Convoy Debuts Quick Payments Tool, Fuel Card

Convoy, which works in digital freight, announced a new service called Convoy Factoring, which is powered by Apex Capital and touted as a cost-efficient, quick payment method for B2B needs for freight carriers, according to a press release.

The release stated the new service offers carriers access to same- or next-day payments with no extra fees.

The rate will be for zero percent for any Convoy loads and 1 percent to 2.99 percent for non-Convoy loads, the release stated.

There’s also a new Convoy fuel card that promises to save 63 cents per gallon, which will save drivers up to $12,000 a year, according to the release.

Around 90 percent of carriers in the U.S. are smaller ones with 10 or fewer trucks, the release stated. The biggest costs are often fuel and factoring, which are typically at the mercy of long payment waits — up to 60 days — or factoring services that can cost as much as 3.5 percent and include hidden fees and long contracts locking businesses in, resulting in some paying as much as $9,000 for factoring and associated fees. Meanwhile, fuel costs can add around $52,000 every year for filling up tanks.

Convoy CEO Dan Lewis said the idea is to help carriers earn more than they have in the past and save on some of those costs.

“Our continued focus is to help carriers earn more, and keep more of their hard-earned pay, while removing many of the day-to-day hassles of the job,” he said, according to the release. “Extending Convoy QuickPay to cover non-Convoy loads, with low rates and a best-in-class fuel card, provides the industry’s leading option for savings.”

Grant Goodale, chief technology officer with Convoy, spoke with PYMNTS about the nuances of digital payments and customer loyalties, adding that it’s important to remain flexible in that space.

For example, the recent surges and drops in shipping levels have led Convoy to adopt a new tool, Convoy Go, which lets carriers and operators haul pre-loaded trailers and decouple the arrival and departure of those trailers with the loading and unloading. Customer loyalty, in the end, could be more important than going digital.