Managing Increasing Cost in Enterprise Shipping
Posted by Rachel Rodenborg on Wed, Mar 23, 2011 @ 04:02 AM
Fuel costs and shipping rates are steadily increasing each year while the economy holds its breath and hopes for a rebound.
Keeping shipping costs down while increasing the volume of packages shipped each day is a challenge. Here are 3 things you can do to shave a little more off your enterprise shipping department's expenses.
Make sure you are using the most recent pricing tables from your carrier. While price decreases are rare, you could be missing out on a reduced rate for some shipments simply because your shipping systems have not been updated with the most recent shipping tables from all of your carriers. All it takes is a well-meaning, but very busy shipping person to choose to update "later" for awhile, and you're no longer using the most updated information. Better yet, enable automated shipping rate updates from your carriers.
Audit the invoices you receive from your carriers. Verify that the charges are correct and that they can be associated with a shipment you sent out. Clerical errors on either side of the equation could result in your paying too much for a shipment or paying for another company's charges if you simply remit the invoice without further scrutiny.
Make sure that all appropriate shipping charges are, in fact, billed to the customer when appropriate. A customer places an order, but shipping charges are added on later after the actual cost of the shipment is calculated. In these instances, it is critical that you make sure all applicable shipping charges are charged back to the customer.
How are you managing the increasing costs of enterprise shipping? What measures are you taking to keep shipping costs low?
Ready to learn how you can save up to $50,000 on your shipping activities this year? Check out the on-demand webinar, Seeing (Shipping) is Believing to learn how!
