Small Parcel Freight Shipping Cost Savings

When negotiating small parcel freight shipping contracts and rates, are you getting what you pay for? Most cases the answer is no. You are paying more for less. But why?

Remember when they used to sell "airmail" stamps? The truth is,most mail going out of the region went airmail anyway. The same applies to small parcel. People want to make sure their document gets to its destination the next day. In many cases it will be there the next day whether you request it or not.

Everyday shippers are held hostage by their small parcel provider for fear that if they make a change it will upset their companies' entire shipping infrastructure. Yet a survey conducted by Parcel Shipping & Distribution revealed that companies switching providers were able to obtain better discounts.

Your company may also be challenged with obtaining compliance of delivery requirements. A Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Survey revealed 31% of transportation budgets were spent on overnight express shipments. There is a saying about overnight express shipments..."if you had to ship it overnight, somebody, somewhere is not doing their job".

Admittingly switching carriers, getting compliance internally and from your customers can be daunting. But TMG best practices methodology builds in seamless integration to minimize impact and improve performance.

It may also be easy to say, "we just pass the shipping charges onto our customer". That may be alright now....but think about it the next time you lose a customer because they tell you your costs are too high. A recent Forrester survey found 82% of online respondents consider shipping costs in their buying decisions.

Top 4 tips to Manage Small Parcel Freight Shipping:

1. There is no one silver bullet to optimize small parcel. Check your service levels.
2. Watch Accessorials- accessories can ruin a woman's outfit much like accessorials can ruin your expense line.
3. Audit invoices - more than likely their have been service failures but you're not catching them.
4. Don't overservice the customer - find out why you are shipping so much overnight instead of thinking your customer is content with you sending it "priority" service.

TMG Small Parcel Freight Shipping Sourcing Methodology follows best practices to optimize your small parcel transportation network:

• Assess volume and coverage broken out by zone
• Due diligence in seeking out all small parcel account numbers throughout a network
• Data mining methodologies that achieve quick results
• Pattern analysis optimization to understand consolidation considerations

TMG Transportation Sourcing Methodology includes:

• Transportation RFP - Streamline sourcing with sophisticated workflow and electronic communications that standardize processes and data between your enterprise and service providers.
• Define your operational and accessorial requirements, upload historical files, and invite selected carriers to bid on your RFP.
• Carrier Bid Optimization - We help identify the best carrier service and rate combinations
• Rate Benchmarking - With rate benchmarking, you can compare your existing rates with the market rates that everyone else in your industry is current paying.