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In a freight brokerage, someone keys every emailed load tender, the shipper's request to move a load, into the transportation system, the software that runs your loads, by hand. Someone else spends the day chasing the pickups that did not happen.
Take a brokerage of about 250 people where six dispatchers spend 40% of their week calling carriers about missed pickups and late loads (our assumptions): close to $196,000 a year at what a dispatcher costs with benefits, and a pickup nobody confirms can mean a second truck.
At the largest broker to report on it, agents now take most of that chase, by the company's own account:2
C.H. Robinson's Agents Chase Missed Pickups
Less-than-truckload freight, loads that share a truck with other shippers' freight, is a coordination problem: one truck can carry freight from up to 20 shippers.2 At C.H. Robinson, by the company's account, "teams of people spent over half the day chasing missed pickups", checking carrier websites, calling, recording updates, and notifying customers.
When nobody could establish the status, the load was tendered again and another truck was sent.2 Two agents now do the chasing. One calls the carrier; the other "decides what steps to take", and together they handle "100 calls and 100 decisions simultaneously".
On tenders, the company reports that its agent now takes 90 seconds, turning emails into 5,500 shipment orders a day, where keying one load took a person about seven minutes.1
A brokerage or a third-party logistics provider (3PL), a company that stores and ships goods for others, of a few hundred people can copy the shape of these jobs; the build behind them is C.H. Robinson's own, and it runs more than 30 agents.3
Agents That Call Carriers Need a Rule for When Not To
A call is cheap for the company that places it and costly for the person who answers it, and carriers block the numbers. So the agents we build for carrier calls work by written stop rules:
| They may | They never |
|---|---|
| Message the carrier when tracking cannot place a pickup, approved by a dispatcher at first | Contact a carrier when tracking already shows where the load is |
| Follow up on the same load | Go past the cap per load per day your rules set |
| Update the load and tell the dispatcher what changed | Contact anyone at night |
If missed pickups are where your dispatchers' week goes, the logistics playbook shows where agents take over freight paperwork and calls first.
What Our Agents Do on a Missed Pickup
The agents we build for a brokerage are built around your systems. On autopilot, they watch every pickup due today in your transportation system, draft the message to the carrier when tracking cannot place one, read the reply and update the load, and hand the dispatcher the loads that need a decision. At first, a dispatcher approves every message before it goes.
The build begins with whoever does the work today, step by step. Within two weeks of access a first version runs on your own loads, and the dispatchers who own them are trained to check it.
Every run writes a log line, with what the agents read and how many loads they checked, so "found nothing" is an answer rather than a silence. Every message they send and every load they change is logged too.
Each week you see the hours saved against the minutes your dispatchers spent before, and the errors avoided, such as a pickup marked missed that had happened, or a second truck sent for freight already moving.
Count the reviewer's minutes next to the hours saved, or the agents will look cheaper than they are. Put your own desk in: the calculator opens on the example, six dispatchers at 40% of their week, with the agents taking 60% of the chasing (our assumption) and the dispatchers' approvals and decisions in the 40% left.
Missed Pickup Check Calls ROI Calculator
What Chasing Missed Pickups Costs You, And What An Agent Saves
Saved Per Year
$109,392
2,995 hours handed back, after $8,400 a year to run it
- Hours Handed Back
- 2,995 hours a year
- Agent Running Cost (Estimate)
- $700 a month
- Payback Per $10,000 Of Build
- 1.1 months
On these numbers, the agent saves $109,392 a year after its own running cost, and every $10,000 of the build is earned back in 1.1 months.
On the example, the chasing falls from $196,320 to $86,928 a year: $109,392 a year and 2,995 hours your dispatchers spend on carriers and customers instead. Every $10,000 of the build is earned back in about 1.1 months, once those hours go to that work.
Cargo and freight agents, the federal category that includes brokerage staff, earned a mean $57,230 in May 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports; with benefits at 30% of what private employers spend, each dispatcher costs about $81,800. Running the agents, about $700 a month, is an estimate: a few cents of model and messaging cost a check, plus hosting and upkeep.
A second truck sent for freight nobody located comes on top, a cost these figures leave out.
What We Need From Your Missed-Pickup Emails
Bring a month of missed-pickup and status emails and tell us how your carriers like to be reached. We agree in writing what the agents may read and do and where their data is processed; the first agents run on your loads within two weeks of access. Somebody on your team owns the rules the way somebody owns the chart of accounts.
Frequently asked questions
Can an AI agent pay invoices or email clients on its own?
Some send messages: C.H. Robinson's agents send quotes and tracking replies. None of the examples here pays an invoice on its own.
Do we need an AI team to run one?
Not for one bounded job. You need an owner who grants access to the records, reviews the exceptions every day, and updates the agent's rules when a document or a policy changes. Agree before the first run who connects the agent to your systems and who repairs it when it breaks.
Can we use an agent in software we already pay for?
Possibly. Check whether your transportation system offers one for the job and what access takes: the licenses, your country and any preview enrollment.
What are real examples of AI agents in freight brokerage?
C.H. Robinson uses agents to chase missed pickups by calling carriers and deciding next steps. Its tender work turns emails into shipment orders. These are examples of agents doing bounded jobs.
How much of the missed-pickup work do C.H. Robinson's agents handle?
By the company's account, 95% of missed-pickup checks are automated, saving more than 350 hours of manual work a day, with 42% fewer unnecessary return trips.2
How fast can an AI agent enter a load tender?
C.H. Robinson reports 90 seconds a tender, turning emails into 5,500 shipment orders a day, where keying one load took a person about seven minutes.1
Why are missed pickups so hard to chase in LTL freight?
Less-than-truckload freight shares a truck with other shippers' freight, up to 20 on one truck. When nobody could establish a pickup's status, the load was tendered again and another truck was sent.2
Can a 250-person brokerage copy C.H. Robinson's AI agents?
It can copy the shape of the jobs, not the build. C.H. Robinson's agents are its own, and it runs more than 30 of them. A smaller brokerage starts with one bounded job, such as missed pickups.3
When should AI agents avoid contacting freight carriers?
The agents we build never contact carriers when tracking already shows where the load is or contact anyone at night. They also never go past the cap per load per day your rules set.
Who approves the messages an AI agent sends to carriers?
A dispatcher, at first: the agents draft the message when tracking cannot place a pickup, and the dispatcher approves it. They then read the reply, update the load and tell the dispatcher what changed.
What does missed-pickup chasing cost a brokerage?
In this post's example, six dispatchers spend 40% of their week on it: $196,320 a year at about $81,800 per dispatcher with benefits. A second truck sent for freight nobody located comes on top.
How much can AI agents save on missed-pickup calls?
With agents taking 60% of the chasing, an assumption in this example, annual chasing costs fall to $86,928. That saves $109,392 a year and 2,995 hours for carriers and customers. Every $10,000 of build is earned back in about 1.1 months once those hours go to that work.
What does it cost to run missed-pickup AI agents?
About $700 a month in this post's estimate: a few cents of model and messaging cost a check, plus hosting and upkeep. Count the dispatchers' approval minutes next to it.
How do you know an AI agent checked the loads at all?
Every run writes a log line with what the agents read and how many loads they checked, so found nothing is an answer, not a silence. Every message sent and every load changed is logged too.
What errors should missed-pickup agents catch?
A pickup marked missed that had happened, and a second truck sent for freight already moving. The weekly report counts them next to the hours saved.
How long until AI agents run on a brokerage's own loads?
Within two weeks of access a first version runs on your loads, and the dispatchers who own them are trained to check it. Bring a month of missed-pickup and status emails and how your carriers like to be reached.
How do C.H. Robinson's two missed-pickup agents split the work?
One calls the carrier; the other decides what steps to take. Together, by the company's account, they handle 100 calls and 100 decisions at once, where teams of people once spent over half the day chasing.2
What do a brokerage's AI agents watch on autopilot?
Every pickup due today in your transportation system. When tracking cannot place one, they draft the carrier message, read the reply, update the load and hand the loads that need a decision to the dispatcher who owns them.
What does a dispatcher cost a brokerage with benefits?
About $81,800 a year. Cargo and freight agents, the federal category that includes brokerage staff, earned a mean $57,230 in May 2025, and benefits are 30% of what private employers spend on a worker.
Sources
- C.H. Robinson: Using Generative AI, C.H. Robinson Has Achieved Automation Across the Entire Lifecycle of a Freight Shipment (2024)
- C.H. Robinson: C.H. Robinson launches AI agents to combat industrywide problem of missed LTL pickups (2026)
- C.H. Robinson: C.H. Robinson Scales Fleet of AI Agents Past 30 (2025)
