The Auto Tender feature in ShipperGuide streamlines the tendering process by automatically selecting the most cost-effective primary rate for your shipments. Now you have two tender types—Anchor Tender and Fallback Tender—to provide greater flexibility and control in complex shipping scenarios. And by configuring the Guardrail effectively and understanding the roles of each tender type, you can optimize your logistics operations and improve your supply chain performance.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the new Auto Tender features and a step-by-step to activate it through the following sections:

1. Types of Auto Tender
2. Understanding the Guardrail
3. Activating Auto Tendering
4. Managing Unsuccessful Auto Tenders

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Types of Auto Tender

Anchor Tender

The Anchor Tender is the initial tender sent for a shipment, either manually or automatically by the Auto Tender tool. It sets the benchmark for subsequent Fallback Tenders. 

Rules for Anchor Tender

• Primary Contracted Rate: If a primary contracted rate is available, the tender will be sent to the lowest of these rates.
• In-Network Rates: If there is no primary contracted rate, the tender will go to the lowest available rate from "in-network" carriers that comply with the Guardrail (details below).
• Unsuccessful Completion: If neither scenario is possible, the Auto Tender process will be marked as unsuccessful, requiring manual intervention.

Fallback Tender

Fallback Tenders are any tenders sent after the initial Anchor Tender. They can only be triggered if there has been an Anchor Tender sent, whether manually or automatically.

That’s why the option to activate the fallback tender is not available if the anchor tender is activated as shown below:

Rules for Fallback Tender

• Fallback Tenders will reference the rate from the Anchor Tender as their baseline (Guardrail).
• They will consider all available rates from "in-network" carriers, including contracted and spot rates.
• If no rates comply with the Guardrail, the Auto Tender process will again be marked as unsuccessful.

Understanding the Guardrail

The Guardrail is a parameter set at the shipper level to prevent the Auto Tender from selecting rates that exceed a specified threshold with a value higher than the guardrail.

Guardrail Components

1. Baseline

• For Anchor Tenders, the baseline will use the Target Rate.
• For Fallback Tenders, the baseline is the rate of the first tendered shipment.

2. Buffer

• This is an additional percentage that can be added to the baseline to accommodate market volatility. A higher buffer increases the likelihood of successful automation.

How Guardrail Works

• For Anchor Tender: If a primary contracted rate exists, the Guardrail is not considered. If not, the baseline is the Target Rate, with the buffer applied.
• For Fallback Tender: Uses the first tendered rate as its baseline and applies the buffer (if there is any) on top of this value for the next tenders

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Activating Auto Tendering

1. Navigate to Shipments.

2. Click on Auto Tender Rules.

3. Then select the auto tender type according to your operation

4. And also set the rate guardrail and the response deadline for carriers to respond to the tender.

5. Don’t forget to save the changes by clicking .

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Managing Unsuccessful Auto Tenders

There are several scenarios where the Auto Tender may finish without successfully booking a shipment:

• Canceled Tender: If a user cancels a tender while waiting for a carrier's response, the process will end as "completed unsuccessfully."
• No Available Rates
  • No primary contracted rate exists.
  • No "in-network" carrier rates are below the Guardrail.
  • Spot rates are unavailable or only from "out-of-network" or "onboarding" carriers.

For further assistance, feel free to reach out to our support team.