Shipping expenses are no
longer cheaper or competitive as they used to be. They are getting
aggressive by the day and it is time we look at different legitimate
ways to cut corners and optimise our overall shipping expenses.
Prepaid Shipping:
Once you have chosen the carrier – UPS, FedEx, US Postal, select
for prepaid shipping. Prepaid shipping offers discounts of up to 20
percent. This will give you the advantage of quantifying shipping
labels directly and also inhibit the need to shell out for every
other individual package.
Prepaid shipping is seen
as a blessing when you are shipping out regular packaged quantities
frequently, as it helps you to understand your shipping costs in
advance.
One Rate
Shipping:
Shipping under plans like
FedEx’s One Rate policy enables you to understand your shipping costs
in advance. It also keeps you in charge of tracking and maintaining
your shipping expenditure without having to wait and anticipate the
shipping costs with every package. Under plans such as FedEx’s One
Rate shipping, you will be able to ship any number of items in a box
– up to 50 pounds.
When On Ground,
Do Like The Groundsmen Do:
Choosing
services like SmartPost by FedEx and SurePost by UPS, you are able to
reduce transit time, minimise handling and maximise shipping monies.
SmartPost and SurePost are
an economical and residential ground service. These services provide
consistency and reliability of their main host providers (FedEx and
UPS) and when it comes to final delivery it is taken care of by the
U.S. Postal Service. This is a great option for businesses looking
for cost-effective shipping, especially when shipping low-weight
packages for residential addresses, including P.O. boxes.
Reconsider Free
Shipping:
As harsh as it may sound, the
truth is customers are not exactly loyal when it comes to online
shopping. Even if they have been buying from you for quite some time,
the moment they see a better deal, they hit the other road. So if you
are still hell-bent on offering ‘FREE’ shipping offers to customers,
now is the time to reconsider. With FedEx and UPS bringing in fuel
surcharges and dimensional weight pricing, it will be a hard toll on
you if you didn’t already consider adding these costs in your
customer’s bill.
Insurance:
Carrier companies offering insurance to
your packages make it seem like it is the best thing in the world
happening to you. The fact is they charge about 80 cents/ $100
insurance. Whereas third-party insurance companies like U-Pic
Shipping Insurance and PIPinsure (Parcel Insurance Plan) give you a
shipping insurance for almost half the price. That is 45 cents/$100
insurance. Imagine the savings when you are frequently shipping out
high profile items.
Whether you ship
regularly or at timely intervals, the options to negotiate and save
shipping costs are still available. Combining carrier services also
has worked a great deal to small and medium-sized businesses. Also,
by taking a close look at how your immediate competitor is organising
his shipping budgets will allot you with a heightened sense of
subduing shipping costs for your business.
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