Intro
A dollar saved in on parcel shipping costs falls directly to the bottom line. Accurate, timely information about shipments and their costs allows companies to better manage these expenses and improve overall efficiency. It is imperative that shippers recognize that best in class performance can positively impact their bottom line. Learn how to meet today’s transportation challenges.
The story
Shippers are facing some of the greatest challenges of all time. The economy continues to sputter along, carrier prices are rising, the demand for higher services levels and pressure to control of costs has become standard business practice. Many transportation organizations find their number of staff available to support their transportation operations constrained. This coupled with fluctuating fuel costs more and more than 80 different accessorial charges make the management of parcel shipping costs extremely difficult to control.
This situation has only been made more complex by changes in the parcel carrier mix. There is no doubt that the exit of DHL from the domestic parcel market has resulted in increased costs to parcel shippers. Carrier contracts are more complex than they have ever been. Contracts include numerous variables that determine the final shipping costs. Maximizing opportunities to reduce costs through tiered pricing is difficult at best for shippers. Carefully worded the press releases that speak in terms of average costs regarding price increases, leave shippers in a difficult position of explaining to their management why their actual costs continue to increase by a greater amount.
There is an answer to these challenges!
Data2Logistics helps over 300 companies effectively address the complex nature of shipping costs for all modes of transportation on a global basis. We provide a competitive edge, optimize shipping costs and enhance customer service levels. We have been supporting clients with solutions parcel shipping challenges for over 4 decades. Over that span of time there has been a tremendous growth in parcel shipping and expansion of services offered. Our Carrier Relations Team continuously works with carriers to learn how each parcel carrier’s business is evolving. This has allowed us to understand and manage new services as they are launched and how to best control existing service expense.
Like many providers we audit our clients parcel bills. However our approach is significantly different. We receive electronic billing from carriers eliminating the chore of processing bills internally. We audit all aspects of the parcel carriers’ charges. This includes, rates, discounts all accessorial charges, on time performance, tiered pricing, liability for the shipments, duplicate billing, proof of delivery and identification of billed but not shipped transactions.
We believe that identification of carrier overcharges do not represent true ‘savings’. These overcharges represent the correction of mistakes in the carriers billing process. Our goal is to have the carrier present the bill right the first time creating efficiencies for all parties. We call this improving the ‘first pass yield’. When we identify repetitive errors, our audit staff works with carriers to correct the overcharge issue permanently and avoid the reoccurrence to the same billing error. Here are just a few examples: a fuel surcharge that is loaded wrong, misapplication of a rate for a given zone or service level, using the wrong DIM factor or charging for services that are waived in a client’s contract.
The true value for our clients from the audit of a carrier’s bill comes from the ability of Data2Logistics to capture detail information about each shipment. This allows our clients to proactively manage parcel costs and increase operational efficiencies. Our fact based approach begins with the development of a robust database. We identify the total cost of a shipment and all of its components. We provide alerts that identify changes in historical trends. Actionable information can be found in our dashboards, standard reports, ad-hoc reports, charts and graphs. We identify opportunities for modal or service shifts, information by zone, carrier performance and drive costs down to the product level.
We help you answer questions like: why are my shipping costs increasing while my shipping volume has remained flat, what is driving increased accessorial charges, how much I am spending on DIM charges, DAS, address corrections, fuel surcharges, net minimum charges, early AM services, and Saturday deliveries etc. You will have visibility to volumes and spend by service type, and weight breaks. We provide a single source for all of your shipment information on a global basis and can provide charges normalized USD or local currencies.
For clients that lack the time and resources to effectively prepare bids and negotiate with their carriers we serve as an extension of our client’s organization. We begin by reviewing your business goals and objectives. We analyze current parcel conditions, including volumes, discounts, and changes in parcel volumes since your last contract negotiation, and anticipated changes in your business in the future. Based on our finding we prepare and submit a detailed request for proposal that ensures that carriers respond in a consistent format. We analyze these responses and can compare them based on historical information to identify the true costs of the service costs that the carrier is proposing. We draw on our 40+ years of transportation expertise and generalized know how to support carrier negotiations. This enables us maximize your opportunities to obtain the best combination of service levels and costs. We also support the review of the selected carrier’s contract to ensure it fairly represents your business needs. Clients allowing us to support their go to market strategy generate opportunities to reduce cost and make your company more competitive
Data2Logistics is a business partner who can provide solutions to today’s parcel shipping challenges and grow your bottom line. To learn about opportunities to reduce parcel shipping costs and improve operational efficiencies contact Harold B. Friedman Sr. VP Global Corporate Development, 609 577 3756 or Harold.Friedman@Data2Logistics.com.
A dollar saved in on parcel shipping costs falls directly to the bottom line. Accurate, timely information about shipments and their costs allows companies to better manage these expenses and improve overall efficiency. It is imperative that shippers recognize that best in class performance can positively impact their bottom line. Learn how to meet today’s transportation challenges.
The story
Shippers are facing some of the greatest challenges of all time. The economy continues to sputter along, carrier prices are rising, the demand for higher services levels and pressure to control of costs has become standard business practice. Many transportation organizations find their number of staff available to support their transportation operations constrained. This coupled with fluctuating fuel costs more and more than 80 different accessorial charges make the management of parcel shipping costs extremely difficult to control.
This situation has only been made more complex by changes in the parcel carrier mix. There is no doubt that the exit of DHL from the domestic parcel market has resulted in increased costs to parcel shippers. Carrier contracts are more complex than they have ever been. Contracts include numerous variables that determine the final shipping costs. Maximizing opportunities to reduce costs through tiered pricing is difficult at best for shippers. Carefully worded the press releases that speak in terms of average costs regarding price increases, leave shippers in a difficult position of explaining to their management why their actual costs continue to increase by a greater amount.
There is an answer to these challenges!
Data2Logistics helps over 300 companies effectively address the complex nature of shipping costs for all modes of transportation on a global basis. We provide a competitive edge, optimize shipping costs and enhance customer service levels. We have been supporting clients with solutions parcel shipping challenges for over 4 decades. Over that span of time there has been a tremendous growth in parcel shipping and expansion of services offered. Our Carrier Relations Team continuously works with carriers to learn how each parcel carrier’s business is evolving. This has allowed us to understand and manage new services as they are launched and how to best control existing service expense.
Like many providers we audit our clients parcel bills. However our approach is significantly different. We receive electronic billing from carriers eliminating the chore of processing bills internally. We audit all aspects of the parcel carriers’ charges. This includes, rates, discounts all accessorial charges, on time performance, tiered pricing, liability for the shipments, duplicate billing, proof of delivery and identification of billed but not shipped transactions.
We believe that identification of carrier overcharges do not represent true ‘savings’. These overcharges represent the correction of mistakes in the carriers billing process. Our goal is to have the carrier present the bill right the first time creating efficiencies for all parties. We call this improving the ‘first pass yield’. When we identify repetitive errors, our audit staff works with carriers to correct the overcharge issue permanently and avoid the reoccurrence to the same billing error. Here are just a few examples: a fuel surcharge that is loaded wrong, misapplication of a rate for a given zone or service level, using the wrong DIM factor or charging for services that are waived in a client’s contract.
The true value for our clients from the audit of a carrier’s bill comes from the ability of Data2Logistics to capture detail information about each shipment. This allows our clients to proactively manage parcel costs and increase operational efficiencies. Our fact based approach begins with the development of a robust database. We identify the total cost of a shipment and all of its components. We provide alerts that identify changes in historical trends. Actionable information can be found in our dashboards, standard reports, ad-hoc reports, charts and graphs. We identify opportunities for modal or service shifts, information by zone, carrier performance and drive costs down to the product level.
We help you answer questions like: why are my shipping costs increasing while my shipping volume has remained flat, what is driving increased accessorial charges, how much I am spending on DIM charges, DAS, address corrections, fuel surcharges, net minimum charges, early AM services, and Saturday deliveries etc. You will have visibility to volumes and spend by service type, and weight breaks. We provide a single source for all of your shipment information on a global basis and can provide charges normalized USD or local currencies.
For clients that lack the time and resources to effectively prepare bids and negotiate with their carriers we serve as an extension of our client’s organization. We begin by reviewing your business goals and objectives. We analyze current parcel conditions, including volumes, discounts, and changes in parcel volumes since your last contract negotiation, and anticipated changes in your business in the future. Based on our finding we prepare and submit a detailed request for proposal that ensures that carriers respond in a consistent format. We analyze these responses and can compare them based on historical information to identify the true costs of the service costs that the carrier is proposing. We draw on our 40+ years of transportation expertise and generalized know how to support carrier negotiations. This enables us maximize your opportunities to obtain the best combination of service levels and costs. We also support the review of the selected carrier’s contract to ensure it fairly represents your business needs. Clients allowing us to support their go to market strategy generate opportunities to reduce cost and make your company more competitive
Data2Logistics is a business partner who can provide solutions to today’s parcel shipping challenges and grow your bottom line. To learn about opportunities to reduce parcel shipping costs and improve operational efficiencies contact Harold B. Friedman Sr. VP Global Corporate Development, 609 577 3756 or Harold.Friedman@Data2Logistics.com.
