Nobody should be onboarding a new carrier in November. Peak is about execution, and ops teams have enough on their plate.

But peak isn't dead time for carrier strategy. It's the best window of the year to do the work that makes Q1 go smoothly. The shippers who diversify successfully in January are the ones who did their homework in October and November, with contracts signed and integrations scoped before the last holiday parcel ships. Here's how to use the next few months.

‍

Start with your own data

Before you talk to a single carrier, pull your shipping profile. Look at volume by destination zone, package dimensions and weights, and the lanes where your current carriers miss on transit time or cost. Your problem lanes tell you where an alternative carrier could make the biggest difference. Without that, every carrier conversation turns into a generic pitch.

‍

Research carriers by what they're actually good at

Alternative carriers are not interchangeable. Some are built for dense metro delivery. Some cover specific regional corridors. Some specialize in heavier parcels, high-value goods, or medical shipments. Match the carrier's strengths to your volume, not the other way around.

Then ask for performance data, not promises. In our 2026 Alternative Carrier Benchmark Report, 56% of shippers said proven reliability data would make them more likely to adopt alternative carriers, and 57% named faster or comparable transit times as their top requirement beyond cost. Those are the right questions. Ask every carrier for on-time performance and transit data in the zones you care about.

‍

Check facility proximity

Where a carrier's hubs sit relative to your warehouses matters as much as its coverage map. A carrier with a sort facility near your fulfillment center can pick up later, inject faster, and hit tighter transit windows. A carrier whose nearest facility is two hours away may look fine on paper and struggle in practice. Map it before you commit.

‍

Negotiate now, while you have leverage

This is the step most shippers miss. Carriers are planning their own volume for next year right now, and a signed commitment in Q4 is worth something to them. That gives you room to negotiate more than a base rate. Push for caps on general rate increases and fuel surcharges for the coming year.

Know your walk-away number going in. FedEx and UPS general rate increases have run 5 to 8% annually in recent years, and cumulative increases since 2020 likely approach the 11 to 15% range. That's the threshold where 58% of shippers in our survey said they'd start routing volume to alternatives.

‍

Line up your go-live for December 26

The goal is to hit the ground running the day after peak ends. That means integration scoped, test volume identified, and success metrics agreed on before the holidays. It also means having your plan ready for Q1 budget conversations, so diversification gets funded instead of living as a side project.

Start small. Route a slice of volume in one or two zones where the carrier is strongest, track performance at the hub level, and expand from there.

‍

Where Tusk fits

Doing this carrier by carrier is a lot of work. Tusk vets alternative carriers, tracks their performance across tens of thousands of parcels, and gives shippers access to the whole network through a single integration with centralized tracking and claims. You get the data to make the call and the infrastructure to act on it.

Planning your 2027 carrier mix? Talk to Tusk before peak hits.