Shipping prices are chaotic right now and for the foreseeable future, but fortunately, there are ways to save money on shipping that businesses can control.
If a shipper is using solid shipping software or a TMS, then they likely already have a clean process to save money on their outbounds. They are already using their negotiated carrier rates, have in-house tracking visibility and control, and can provide better customer service by keeping customers abreast of any changes in anticipated delivery times.
Inbounds and drop shipments, however, leave shippers at the mercy of the supplier in terms of what amount of shipping they're expected to pay. And shippers are left with little to zero tracking visibility on these shipments.
A lot of shippers are asking:
1) How can I avoid being treated like a profit-center with suppliers tacking on markups on every order?
2) How can I gain better tracking control on inbounds and drop shipments so I can improve customer service and automate notifications?
We offer an exclusive feature with our Preferred Partner Rates program on inbound shipment visibility. This feature allows shippers to have their vendors and suppliers ship purchase orders on their own carrier accounts. This bypasses the markup charges on shipping typically added by vendors and suppliers.
Through our TMS shipping software, shippers are no longer subject to whatever shipping charges the supplier wants to charge, and they gain tracking visibility and control.
GUIDE: Parcel & Freight Auditing
Our TMS shipping software facilitates the customer requiring vendors and suppliers to use their contracted rates. Many of our customers save a significant amount of money by avoiding these markups. 3PLs can also take advantage of this through our shipping platform.
We actually surprise a lot of our new customers when we discuss this feature. No one else is offering this capability.
The typical markup from vendors and suppliers is 15%. For example, if a vendor supplier charges you $115 in shipping charges on an order, you may find that you would have spent just $100 if you had used your own negotiated rates. But due to our high-volume negotiated carrier contracts, that same shipment sent through our Marketplace Rates program would be only $75. - For a shipper who arranges hundreds, or even thousands, of inbounds and drop shipments from vendors and suppliers, these savings really add up!
Customers can better coordinate shipping finished goods with when they will receive their raw materials from vendors and suppliers when inbounds are being shipped on their FreightPOP carrier accounts. When a customer uses our partner rates, our system can isolate the data on the carrier's end. Information is then ported over to our platform, providing full visibility.
Tracking & Reporting On Shipments - A guide to supply chain visibility and data capture.
Shippers who have an overview of where goods are can streamline their supply chain processes. When you have this kind of visibility, you can troubleshoot issues, set up notification automation to both internal and external groups, and better manage customer expectations. Having in-transit visibility and notification automation also cuts down on the amount of customer service calls, which further makes for happy customers and cuts down on customer service labor.
Again, this is the type of best practice shippers who use shipping software already have on outbounds. However, now that control and be matched with their inbounds and drop shipments.
In some cases, shipping is included in the supplier/vendor overall pricing and is not itemized. This means shippers need to determine how much savings will result if markups are taken out of the equation. It may not always be the case that you save - so you need to assess on a case by case basis, but our tools give you the ability to make these determinations.
FreightPOP's TMS shipping software manages all shipments, from sales order to purchase order - from inbound to outbound. Request a demo below to see how we can help save you on carrier rates and improve visibility.