AFS Through
The Years
Key milestones in our company history 
Motor carrier deregulation is a part of a sweeping reduction in price controls, entry controls, and collective vendor price setting. The new free-market paradigm results in price wars that drive many carriers under setting the stage for a dramatic increase in new firms and intense competition that continues to shape the industry.
Barker sells his 1980 Datsun 280ZX to fund AFS and opens the doors to a new 150 square foot office in his father-in-law’s warehouse on Feb. 2, 1982. By the end of the year, AFS grew to a small but mighty team of five employees.
The first three clients AFS serves are all based in the company’s home state of Louisiana.
AFS evolves rapidly in its first year of business, adding post audit services to uncover savings and recover money lost through overpayments for clients.
To better serve client needs in the newly deregulated market, AFS introduces freight audit and payment services to catch invoice errors and prevent overspending.
AFS grows to a major milestone, managing a total of $200,000 in annual transportation spend, saving its clients thousands along the way.
AFS makes its first acquisition, AL Billings & Associates in Tulsa, Oklahoma in February and opens a new office in Tulsa later that year.
AFS again expands its service offering, introducing cost management and signing its first cost management client.
Truckload brokerage becomes the latest addition to the AFS portfolio, helping clients get reliable, on-time shipments and negotiating fair rates.
AFS acquires Tulsa Freight Audit.
AFS launches international service offerings to address client needs outside of the U.S. and serve a wider variety of industries.
Deregulation started with the Motor Carrier Act in 1980 and is completed in the 1990s. Along the way, Standard & Poor’s finds that the cost of shipping by truck has fallen by $40 billion between 1980 and 1988. Meanwhile, AFS grows to a team of 20 at the start of the new decade
AFS grows its footprint with a new office in Dallas, a sprawling metropolis and transportation hub connecting the southwest and southeast.
AFS acquires Herring Transportation Consultants.
AFS grows to 25 teammates and expands its service offering for parcel customers with two additional services to catch overcharges for base rates and accessorials, and save clients thousands in parcel spend.
AFS grows to 35 teammates with locations in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Georgia.
By July of 1999, AFS acquires Metroplex Traffic in Dallas and grows to 63 teammates.
AFS acquires Carolina Traffic Service in Gastonia, North Carolina. The Transportation Research Board predicts the new century will be marked by breakthrough technologies, with information technology expected to ‘have the most immediate effect on transportation.’
AFS expands, growing to 101 teammates with the acquisition of Pittsburgh-based Scott Traffic Services.
AFS acquires American Freight Payers, based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
AFS grows to 132 teammates.
AFS acquires Uni Trans Logistics in South Bend, Indiana.
As the U.S. economy emerges from The Great Recession, the industry finds its footing as freight demand increases and AFS begins a decade filled with M&A activity.
AFS acquires Logica LLC in Bountiful, Utah and UFM Logistics in Casstown, Ohio.
AFS acquires TrendSet, Inc., in Greenville, South Carolina. The team size grows to 244.
AFS acquires TracBack Solutions, in Nashville, Tennessee.
AFS acquires Insource Spend Management Group in Columbus, Ohio.
AFS acquires Smart Freight Solutions, in Kansas City, Missouri, a freight audit and payment organization that also offered a SaaS TMS application.
AFS acquires Vertical Synergies, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia.
AFS acquires FLG Express in Atlanta, Georgia and expands to 295 teammates across all locations.
A few years after the company’s major growth in 2014, AFS adds managed transportation services to the company portfolio, helping clients better control and plan their transportation network.
AFS acquires Woodbury, New York-based Berman-Blake Associates, growing the AFS team to 354. The office later moved to Melville, New York.
AFS acquires Refund Logistics in Houston, Texas.
As the world reacts to the COVID-19 pandemic, logistics networks are disrupted and the industry faces an imbalance of shipping demand and carrier capacity. AFS utilizes data and technology-driven solutions to help clients adapt to challenging market conditions.
AFS acquires Software Solutions Unlimited, Inc. (SSI) of Portland, Oregon and grows to 383 teammates.
AFS acquires WCA Logistics located in Urbana, Ohio.
By the end of the year, AFS grows to manage over $10 billion transportation spend and settles $4 billion, generating millions in client savings.
AFS acquires DTA Services of Toronto, creating the new largest freight audit and payment company in Canada. The AFS team grows to over 400 employees, managing nearly $11 billion in transportation spend.
40 may not look good on everyone. But it clearly looks great on AFS – as this head-to-head comparison between our first day and present-day operations shows.
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