A Solution to Poor Parcel Carrier Service in Enterprise Shipping
Posted by Rachel Rodenborg on Wed, Oct 19, 2011 @ 08:37 AM
Last week we looked at the affect of poor customer service on the part of the parcel shipping carrier on your organization's reputation with its customers. Based on the feedback I received, it's clear that you believe poor customer service anywhere in the shipping process--whether within your control or not--affects your reputation.
In response to last week’s post, I received a suggestion that use of rate shopping might help in situations where a parcel carrier is providing less than exemplary service. Rate shopping allows you to easily see the shipping service options available at the time of shipment and to pick the one that best meets your customer’s needs.
While rate shopping is a tool that will help you ensure that you get the most competitive shipping rates for each shipment, it does not address the issue of the quality of the service you (and your customer) receives for that shipment. Rate shopping will not affect any change on the carrier’s service and will likely not be viewed as a move away from the carrier because of shipping quality.
My suggestion for companies receiving consistently bad parcel shipping service—whether nationally, regionally, or on a particular route within a region—is to sit down with your carrier sales representative. Tell them that while you like their competitive rates, the service that you have been receiving is reflecting poorly on your organization. Cite specific examples from the recent past. Tell them that you will be moving your business to another carrier until they can get their act together. Ask them to contact you when the issues have been resolved.
I guarantee that the above conversation will go a lot farther toward fixing the issue than to quietly slip away with no explanation via rate shopping.
To learn more about how to revolutionize the way you handle enterprise shipping, watch the on-demand webinar, Seeing (Shipping) is Believing today.
