William J. Montanez knows a thing or two about the perilsof shipping cargo. As director of risk management for Ace HardwareCorporation of Oak Brook, Ill., he has oversight of theretail-agency operations for the largest retailer-owned hardwarecooperative in the industry.

Montanez credits Ace Hardware's freight-shipping program withavoiding the types of cargo theft problems that other industriesare seeing with identity theft, fictitious pick-ups and otherscams. Part of the solution is maintaining its own transport team,which it augments with outside haulers when needed; the other halfis knowing where its cargo is at all times—at least when it comesto domestic deliveries. 

Ace boasts a private fleet of 400 tractors and some 1,200 dryfreight trailers used to deliver to its 4,400 retail outlets in theU.S., from 14 domestic Retail Support Centers across the country.GPS and other electronic tracking technologies are used to monitorall of those shipments. “We have our own loss-prevention folksinternally who monitor our distribution centers,” says Montanez.“We always know where a truck is.”