Blog Posts Shipping Smarter: Parcel Solutions to Control Costs
Key Takeaways
- Record ecommerce order volume is driving up costs for parcel shippers.
- The secret to control shipping costs in this environment is to increase efficiency and optimization.
- To get started, study your current shipping patterns, research available options and put parcel technology to work.
A jaw-dropping 640 parcels are generated every second in the U.S., according to Pitney Bowes. That record volume is driving up shipping costs and causing other issues for today’s shippers.
In the current parcel environment, it is difficult – if not impossible – to negotiate lower rates. So what’s a shipper to do? Saddle Creek Logistics’ new Parcel Solutions Guide identifies smart strategies for increasing efficiency and optimization that can help you save on shipping costs.
Following is an excerpt…
8 Strategies to Help Raise Your Parcel Game
- Do your homework.
Study up on your average order profile and current carrier mix. Review historical shipping data to better understand patterns and trends.
Familiarize yourself with available carrier options in your region and learn about pricing considerations (i.e., point of origin, distribution/volume, transit speed, minimum rate, surcharges, DIM weight). Stay on top of rate and surcharge increases and evaluate their potential impact for your business.
- Explore your options.
Develop parcel strategies that better allow you to pivot when carriers impose increases. Establish relationships with multiple carriers, including regional and niche carriers if possible.
If you routinely ship a high volume of orders to certain geographic areas, it could also be beneficial to explore the opportunity for zone-skipping. Rather than shipping individual packages via parcel or LTL, you may be able to consolidate orders into a full truckload shipment and ship them to a sortation facility in the destination area for final mile delivery. Bypassing zones enables you to take advantage of regional freight rates, often resulting in significant savings.
- Leverage technology.
Take advantage of available systems and software to help manage and streamline the parcel shipping process.
- Parcel analytics software: Reviewing historical data can help you identify opportunities to increase efficiencies and better manage your parcel spend.
- Rate shopping: This software can help you compare rates and transit times across multiple carriers to identify the most economical solution to meet transit expectations.
- Parcel transportation management system: A strong shipping system helps handle a variety of parcel functions, including manifesting, documentation, shipment tracking, zone-skipping optimization and more.
For more strategies, read the 2022 Parcel Solutions Guide.
Related to: Controlling Costs, Parcel Shipping, Selling Online