Exploring Shipping Options for Your Business With Costs on the Rise
Are you trying to find ways to keep your shipping costs low, but still keep your customers satisfied? Do you worry that costs will price you out of your current market?
Surging shipping costs will cause the price of some consumer products to increase by over 10 percent. That’s going to impact customers and many businesses as well.
If your business ships items to your customers, you know that costs are on the rise. Here are some shipping options to explore for your business.
Shipping Costs Are on the Rise
When examining what can cause shipping costs to rise, several factors come into play. If you take the time to focus on these details, you can reduce your shipping costs.
Package Weight
Everything about your package adds to the actual weight. That includes the weight of the box you are shipping and the packaging materials used to cushion the product.
Using corrugated boxes is one way to reduce weight. Air pillows or bubble wrap are two lightweight options for packing materials in the box.
Size of Packages
It’s important to keep your packages close to the size of the item you are shipping. Be sure to include a bit of space for cushioning material.
Many companies use dimensional weight to calculate the cost of shipping your package. Shippers measure your parcel’s length, width, and height and calculate dimensional weight. If the dimensional weight is more than the actual weight, it determines the shipping cost.
Flat Rate Shipping
One way to standardize your shipping costs is to use flat rate shipping whenever you can. This allows you to calculate your shipping costs in advance, which is more predictable. When you know your expenses, you can set your prices more confidently.
Shared Truckloads
Traditional trucking services collect freight and pass it through a network of hubs and terminals to direct it to its final destination. Shippers handle packages multiple times, increasing the possibility of loss or damage.
With shared truckloads, shipments that are traveling in the same direction share the same truck. There’s less handling, and they don’t pass packages through hubs or terminals on the way.
Less Than Truckload Shipping
When you have a large shipment that doesn’t take up a full truckload, the less-than-truckload (LTL) model is a great option. Most small and medium-size businesses don’t have full truckloads to move.
Less-than-truckload shipping services are environmentally friendly, as they consolidate loads, reducing the number of trucks on the highway. These shipments lower emissions and reduce our carbon footprint.
Freight costs are less expensive than a full truckload service, and many carriers offer LTL services. For business shipping, a professional logistics company will provide 24-hour customer service.
The service tracks your shipments using GPS, so you know exactly where your product is at all times. Click for more information on LTL services.
Select the Right Shipping Option for Your Business
When you understand why shipping costs are on the rise, you will weigh your different options and choose the most cost-effective one for your business.
We hope you found some great cost-saving ideas in this article. If so, be sure to use the simple search feature to check out more tips.
