About

About Robert Snowdale

Robert Snowdale is the founder and owner of Distribution Solutions, Inc. (DSi), which was launched in 1991 as a freight management consulting company headquartered in Plymouth, MA. He is also the founder and owner of DSI Freightways, LLC, a subsidiary of DSI that operates as a freight brokerage business. Snowdale’s decades of industry experience in freight forwarding, freight consolidation, Less-than-truckload (LTL), and truckload, as well as his expertise in freight pricing, have been key to his success.

A graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, Robert spent many years in the transportation and logistics industry, performing various management roles for some of the country’s leading motor freight transportation firms. His successful tenure as owner and founder of DSI Freightways stems from his background in founding and operating one of the earliest freight brokerage firms in 1981, shortly after the passage of The Motor Carrier Act of 1980.

Today, Distribution Solutions, Inc. provides cutting-edge management services for manufacturers and service industries looking to select and partner with commercial freight carriers and interim warehousing service providers. At the helm of DSi, Rob has been instrumental in adopting a state-of-the-art Transportation Management System (TMS) program, which has been critically acclaimed for delivering freight savings of 20% or more and bringing operating efficiencies and in-transit shipment visibility to their clients. This unique transportation technology has helped their clients to compete more efficiently and aggressively in today’s global logistics marketplace.  

Shipping Services Sales Expert

Robert Lloyd Snowdale was raised in Cohasset, MA, on Turtle Island. As a youth, he was a prodigious worker from the age of 13 years. He pumped gas, bagged groceries, did masonry construction and painting, and even served as a dishwasher, busboy, and eventually a waiter at the world-famous Hugo’s Lighthouse, a grand food establishment founded in the 1930s. In 1974, he took a job as a Sales Representative for Springmeier Shipping Company of St Louis, MO, and started his long career in the transportation and logistics industry.  He was promoted to the position of New England Regional Sales Manager, overseeing sales efforts for the company from Maine to Virginia. 

In 1978, he became a Sales Representative for Pacific Intermountain Express (P.I.E.), the country’s seventh-largest less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier at that time. This national LTL carrier provided commercial trucking services for small-lot shipments weighing 150 to 20,000 lbs. throughout the United States. He offered his significant expertise in inbound sales and selling shipping services to purchase managers and receivers, which was critical to the company’s experiencing a surplus in outbound shipments and requiring more balance to their system.

He worked as a Sales Representative for Parkers Express of Avon, MA, when the federal government passed The Motor Carrier Act of 1980. This Act deregulated the motor carrier transportation industry and led to the expansion of service territories and the free entry of new carriers. Snowdale applied for a license from the ICC to become a freight broker in 1980, which was granted to him in early 1981 under the name of Balanced Transport Systems, Inc.

Transportation and Logistics Executive

Robert Snowdale left Parker’s Express to leverage his extensive experience and industry contacts to become a full-time freight broker in 1981. He steadily grew his business, Balanced Transport Services (BTS), by serving the transportation management needs of New England-based manufacturing companies. He started this business from his home before purchasing a commercial building with shipping docks and developed the company with a growing workforce of salespeople, dispatchers, bookkeepers, and office managers to accommodate his growing business. Furthermore, he developed a simple pricing schedule based on space utilized in the trailers, a straightforward pricing approach compared to the complex LTL rating systems of the national carriers. This unique pricing system introduced a new industry service known as “Load to Ride” transportation. 

Snowdale launched Distribution Solutions, Inc. (DSi) in 1991 as a freight management consulting company. He acquired an even larger client base and used his extensive industry experience with freight forwarding, less than truckload, truckload volume LTL, and freight pricing to approach business owners and executive-level employees of manufacturing companies in New England. The company currently manages a growing number of client’s freight budgets through its proprietary Transportation Management System (TMS). Compliance with DSi’s managed programs, which ensures maximum freight savings, is achieved through the issuance of Routing Instructions that mandate the use of specified DSI program carriers for all shipments for which DSI’s clients are responsible for payment. DSI also developed a freight bill audit system to audit their client’s freight invoices to ensure that the DSI negotiated rate was being applied by the specified DSI program carriers.  

This routing system, freight bill audit, and payment system ensure controlled spending through DSi’s TMS system. 

Today, DSi manages and provides direct freight brokerage/logistics operations to handle truckload, volume, LTL, and expedited shipping requirements for current consulting clients. The company emphasizes rate negotiations, carrier services procurement, and contract administration of over fifty million dollars of transportation spend. 

The company’s management services are designed for manufacturers, retailers, consumer goods, and wholesale distributing companies, allowing them to concentrate on core competencies. Snowdale’s proprietary TMS software still outperforms most in-house programs. He is passionate about providing best-in-class logistics solutions and continuous improvement in carrier contract negotiations, route guide design, and freight cost benchmarking.

Personal Life

Robert Snowdale is married with one child and regularly attends St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Delray Beach, FL, and the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Woods Hole, MA. His family makes annual pledges to both churches. He enjoys volunteer work at the Big Dog Rescue Ranch, the Feeding South Florida organization, and Damien’s Food Pantry. While he makes his home base in Pocasset, MA, on Cape Cod, he and his family enjoy a vacation home in Ocean Ridge, FL, during the winter months.

Over the years, they have accumulated short-term rental homes in New Hampshire. In addition to real estate investing, his hobbies include golfing, boating, and cooking.