So much attention is paid to understanding the complexities of carrier agreements that companies, especially resource-constrained small and midsized businesses, often overlook simple best prac... View More
While the answer to the question posed in the title is technically “yes,” it is not as definitive as you may think. Guaranteed services are overvalued, overused, and result in unnecessary
FedEx, UPS, and Amazon are making it easier for consumers to pick up and drop off items at commercial locations such as partner retailers, lockers, and other authorized shipping locations. Fed... View More
With the start of 2020 upon us, the UPS and FedEx general rate increases are impacting shippers’ transportation spend. This year, as with years past, UPS and FedEx increased the price of their trans
Today, shippers need to be nimble and must continuously analyze existing processes to optimize and stay competitive. This makes it critical to leverage the right partner to ensure wasteful spend... View More
Most businesses can probably count on one hand the number of times a carrier invoice has come back lower than expected. You may have great rates, but somehow your shipping costs are still kill... View More
It is critical for organizations with any kind of parcel volume to understand the impact of the carriers’ general rate increase (GRI). Yet, while the annual announcement by FedEx and UPS is... View More
Peak season surcharges began in 2017 as a way for carriers to mitigate some of the costs during the heavy shipping season. Packages that require extra handling (i.e. additional handling, large package
The process of analyzing high-volume shipper distribution patterns, identifying opportunities to save money and, in many cases, reduce transit times is often called mode (or modal) optimization (MO)... View More
Shipping is a critical part of your business, but it’s becoming more complex and expensive than ever. Rate increases, damaged goods, billing mistakes, and late shipments all affect your bott... View More
As they do every year, USPS and all the major shipping carriers have rolled out rate increases and process changes for 2019. But in the case of USPS, this year’s changes are more aggressive th... View More
Shippers need to monitor and negotiate more than just the base price of their FedEx shipping.Just as airline or car rental fees increase the ticket or rental base price, FedEx surcharges substantially
Dimensional weight (also referred to as DIM weight, volumetric weight, or cubed weight) is the relationship of shipping box size to actual weight of the unit. Shipment pricing based on dimension... View More
Parcel auditing is a necessary task for shippers in today’s rapidly growing parcel market. It ensures that shippers pay the correct amount for their shipments, determines whether their shipmen... View More
Due to the increasing complexity of ground parcel shipping rates, it’s quite possible that many shippers may not be aware of the potential surcharges to which their packages are being subjected.... View More
I recently watched an interesting YouTube video that basically mapped out the history of the universe using a simple chronological chart with milestones ranging from the birth of the Milky Way a... View More
The 2019 FedEx and UPS rate increases have taken effect, and while anyone who has been in the industry for a while knows that rate increases happen on a regular basis, you still might be wonderi... View More
Now that Black Friday, Cyber Monday, the holidays, and fourth-quarter surge are over, you can take a deep sigh of relief that you got through it. Many companies see 40% of their annual revenues... View More
If you ship small parcels with either of the national parcel carriers and you’ve been paying attention to the changes in their dimensional weight (DIM) pricing strategies, you probably have at... View More
This appeared in the November/December, 2018 issue of PARCEL. “Shipping profile? Check. We received it from our carrier representative at our last account review.” No, really, do you... View More
