This article originally appeared in the 2018 September/October issue of PARCEL.In today’s freight market, savings are hard to come by. Carriers are continually looking to increase their rates; howev
Many small and mid-sized shippers feel that they don’t have the time or resources to effectively negotiate carrier contracts or manage their transportation spend. In many cases, they feel inti... View More
We live in a parcel world where accessorial increases can be announced at any time of the year and have huge impacts on budgets. Accessorial charges account for anywhere from five to 30% of our... View More
Every merchant has a contract, which they typically renegotiate either annually or semi-annually, with a major shipping carrier. As merchants sit down to renew their contracts, they aim to negot... View More
UPS recently implemented a brand-new audit fee for shipping charge corrections. This new fee will be assessed if the average shipping charge correction in a week is greater than five dollars. If... View More
We haven’t reached summer yet, but UPS has decided it’s never too early to start making rate changes. It has already changed its fuel surcharge tables for air export, effective the first week... View More
A short time ago in an introductory lecture, a professor gave his students a simple lesson. He said, "Everyone, get out your calculators and enter the following: ‘One plus one multiplied by t... View More
This article originally appeared in the March/April, 2018 issue of PARCEL. Annual shipping rate increases are an expected occurrence for shippers and customers alike. Shippers understand and acce... View More
It is common knowledge that measurement is the key to effective management. This is especially true for shippers attempting to manage their parcel programs and better control their costs. In fact, a r
When businesses like yours review their parcel shipping expenditures for this calendar year, fewer than one-third of you who ship $100,000 or more with UPS and FedEx annually can expect to beat... View More
In every bid event, you want to make sure you have all your bases covered and are setting yourself up for a great relationship with your carrier over the life of the contract. Fully understandin... View More
I often hear two misconceptions about big data. First, people sometimes think, “I have a large amount of data, so I have big data,” and second, “It’s too expensive to truly leverage... View More
On September 18, FedEx announced its 2018 general rate increase (GRI). FedEx’s 2018 GRI is keeping the US Domestic Express and Ground increase to 4.9% (as compared to 2017 GRI Express at 3.9%)... View More
I often find myself explaining the importance of separating various cost reduction strategies. It is common for shippers to reference one or two cost reduction strategies and insinuate or assume that... View More
How many parcel shippers truly read the story their parcel data tells? The reason I ask: To have a discussion about parcel benchmarking against other businesses, the data — be it from invoices... View More
With the FedEx GRI that was announced several weeks ago, FedEx also announced increases to accessorial fees that will have a significant impact. This link provides a chart that highlights the ch... View More
Automated dimensioning systems have been around for over 20 years and have been used by a small subset of the shipping, warehousing, and distribution center business. First-generation systems were a b
As most of us have heard by now, FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, and FedEx Freight, subsidiaries of FedEx Corp., will increase shipping rates effective January 1, 2018 by an average of 4.9%. The ch... View More
When UPS first announced Peak Surcharges in June, the carrier promised to publish an updated 2017 Rate and Service Guide on September 1. That day has arrived and UPS has delivered, so to speak. So, w
As shippers and logistics professionals, we accept the rationale behind surcharges. After all, from a shipping company’s perspective, surcharges only make sense — some packages cost more to
A recent Fast Company article written by the chief sustainability officer of Blue Yonder, Saskia van Gendt, caught my attention. Van Gendt wrote that while free returns have become a “powerf
Everyone has heard the pitch: upload your invoices and carrier agreements into AI and let it tell you what you're owed. We wanted to test that claim. So we hired an independent AI engineerin
Many e-commerce brands face rising levels of dead stock — the merchandise deemed unsellable or unlikely to sell soon. As executives evaluate e-commerce dead stock reduction options, some initially a
The world’s largest parcel carriers are shrinking physical footprints while expanding algorithmic control. UPS now processes the majority of its volume through automated facilities, and maj
What does an optimal e-commerce network look like? Is it the network with the fewest facilities, the fastest delivery promise, or the lowest transportation cost? In practice, the answe
A freight damage claim often points attention toward the carrier, but the root cause can start much earlier. If pallet loads leave a facility with inconsistent containment, shifting and instab
BROOKFIELD, Wis. – ProShip, a leading and award-winning provider of multi-carrier shipping software, has announced the return of ProS Who Know, an annual virtual event focused on the trends
Facilities handling high-volume parcel sorting and cross-docking operations face unprecedented challenges as cargo theft networks grow more sophisticated and insider threats multiply. Identifying th
