We are always looking for ways to reduce our own expenditure; one way that this can be done is through the amount we pay for freight costs. Over the past few years, shipping rates have continued to rise, forcing manufacturers to look for other ways to avoid these scary price hikes.
A majority of businesses will hire a third party logistics (3PL) company to handle all their freight services, however did you know that 3PLs earn around 20% of what they are charging you. If your annual charge is around $100,000 the amount you are paying the 3PL is rather high.
Take control yourself and understand the charges you need to pay and start doing it directly, you will save a fortune.
If you can do not use a 3PL and you can no longer afford the high prices of freight forwarding, you may want to read on to learn how to reduce your costs instantly;
Effective Planning
The best way to reduce your freight costs and maximize your freight services is through effective planning. You will need a clear idea of how often you are going to need shipment service, the quantity you will be shipping and the different destinations you will be shipping to.
Once you have a clear understanding of these three terms, it will be much easier to save money in the future. Using freight services last minute will cost you a lot more money, so planning well ahead will be useful as you will see costs immediately cut.
Rather than sending goods individual small loads, when you know what is expected in and what is going to need transporting, you can wait until you have the full load. This will save you money in a number of different ways; as well as saving money in your shipping charges; you will also save packaging costs as your goods can be packaged in one load.
Relationships
The other key to reducing your costs is by building a strong relationship with your carrier base. Meeting with your project manager on a regular basis will help you out when it comes to getting services at a discounted price. You should explain the services you are supplying and how often you are going to need freight services; this will make the relationship stronger and allow them to understand your business needs better.
You should also make a commitment to your freight company so they can be sure you are going to stay with them for the next year etc. This will encourage them to give you services at discounted rates.
Kerry needed to use a freight company to ship her goods, she found that http://www.ccfreight.com/ offers a number of different services at a affordable rate.