Shipping software has come a long way since multi-carrier shipping software solutions first became available. Today’s technology has also made it much easier to extend shipping software into every department.Many companies have expertly leveraged multi-carrier systems to optimize shipping in the warehouse, but they don’t think about the shipments that take place outside the warehouse.
This is a great place to reduce costs. Implement an organization-wide solution and reduce manual errors, labor and unnecessary use of premium shipping services.
How Many Non-Warehouse Shipments Leave Your Offices Every Day?
You’d be surprised how many packages are shipped by other departments every day – and are processed manually, without the benefit of carrier rate shopping.
If you extend your core shipping system with desktop shipping, you can automate the process for those employees who routinely ship non-warehouse packages – documents, product samples, marketing materials, etc. Consider offering this as an employee benefit by allowing personal packages to be shipped at your discounted rate. Employees can then reimburse the company for freight charges.
 |
One ADSI customer, a large insurance company with 70,000 employees in 24 facilities, knew a large volume of “office” based packages was being manually shipped by employees every day.
Employees chose a carrier based on their own preference, filled out the paperwork by hand and sent it to the mailroom where it was keyed into a carrier-provided shipping system.
Sound familiar? It should. They used a process no different than many other companies to get those non-warehouse shipments out the door.
The company decided to deploy desktop shipping, so that any employee could ship from their own office. They log in to the shipping system on their computer, enter their delivery details and compare carriers’ delivery times and rates. They then print a simple ship request form including a unique barcode, attach it to the package and send it to the mailroom, where it is scanned, processed and shipped.
After 12 months with the new desktop shipping system, the results were staggering. With all non-warehouse shipments now being captured on the company’s multi-carrier shipping system, they gained a true picture of shipping volume.
They had shipped more than 1 million non-warehouse shipments! (To read this desktop shipping case study, go here.)
Your Non-Warehouse Shipping Volume May be Much Larger Estimated
True, this is a large insurance company with a high volume of documents being shipped. But even if this number were divided by 100 – and the total was 10,000 non-warehouse shipments – what impact would that have on your freight bill?
|
Ways to Control Freight Costs
By adding desktop shipping, you can reduce freight costs in several ways:- Ensure that lowest possible freight rates are applied. With desktop shipping, you can access the same freight rates on non-warehouse shipments that are used in the warehouse.
- Drive better negotiations. Desktop shipping captures non-warehouse shipment details on a daily basis, so it’s on-hand when you start negotiating.
- Refunds. Do all of those non-warehouse shipments get delivered exactly as they should be? Or are there discrepancies such as late deliveries that may be eligible for a refund? By capturing the details with desktop shipping, it’s much easier to track carrier performance and invoicing. Better yet, use an automatic invoice analysis tool that finds the refunds and files them for you.
- Reduce costly surcharges. Handwritten shipping documents can be illegible and error-prone, and address corrections can add up to significant charges. Accuracy increases with desktop shipping, and if you add address verification software to your shipping system, this problem is eliminated.
- Eliminate manual labor. No need to fill out forms and key them into the shipping system. Employees get it done on their own computer, in a fraction of the time.
- Add the USPS to your multi-carrier system. In many cases, particularly for residential shipments, U.S. Postal shipping can get the package delivered at a much lower cost. Add the USPS to your desktop shipping system; the savings can quickly add up!
SUBSCRIBE TO MFRTech.COM TODAY, CUSTOMIZE YOUR NEWS, RECEIVE BY EMAIL (CLICK HERE)
For more information on ADSI’s Rate-IT desktop shipping solution, go here.
Desktop shipping is flexible, easy to deploy and it can definitely help reduce your freight bill
FREE CONSULTATION:
Do you need exposure to rating or shipping information anywhere else in the enterprise? Maybe in locations where your employees handle freight quoting, an eCommerce shopping cart, web site or customer service? We would be happy to discuss the use of desktop shipping in your organization.Contact us or call 877.755.2374 today.
 |
All comment postings require your name and email address for user verification only. Your email address will not be used or distributed for any other purpose.
No advertising is permitted and will result in the post being deleted and/or banning. Please click "REPORT" to report any inappropriate posts. blog comments powered by Disqus
Permission to Reproduce:
Unless otherwise stated, the copyright and similar rights to all material published on this website are owned by The Manufacturers Group Inc. DBA Manufacturing & Technology eJournal( mfrtech.com ). Reproduction of any article in print, electronic or any other form must acknowledge mfrtech.com as the Source and include a link to http://www.mfrtech.com
 |
