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These are the mistakes we see most often. Catching them before you export saves time, money, and credibility with your customers.

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Pricing mistakes

The most common and most expensive mistake. This happens when you include fuel in your RPM and also apply a separate FSC line. The customer ends up seeing an inflated rate, and you either lose the bid or look unprofessional.How to avoid it: Before exporting, check your FSC setting. If you’re using all-in pricing, your RPM already includes fuel — do not apply a separate FSC line. See Fuel Surcharge.
RPM is your number — what the lane is worth to you. S-RPM is the shipper’s number — what they need to pay given their terms. Evaluating a lane by S-RPM instead of RPM gives you a distorted picture because S-RPM includes customer-specific adjustments.How to avoid it: When comparing lanes or evaluating profitability, always use RPM. Use S-RPM only when checking what the shipper will actually see.
It’s tempting to set one RPM and apply it across the entire bid. But not every lane has the same economics — a 100-mile lane and a 1,200-mile lane have very different cost structures.How to avoid it: Use the bulk RPM as a starting point, then review and adjust high-impact lanes individually. Sort by O/R to find lanes where the blanket rate doesn’t work.
An Operating Ratio above 1.0 means you’re losing money on that lane at the current rate. Some teams skip past this because the rate “feels right.”How to avoid it: Filter for lanes with O/R > 1.0 before exporting. Either raise the rate or make a deliberate decision to accept the loss for strategic reasons — but don’t let it happen by accident.

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Import mistakes

BidRight auto-detects columns with common header names, but it doesn’t always guess right. If a column is mismatched, your data will look wrong downstream.How to avoid it: Always review the column mapping screen before confirming. If BidRight maps a column incorrectly, rename the header in your source file to match what BidRight expects, then re-import.
Excel files with merged cells cause BidRight to misread row or column boundaries. Lanes may be skipped or data may appear in the wrong fields.How to avoid it: Before uploading, open the file in Excel, select all cells, and unmerge them. Make sure every row has its own discrete values and row 1 has plain column headers.
If you don’t compare the imported lane count to the customer’s original file, you may be missing lanes without knowing it.How to avoid it: After every import, check the import summary. Compare the lane count to the customer’s file. If there’s a mismatch, review the error log for skipped rows.

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Workflow mistakes

If Sales, Operations, and Pricing aren’t assigned to the bid from day one, someone will be scrambling for access when the deadline hits.How to avoid it: Assign all three roles when you create the bid. Everyone gets access immediately.
It’s tempting to go straight from Pricing to Submit, especially under deadline pressure. But the Review stage catches mistakes that cost real money.How to avoid it: Even a quick 10-minute review with your pricing manager is better than no review. Use the 6 stage workflow as a checklist.
If you don’t import the customer’s feedback, you lose the data that makes your next bid better. Win/loss data is how you calibrate pricing over time.How to avoid it: When you hear back from the customer, import their feedback file immediately. Track awarded, lost, and pending lanes so your historical data stays complete.