I get certified?” it’s “Which certification is actually worth it?”

In our recent LTL 203 Session 3 “Reduce Invoice Surprises” discussion with Karl Manrodt, CLTL Instructor, and Scooter Sayers, director business development at Cubiscan, we unpacked the practical reasons these surprises persist—and, more importantly, how to eliminate them. Today’s post distills that conversation into four action‑oriented lessons you can apply before your next shipment leaves the dock.

Back when I managed my first dock, I assumed every piece of freight rolling through the doors would look like a glamour shot in a packaging catalog. Then the forklift dropped off a single tractor tire—no pallet, no wrap, just attitude—and my pricing world tilted. That experience is exactly why Karl Manrodt (Professor of Logistics, Georgia […]

If you’re new to the world of less-than-truckload (LTL), it can feel like pricing is a mysterious alchemy—half data science, half wizardry. I’ve been there. Early in my career, I knew my products and customers, but the rules behind what made freight cost what it did? That was a black box. To kickoff Summer LTL Hybrid series focused on SMC³’s LTL 203 Freight Pricing course, Kevin, Karl, and I broke that box open. Here are three insights that will help any early-career logistics professional gain confidence and clarity in navigating LTL pricing.

Joe Tillman, Manager of Education Programs at SMC³, created the Supply Chain Education series to educate leaders on how to develop and promote emerging LTL professionals.

The freight costing model solution Cost Intelligence System gives carriers the keys to achieve their goals, but with the use of dimensioners and the introduction of volumetric data into the carrier’s system, this tool can provide even more benefits to each user. Unlike optimization and cost-averaging systems, the SMC³ solution shows carriers their true costs – not an estimate.