If your company sends parcels regularly, then you will realise that the cost of shipping can be a very large factor in the successful running of your business. There are things that you can do to help reduce these costs, and make your dispatching as efficient and economical as possible. You may have to do some legwork, but in the end if you can save money on your shipping, and still get the same quality of service, it will pay dividends in the future.
Shop Around for a Parcel Company
Shopping around may be something that is fairly obvious to do, but it is very important to shop around when looking for a parcel company, and surprisingly a lot of people do not do this! Use an internet search engine and search for cheap parcel delivery services, and then contact every company listed in the first couple of pages. You will find a mixture of smaller parcel companies, as well as the larger multi-national brands that we all know. Many people will indeed go to one of the larger companies, thinking that they will get the best deal, and this is often not the case. To get cheaper shipping costs, you need to send a lot of parcels. There are companies out there that offer better rates than some of the larger companies, as they have many clients shipping lots of parcels, and they pass on the discount to their clients. Even though you may still end up using one of the larger parcel delivery company’s services, you can get a much cheaper price!
Use Economical Packaging
If all of your parcels are being delivered within the UK, then the boxes you use to send your products are not as important. However, if you are sending parcels overseas, then you will need to make sure that you use a proportionately sized box for your parcel, and not have it too big. The reason being is that when you use Air Freight, you will get charged on either the physical weight of the parcel or the volumetric weight. Whichever of these two weights is the greater is what they will charge you, so try to use a smaller box if possible. Another great way to save money is to recycle boxes, rather than buying brand new ones all of the time. It is becoming increasingly popular with companies to reuse boxes to send packages in, and it is also a great way to help do something for the environment. Packaging is something that can also be reused and recycled, although not all types of packaging can be reused easily.
Use the Services of Multiple Companies
When you search all of the different companies, you may find that there is no company that stands out with the best rates for all types of shipments. You may find that if you have an urgent AM delivery, you will be best to use a particular company, which may be a different company that does your regular next day delivery service. If you are sending to Europe you may find that one company has the best rate, but their rates to the USA or Asia may be considerably more. It may take you some time to contact all of the different companies and collate all of the different rates that are on offer, but the savings could be quite significant if you pay more attention to your shipping costs!