Cargo theft now costs U.S. businesses roughly $35 billion annually, a figure that has climbed 60% year over year, according to FreightWaves. A persistent visibility gap—shippers not knowing where their freight is between carrier scans—is the root cause. On Wednesday, Samsara (NYSE: IOT) moved to close that gap with a pair of product launches at its Beyond 2026 customer conference in Las Vegas: the Samsara Tracking Label, a single-use, paper-thin Bluetooth label delivering near-real-time shipment visibility, and Agent Studio, a no-code tool for building AI workflows without IT support.
The $35 Billion Blind Spot
Traditional carrier scans deliver status updates only at pickup and delivery, leaving gaps even on less-than-truckload (LTL) and full truckload moves carrying thousands of dollars in cargo. The Samsara Tracking Label is adhesive-backed, flexible, paper-thin, with a 45-day battery life and no lithium or hazardous materials. It ships cleared for air, ground, and rail and can be discarded without special handling after arrival.
What powers it is the Samsara Network: millions of connected devices across trucks, trailers, buses, construction equipment, and warehouse scanners covering 99% of major U.S. roads and tens of thousands of worksites. The network continuously listens for Tracking Labels, detecting location in near-real time without requiring carrier participation.
David Gal, Samsara's vice president of connected equipment, stated during the keynote: "Our customers have been using asset tags to track critical shipments, and that works, but it's not purpose-built for cargo. What they've been asking for is a label they can slap on a box and walk away. That's exactly what the Tracking Label is."
"In LTL and truckload shipping, you typically only hear about your shipment twice—when it's picked up and when it's delivered," said Dave Tu, president of DCL Logistics, an early adopter. "Samsara's Tracking Label changes that. It gives us a level of visibility that just didn't exist before, and when you're moving high-value cargo, that's a big deal. It's like watching your Uber driver on the way to pick you up—you can see every move, every turn, right up until it pulls up to the door." DCL now manages fulfillment and carrier handoff for leading brands in consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, enterprise hardware, and GPUs.
Closing the Visibility Gap
| Metric | Traditional Carrier Scans | Samsara Tracking Label |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility frequency | At pickup and delivery only | Near-real-time via Samsara Network |
| Infrastructure required | None (carrier dependent) | Samsara Network (99% of major U.S. roads) |
| Battery life | N/A | 45 days |
| Hazardous materials | N/A | No lithium or hazardous materials |
| Clearance | Varies by carrier | Air, ground, rail |
Zoe Roth, senior research analyst at 451 Research from S&P Global, noted the infrastructure constraint: "Our data shows that organizations rely heavily on GPS and cellular technologies—adopted by over half the market—to track non-powered assets, often absorbing higher hardware costs to guarantee visibility. Meanwhile, lower-cost alternatives like RFID and BLE currently sit at around 39% adoption, historically constrained by fragmented infrastructure, according to our 451 Research Supply Chain Digital Transformation Survey 2026. Providing a persistent, wide-area network for Bluetooth assets could dramatically shift this landscape, enabling scale where infrastructure has previously been the bottleneck."
The Shipment Center dashboard pairs location data with AI-driven exception management. A shipping manager can ask which packages face delay risk from weather and focus on flagged shipments only. The Samsara Shipment App activates labels with a single barcode scan and connects directly to existing TMS or ERP systems, with no system replacement required.
Agent Studio: AI Without IT
Agent Studio is a no-code tool enabling operations teams to build and deploy AI workflows without IT support. This second launch aims to automate routine tasks, freeing teams to focus on exceptions.
What This Means for Your Procurement Team
Cargo theft is climbing 60% year over year, and the majority of losses occur during transit blind spots. The Samsara Tracking Label offers a low-cost, disposable visibility layer that integrates with existing TMS/ERP systems—no hardware refresh is needed. For logistics directors and sourcing managers managing high-value freight (electronics, GPUs, CPG), this product can reduce theft risk and potentially lower insurance premiums. Early adopter DCL Logistics has already deployed the label, signaling that 3PLs see tangible ROI. The combination of the Samsara Network's wide coverage (99% of major U.S. roads) and the label's 45-day battery makes it suitable for both short-haul and cross-country LTL/truckload moves. Meanwhile, Agent Studio allows procurement teams to create custom AI alerts—for example, flagging high-value shipments that deviate from planned routes—without waiting on IT backlogs. The near-term impact: better in-transit visibility, reduced exception handling time, and a data-rich foundation for carrier scorecarding.
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