Freightquote.com is an online transportation management service. Based in Lenexa, Kansas

Lenexa, Kansas

Lenexa is a city in the central part of Johnson County, located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 48,190. As a satellite city of Kansas City, Kansas, Lenexa is included in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...

 the company employs approximately 950 people and services customers throughout North America.

The company also operates two subsidiary companies, Twin Modal, based in Minneapolis, and Rockwell Transportation, based in Pennsylvania. Each subsidiary employs approximately 100 people.

Services

Freightquote.com derives its primary business through a general interface

Interface (computer science)

In the field of computer science, an interface is a tool and concept that refers to a point of interaction between components, and is applicable at the level of both hardware and software...

 similar to travel websites like Expedia

Expedia

Expedia is an Internet-based travel website based in the US with localised sites for 21 countries...

. Freightquote customers enter their freight shipment information online, then review a menu of options based on carriers, services, and prices. Customers choose options for their shipments, book the shipments, and pay for the shipments, all online; making them the largest online freight broker.

The company extends its primary service though API connections. Assorted e-commerce websites integrate the Freightquote.com technology in order to provide their customers with freight cost estimating and booking capabilities. The most notable example would be eBay

EBay

eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

, where Freightquote.com technology is integrated into the Sell Your Item processes. Freightquote.com is one of only three official, integrated shipping services providers along with UPS

United Parcel Service

United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...

 and the United States Postal Service

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

.

As a secondary method of business, Freightquote.com extends the same services to customers who call in via a toll free number. Basically, an internal representative enters the information into the same web utility, in the same manner that an external online customer would.

The two subsidiary companies each provide more traditional transportation management services.

History

Tim Barton and Jason Carlson founded freightquote.com in August 1998. The first nine months were spent developing the company's technology and carrier partnerships. The website launched in May 1999. Freightquote.com has grown steadily since its inception.

Freightquote.com made its first significant acquisition in December 2005 with the purchase of Twin Modal, a truckload and intermodal transportation intermediary based in Minneapolis, MN. Then in January 2007, the company made its second major acquisition with the purchase of Rockwell Transportation. Based in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

area, Rockwell provides traditional freight transportation management services, similar to those of Twin Modal.