Freight Glossary
On-Time Pickup (OTP)
On-time pickup (OTP) is a performance metric measuring the percentage of shipments where the carrier arrives to pick up freight within the committed pickup window. It is a leading indicator of downstream delivery performance. A carrier with 92 percent OTP and 96 percent OTD is likely running tight on transit to compensate for late pickups, which is unsustainable long term.
Why it matters
A missed pickup immediately threatens the delivery commitment on the other end. Late pickups cascade into missed delivery windows, retail chargebacks, and the need to expedite freight at premium cost. Expediting a single load after a missed pickup can cost two to three times the original freight rate, quickly erasing any savings from cheaper contract pricing.
When to use it
Monitor OTP alongside OTD for all carriers in your network. A carrier with strong OTD but weak OTP may be recovering through risky transit, while chronic OTP failures predict future delivery problems. Set a minimum OTP threshold of 90 percent in your carrier scorecards and review underperformers quarterly to maintain reliable pickup execution.
How Warp thinks about it
Warp's Orbit system tracks pickup performance in real time, alerting operations when a pickup is at risk. This gives Warp the ability to deploy backup capacity before a missed pickup creates a downstream delivery failure. The Warp driver app confirms driver en route status and ETA, giving shippers visibility into pickup timing before the truck arrives.