Transportation costs continue to climb, carrier capacities are tightening, and consumers expect faster, more affordable delivery. Parcel shipping has entered a new era, and shippers are feeling the shift.

Today, major national carriers like UPS, FedEx, and USPS face unmatched parcel volumes and increasing operational pressures, pushing them to adjust rates and introduce new surcharges. This has made it clear that reliance on a few major carriers is no longer sustainable, leaving shippers vulnerable to delays, rising costs, and service fluctuations. Greater flexibility is no longer optional; it’s required for cost control and operational resilience.

That is where alternative carriers can fill the gap. These alternative networks offer strengths that national players can’t always match, such as more competitive pricing, faster shipping in regional areas, and greater adaptability to disruptions or increased demand during peak seasons. For businesses looking to mitigate risk, build resilience, and improve delivery services, diversifying their transportation network with alternative carriers is quickly becoming a baseline requirement for modern parcel strategy.

At the same time, it’s important to note that adding new carriers shouldn’t create additional challenges. With the right multi-carrier shipping software (MCSS), businesses can take advantage of alternative carriers without complicating their existing operations. Advanced MCSS solutions provide seamless integration, automation, and the scalability needed for shippers to support a diversified carrier mix, helping them achieve lower costs, more efficient shipping, and an overall better customer experience.

Keep reading to learn how the powerful combination of alternative carriers and advanced multi-carrier shipping solutions creates measurable transportation value.

Why Alternative Carriers Like Tusk, and Why Now?

The shift toward adopting alternative carriers isn’t a trend; it’s a structural change in how modern shippers build their parcel networks. According to the recent 2025 ProShip Report, 26% of high-volume shippers are focusing on adding alternative carriers to their transportation mix. Alternative networks like Tusk Logistics can offer both a smarter and more agile way to keep parcels moving, among several other benefits:

Significant Cost Savings in Key Delivery Zones: Compared to large national players, alternative carriers typically offer more competitive pricing. Because they operate in smaller geographic areas, their overhead costs are lower than those of national carriers. Tusk focuses on cost-efficiency by partnering with top-tier regional carriers and enabling clear, data-backed rate comparisons. This allows shippers to increase efficiency in localized areas without the higher accessorials or surcharges typically found with national networks.

Faster Delivery Where It Matters Most: While national carriers cover more ground, regional carriers specialize in dense, high-volume metro areas. Tusk’s network delivers faster delivery times within specific regions while offering more specialized and customized services. These carriers are often more adaptable and less constrained during periods of increased volume like peak season, helping shippers maintain capacity and keep deliveries moving without disruption.

Stronger, More Personalized Customer Support: National carriers typically have larger budgets to invest in standardized tools and large support infrastructures. However, scale doesn’t always translate to responsiveness. The responsiveness of support from national carriers can vary widely, leaving smaller brands waiting long periods or struggling to reach a real person. Due to their smaller scale, regional carriers typically offer more direct and timely support, making it easier for shippers to resolve issues. Tusk provides high-touch, proactive customer support to ensure concerns are addressed and packages are delivered as promised.

A High-Quality Network Without Managing Multiple Carriers: Managing several individual carrier relationships can be resource-intensive. However, many alternative carriers provide the ability to leverage strong regional and specialized networks without this additional work. By partnering with Tusk, shippers gain access to a curated network of leading regional carriers, and Tusk takes care of managing those relationships for you. This eliminates the hassle of juggling multiple relationships while empowering businesses with the benefits of a diversified network at the same time.

The Gap Between Carrier Potential and Operational Reality

In the era of modern logistics, carrier diversification has proven a variety of powerful advantages. However, many businesses are still overwhelmed with the reality of managing multiple carriers. Each carrier brings unique requirements — integrations, label specifications, compliance standards — placing additional strain on already stretched IT teams. This can turn companies away from adopting new carriers, even when the benefits are clear. The missing piece is the right MCSS technology to centralize and streamline additional carrier connections.

Removing the Diversification Roadblock with MCSS

Adding new carriers shouldn’t increase operational complexity. It requires the right tech solution to simplify, streamline, automate, and sustain a diversified transportation strategy. Multi-carrier shipping platforms like ProShip provide the infrastructure needed to centralize carrier connections like Tusk into a single, unified platform while supporting a long-term diversification strategy. Backed by decades of enterprise shipping experience, ProShip helps shippers manage complex environments while enabling shipper choice through flexible, scalable carrier control.

ProShip offers several benefits, including:

• Automated Rate Shopping to Optimize Your Carrier Mix: ProShip offers several types of rate shopping, including Basic, Time-in-Transit, and Advanced Date Shopping, to help shippers compare rates and transit times across carriers and their services. Working in real time, this enables businesses to automatically select the most cost-effective and best-fit option for every shipment while maintaining complete control over parcel logistics. Alternative carriers like Tusk can greatly benefit from this tool, as their competitive rates and narrower geographic focus are clearly shown in rate shopping comparisons, allowing their services to be selected where they deliver the highest value.
• Unified Labels, Compliance, and Tracking: Each carrier comes with unique requirements for documentation, labeling, and tracking, which can be challenging for shippers to manage all at once. ProShip simplifies this by centralizing carrier-specific rules and data within a single, configurable platform. With advanced customization capabilities and tailored workflows, ProShip ensures that each shipment meets the standards of the selected carrier without manual intervention. When shippers integrate Tusk with their ProShip software, its labels, tracking, and other requirements fit easily into existing processes. This creates flexible, shipper-controlled workflows that adapt to your strategy.
• Built-In Agility for Evolving Carrier Strategies: ProShip is designed to simplify even the most complex multi-carrier environments by standardizing workflows and eliminating operational friction. This built-in agility allows businesses to scale with confidence, whether onboarding new carriers, expanding delivery into new regions, or making adjustments in response to market shifts. As Tusk expands its network and offerings, shippers who utilize Tusk through ProShip can leverage these changes without reworking their existing systems. Whether it’s an alternative carrier network like Tusk, a regional carrier, or a national carrier, ProShip provides a reliable, long-term foundation that scales with you.

Building a Smarter Carrier Mix Made Simple

Amid rising costs, fluctuating capacity, and growing customer expectations, relying on a limited carrier strategy is increasingly risky. Diversification is both a competitive advantage and a necessity. By offering meaningful gains in cost control, delivery speed in specific regions, and performance reliability, alternative carriers like Tusk Logistics are positioned to play a growing role in the transportation ecosystem. The real advantage comes when shippers can integrate these carriers without adding operational complexity.

The ProShip and Tusk Logistics partnership enables faster delivery, more cost-effective shipping, and an improved customer experience while keeping parcel shipping simple, scalable, and reliable.

Ready to learn more about how you can get the most value from your alternative carriers? Contact ProShip’s team of Parcel Experts to discover how their leading technology can help you revolutionize your carrier strategy.