How to Turn Your Freight Payables Process from a Nightmare to an Advantage

If you asked a freight brokerage to name their biggest pain point, “Accounts Payable” probably wouldn’t make the list. Not because it’s smooth, but because it’s so chaotic, it’s just part of the job.

Between chasing documents, fielding vendor calls, and dodging invoice errors, most AP teams are stuck in reaction mode. It’s uneventful back-office work, but it's quietly bleeding time, money, and carrier trust from brokerages that can't afford to lose any of it.

But what if the problem isn’t the process, but the way we’ve been doing it?

Let’s Be Honest: Freight AP Is a Mess

Your ops team probably isn’t staffed to handle hundreds of vendors, thousands of invoices, and a never-ending loop of “where’s my payment?” emails. And yet, that’s the expectation in most brokerages.

Typical AP chaos:

• Dozens of inbound calls a day for documents
• Fragmented vendor bases with inconsistent invoice formats
• Manual payment updates (if at all)
• Not enough staff to respond fast or accurately

And when payables slip? So does your rep. Late payments erode carrier loyalty, and broken communication leads to bad reviews, disputes, and burned bridges.

The Hidden Cost of a Broken Payables Process

This isn’t just a paperwork problem. It’s a revenue and retention problem.

For brokerages:

• Delays mean slower carrier onboarding
• Disputes mean disrupted loads
• Friction means less reliable capacity next time

And internally, it means your team is wasting hours on work that could’ve been automated — hours they’ll never get back. This is where operational drag begins to chip away at growth and morale.

Communication Gaps Are the Real Problem

It’s not just about invoice counts or vendor volume — it’s about communication.

In a recent FreightCaviar poll, followers were asked the following: 

What’s the takeaway? The biggest gaps are in day-to-day communication that AP teams, carrier reps, and operations staff are constantly chasing down. These breakdowns clog inboxes, spike inbound calls, and slow payment cycles across the board.

So What Does "Better" Look Like?

Let’s not dream about a world with zero calls or instant payments. Let’s get real.

A sane freight payables process should:

• Give vendors a clear and consistent window for payment
• Automate routine document retrieval
• Reduce repetitive inbound calls
• Let your team focus on exceptions, not answering the same question 500 times

It’s not about replacing people. It’s about freeing them up — giving time back to focus where they’re actually needed. That time dividend is what makes smarter AP a long-term operational advantage.

The AI Agents That Actually Get It

There’s been a lot of hype around AI, but most brokers don’t need a shiny dashboard. They need something that just takes the annoying stuff off their plate.

That’s where CloneOps.ai enters the chat, but not as a “we fix everything” solution. Their pitch? Clone your ops. Not your people.

Originally built for freight brokerages (by people who’ve worked in them), CloneOps created AI-powered virtual agents that tackle high-volume communication, especially in AP, AR, and carrier support.

“I used to run a floor with two phones ringing all day,” said CloneOps CEO David Bell. “I didn’t need more reps , I needed a clone of the reps I had. That’s where the name came from.”

For AP specifically, their Accounts Payable Agent can:

• Answer vendor payment inquiries 24/7 via phone, email, or text
• Deliver documents automatically
• Track issues and escalate only when necessary
• Integrate into your TMS, CRM, or workflow without overhauling everything

It’s not just another chatbot. It’s an operational layer that handles the grind without ghosting, fatiguing, or logging off early — returning hours to your team that can be used where human judgment is needed most.

It’s Not About AI. It’s About Capacity.

CloneOps isn’t pushing automation for the sake of it. Their team sees AI as a tool to scale communication without scaling payroll.

And it’s not just for tech-forward 3PLs. Mid-size brokerages struggling to stay lean are seeing the upside of reducing call volume, vendor churn, and burnout by letting AI handle the stuff people hate doing.

“It’s not about replacing your AP team,” said VP of Sales Kyle Richards at TIA 2025. “It’s about letting them stop playing phone tag with every single carrier, every single day.”

Let’s be blunt: brokerages spend a lot of money trying to fix the front end of the freight experience — better load boards, quoting tools, fancy CRMs. But if the back end (like payables) is crumbling, all you’re doing is leaking efficiency out the other side.

AP may not be flashy. But if done right, it becomes a relationship-building, cash-flow-preserving, margin-protecting advantage — and a way to give every ops employee a few hours back each week.

The question isn’t whether freight companies should modernize payables. It’s whether they can afford not to.

Curious what a virtual AP agent could look like in your ops? Check out how CloneOps is helping brokerages stay lean, responsive, and scalable at CloneOps.ai.