Shipping Prices Archives | Lateshipment.com

DHL Vs. FedEx Vs. UPS: Shipping Carriers Compared

Joelah James — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 07:40:09 +0000

Choosing the carrier from the list of companies is obviously a tedious process. Each carrier has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, it is important to understand what they are and how well they suit your business needs.

To help you get better informed while making that decision, here’s an in-depth comparison of the three private giants, DHL, FedEx, and UPS — who have been in business for decades and have transported billions of parcels.

Although competing in the same line of business, DHL, FedEx, and UPS have a lot of things unique, particularly in line with their services, pricing, etc. By understanding these distinctive features, you can pick an option that aligns with your business’ shipping goals.

DHL Vs. FedEx Vs. UPS: An Overview

DHL

As of today, DHL is the world’s leading logistics company, with close to 600,000 employees and a reach of over 200 countries. In 2023, DHL generated a revenue of € 81,8 billion, equivalent to $103.86 billion.

DHL has four primary divisions, namely

DHL Express for fast and expedited shipments
DHL Global Forwarding for cargo shipments worldwide
DHL Supply Chain for a support system for both local and international business
DHL Ecommerce for standard residential delivery

Apart from being the largest, DHL is also known as the pioneer of low-carbon logistics, who come with the most extensive solutions to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. DHL has 36,000+

Electric delivery vehicles in its fleet and hopes to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

FedEx

Starting with 186 deliveries on its launch, FedEx now makes more than 14 million deliveries in a single day.

Similar to DHL, FedEx also operates in over 220 countries and territories. Additionally, FedEx boasts a vast network of convenient locations worldwide, including FedEx Office, FedEx Ship Centers, and authorized drop-off points — making it possible to pick up, drop off, or ship at more than 50,000 FedEx locations.

FedEx is also known for its efforts to give back to the community via charitable giving, investing in communities and helping businesses reach new markets, sustainable choices on deliveries, facilities, and packaging, etc.

UPS

UPS is the oldest of the three behemoths, starting services in 1907 and growing to more than 500,000
employees, services across 200+ countries & territories, 22M+ daily delivered packages, and a revenue of $91B (in 2023).

Similar to DHL and FedEx, UPS also stands to deliver social impact and address environmental challenges while delivering customers’ packages, and charitable giving via UPSers’ volunteerism. Thereby sharing commitment towards being a good steward of the planet and communities.

DHL, FedEx, or UPS: What Works Best for Your Business

While DHL, FedEx, and UPS work in the same niche, businesses that choose their services often come from varied domains that require these carriers to improvise with their catering.

To see which of the three carriers works best for your business, it is important to know your goals first — fast shipping, cheaper options, international reach, range of services, access to technology, and efficient customer service. And that will be classification criteria to evaluate carrier performances and decide who works best for your business.

Services offered by DHL, FedEx, and UPS

DHL operates a gamut of services to cater to the shipping needs of its customers – Some of its domestic non-freight service types are DHL SameDay Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00 Domestic, DHL Express 10:30 Domestic, DHL Express 12:00 Domestic, DHL Express 18:00 Domestic, and DHL Express Easy. Its international non-freight offerings include DHL Sameday Jetline, DHL Sameday Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00, DHL Express 10:30, DHL Express 12:00, DHL Express Worldwide, DHL Express Envelope, DHL Express Easy, and DHL Globalmail Business.

FedEx offers the following service types for non-freight shipments within the US – FedEx SameDay, FedEx SameDay City, FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2Day A.M., FedEx 2Day, FedEx Express Saver, FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, and FedEx SmartPost. For non-freight international parcels – FedEx International Next Flight, FedEx International First, FedEx International Priority, FedEx International Economy, FedEx International MailService, FedEx International Priority DirectDistribution, FedEx International Economy DirectDistribution, and FedEx International Ground. FedEx has recently launched Network 2.0, an initiative combining Ground and Express networks to streamline operations and offer customers a simplified delivery experience.

UPS offers non-freight shipping service types for both domestic and international shipments – Within the US: UPS Express Critical – Domestic, UPS Ground, UPS Next Day Air Early, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air A.M., UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS 3 Day Select. International – UPS Express Critical – International, UPS Worldwide Express Plus, UPS Worldwide Express Shipping, UPS Worldwide Saver, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Worldwide Expedited, UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS Standard.

Distinctive features from DHL, FedEx, and UPS

DHL, FedEx, and UPS – each of them has its unique pros and cons:

FedEx is strong with overnight shipping, expedited 2-day, and 3-day deliveries, and offers advanced tracking and shipping solutions
UPS is strong in the ground shipment game and offers comprehensive supply chain management services
DHL has the broadest global presence among the three and is the most vocal about its environmental commitments

DHL, FedEx, or UPS: What to Choose

All three behemoths have their distinct advantages and disadvantages and it is quite unfair to pick the best one out of them.

Ultimately, the choice between the three carriers comes down to your specific business needs. A good ploy would be to use multiple carriers for different requirements so that you get the best out of each of them.

Apart from all these aspects, an important factor i.e. always overlooked while choosing a carrier is their delivery performance. Especially during times of high volume such as the holiday season or the pandemic period, shipping carriers have been known to have struggled to deliver on time amidst supply chain limitations.

Therefore, irrespective of shipping with DHL, FedEx, or UPS, start automatically auditing your parcel invoices with a tool like LateShipment.com to instantly save up to 20% of your shipping costs.

Recover refunds for 50+ carrier service failures like Late Deliveries, Lost Shipments, and Billing Errors
Gain delivery performance metrics to know where you’re seeing profits and review areas where you’re not
Compare cross-carrier spending to identify those that require reevaluation.
Not just DHL, UPS, and FedEx — supports all major global shipping carriers

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A Guide to FedEx and UPS Delivery Signature Options

Sashank Ravindranath — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:10:49 +0000

In the world of shipping and logistics, ensuring your packages reach their destination safely and securely is crucial and carriers ensure their full-on commitment to it.

One aspect of this process is the carrier getting a confirmation of receipt upon successfully delivering a package to its intended recipient or an authorized individual at the delivery address through a signature. This signature helps carriers ensure security and accountability throughout the delivery process.

Before diving into the specifics of FedEx and UPS signature options, let’s first understand what they entail:

Understanding Delivery Signature Options

Both FedEx and UPS offer various signature options to accommodate the diverse needs of businesses and customers. These delivery signature options allow senders to choose the level of security and verification required for their shipments, depending on the nature of the package and recipient preferences.

Why shippers need to choose delivery signature options

Shipping out packages comes with a lot of risk up until the delivery is made. Hence, shippers need to ensure secure and reliable delivery of packages while meeting regulatory requirements. This is where delivery signature options come in to help shippers maintain accountability and compliance.

Requiring delivery verification, especially for high-value shipments ensures that the package has arrived safely without falling into the wrong hands such as porch pirates among other reasons, and thereby offers you peace of mind.

As a shipper, it’s essential to consider factors such as the value of the shipment, recipient availability, and the level of security required when selecting a delivery signature option.

In this blog, we’ll explore the different delivery signature options provided by FedEx and UPS, helping you determine which one is best suited for your shipping requirements.

FedEx Delivery Signature Options

FedEx provides three options when shippers require a signature upon delivery. Each option accommodates different shipment requirements.

1. FedEx Adult Signature Required

Costs around $8.15 in 2024
Specifically designed for shipments containing age-restricted items, particularly at least 21 years old at the delivery address.
A government-issued photo identification is required
When there is no eligible recipient at the delivery location, FedEx may re-attempt the delivery
Firearms are one type of shipment where an adult signature is required

2. FedEx Direct Signature Required

Costs around $6.75 in 2024
Designed for shipments that are to be delivered at a location instead of a specific individual
Any person physically available at the location can sign for the delivery
When there is no eligible recipient at the delivery location, FedEx may re-attempt the delivery
Automatically applies to all packages equal to or greater than $500. However, the direct signature required fee will not apply to these packages

3. FedEx Indirect Signature Required

Costs around $6.75 in 2024
This allows FedEx to collect a signature even from some nearby the location such as neighbors, front office, or building managers
Even if there’s no eligible recipient at the delivery location, FedEx can still make the delivery without re-attempting, given that the recipient has authorized

Just like FedEx, UPS too has its own set of Delivery Signature Options or Confirmation Services that are served as a value-added service because they’re slightly more safer than just a regular ‘delivered’ parcel tracking notification.

UPS Delivery Signature Options

1. UPS Delivery Confirmation

Costs around $6.75 in 2024
Includes a delivery date, the name of the recipient, and if the package is being returned, the reason for the return is mentioned

2. UPS Signature Required

Costs around $6.75 in 2024
A physical recipient is not required at the location as UPS accepts any electronic acknowledgment of receipt from the individual to deliver the package

3. UPS Adult Signature Required

Costs around $8.15 in 2024
Specifically designed for shipments containing age-restricted items, particularly at least 21 years old at the delivery address.
A government-issued photo identification is required
An additional voice authorization or ‘Proof of Delivery’ option is available, where UPS may call the person physically available at the delivery location for an additional $5.00

Final Word

Be it FedEx or UPS, delivery signature options don’t come cheap. Also, these rates increase during peak season times and have a consistent YoY increase. Of course, paying an additional $7 will give you the peace of mind of your package reaching its destination safely and securely but you can also cut these costs in several ways:

Make full utilization of these options: For instance, let’s say you’ve ordered some wine for your boss’ retirement party and it requires an adult signature. In such cases, ensure that either you or an adult is at the delivery location to collect the package instead of re-delivery attempts.
Limit further re-delivery attempts: When you’re out of town but have a series of packages that require direct signatures, you can redirect your shipments to a FedEx location for 5-10 days.
Negotiate with your carrier: if you’re a high-volume shipper or have a long-standing relationship with the carrier, you can also negotiate a contract with your shipping carrier that includes favorable terms and pricing for delivery signature options.

Also, wrongly added delivery signature costs are a common sighting in your shipping invoices. In such cases, you can audit your invoices and file refund claims for such additional charges.

In conclusion, both carriers offer a range of delivery signature options to accommodate diverse shipment requirements. Make sure you select the right option for your needs and ensure the costs that come along with them aren’t straining your wallet.

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FedEx & UPS Rate Increase for 2024

Rohan Rinaldo Felix — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 12:25:53 +0000

Introduction To The Rate Increase By Fedex And Ups In 2024

Counterparts, rivals, competitors — call them what you want. Shipping behemoths FedEx and UPS follow almost identical practices when it comes to services or rate increases by an average of 5.9% YoY. The rates have been identically increasing for 7 years in a row but somehow, they still have the potential to impact e-commerce businesses, particularly SMBs, who operate on a limited bandwidth.

If you’re a part of an SMB business, being aware of this spike by shipping carriers can help you plan out your shipping strategy in advance and put you ahead in your last-mile game. To save you time, we’ve charted out the data for you!

Make sure to read till the end for ways to save on shipping in 2024 and reduce the impact of FedEx & UPS’ General Rate Increase on your business.

Why Are FedEx and UPS Rates Increasing YoY?

A question on the minds of all regular shippers at some point — why do these behemoths, who dominate the U.S. carrier market, with a combined market share of around 70% by revenue keep increasing the rate of their services YoY and burdening several growing e-commerce businesses?

The answer is a no-brainer and it is not just one particular reason but several factors that lead FedEx and UPS to increase the rates of their services each year.

Inflation – The supply chain and logistics is a very uncertain space that constantly needs fixes and improvements in order to run smoothly and efficiently. A major hindrance to the smooth running of the supply chain is the ever-rising inflation that impacts labor costs, fuel prices, cost of materials and equipment used in shipping operations, leading to higher overall expenses for shipping carriers. To cover these costs and maintain profitability, FedEx and UPS have no choice but to directly pass on these increased costs to customers.
Increase in demand – While the growth rate has slowed down since the pandemic, e-commerce is still growing. This means, the number of packages being sent out for delivery is on the rise — leading to an increase in demand for infrastructure and resources and thereby impacting costs.
Strategic investments = There are also frequent investments being done in technology innovations such as fleet maintenance and other areas. Not to forget, as competing businesses, they are prone to focus on profitability and shareholder value and anticipate potential economic fluctuations.

Also, it is important to note that while the average YoY increase is around 5.9%, the actual impact on individual shipments can vary based on service type, destination, and other factors. A breakdown of each carrier’s rate increases will give us a better understanding. Let’s start with the increased rates of FedEx in 2024.

FedEx Rate Increase Details for 2024

Amidst all these rate increases, shippers who opt for FedEx can be slightly relieved due to the fact that the General Rate Increase (GRI) for 2024 is at an average of 5.9%, which is 1% lower than last year’s rate increase.

However, for most shippers, the increase will be more than just 5.9%. For instance, additional handling on oversized packages will increase by about 20%. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how rate increases impact your spending with FedEx. While it’s impossible to take a deep dive on every rate increase, we have managed to cover some key takeaways for all shippers.

Domestic Express services will see an average increase of 6.25%, with packages shipped through FedEx 2 Day, will see an increase of 6.83%, followed by 2 Day AM at 6.65% and 6.39%. FedEx First Overnight sees lowest increase at 5.46%
Domestic Ground services as always have different classifications based on different zones and weights, where without surprise — packages shipped to longer distances (zones 5-8) or are heavier (11 pounds or more) see the highest increase at an average of more than 6%.
FedEx Home Delivery packages are almost similar to Ground packages but will see an additional $5.55 residential surcharge and a rate increase of 6.36%.
Another often overlooked part of the GRI is the minimum charges that you’ll be paying for the shipment regardless of the weight, distance, and other factors. These minimums ensure profitability for the carriers, especially for smaller packages or shipments to remote areas. Faster shipments such as FedEx Priority Overnight will see an increase of 7.88%, followed by Standard Overnight at 7.50%.

The following FedEx Express and FedEx Ground surcharges will also take effect on January 2024:

Effective January 1, 2024, FedEx will be increasing customs clearance service fees on imports.
Effective January 15, 2024, FedEx will assess the Additional Handling Surcharge and Oversize Charge per eligible package for international multi-piece shipments, instead of per shipment. The affected surcharges are the Additional Handling Surcharge (Dimensions, Weight, Packaging, Freight, and Non-Stackable) and the Oversize Charge.

UPS Rate Increase Details for 2024

UPS has followed suit with FedEx almost similarly across the table, starting with dropping the GRI from 6.9% last year.

Similar to FedEx, UPS has kept the shorter Zones (2-4) lower than the 5.9% increase, while shipping options such as 2nd Day Air and 3 Day Select rates in Zones 5-8 have an increase rate of nearly 8%.
On the other hand, when it comes to rate increases based on weight, lighter packages (falling below the 1-10 lbs mark) have a maximum increase of 6.65%
For minimum charges, faster shipping options such as Next Day Air and Next Day Air Saver see the highest increase at 7.91% and 7.51% respectively.

The following UPS surcharges have also been effective since December 26, 2023:

UPS also introduced an increase in rates for specific Value-Added services and other charges like additional handling rates for both weight and dimension-based packages. For instance, in Zone 2 the Additional Weight Handling rate will go from $29.00 to $34.50, and the Dimensions (Length, Width, Length+Girth) will increase from $18.50 to $22.00 (a rise of 16% in each case).
Additional Handling fees will also be imposed on international shipments weighing 55 pounds or more. UPS has also stated that when a commercial fee is submitted in connection with a shipment, a fee of up to $5.00 per shipment will be applied to the shipper if the commercial invoice is not provided in digital form using UPS Paperless Invoice services before the processing of the commercial invoice by UPS.

How E-commerce Businesses Can Prepare for the Rate Increase

It is without a doubt that the service rate hikes by FedEx and UPS will definitely impact the spending threshold of all businesses that ship. However, it’s no time to panic! There are definite ways to help mitigate the impact and even turn this tide into an opportunity to reduce shipping costs.

1. Strategies for Mitigating the Impact on Shipping Costs

Make use of multiple shipping carriers: If you’re a regular shipper with a mid to high shipping volume, don’t just use a single carrier for your shipping needs. Explore alternative carriers and regional shipping providers for competitive rates and service options.
Negotiate Volume Discounts: Shipping through multiple carriers also creates a bargaining opportunity to negotiate lower rates or better terms with your existing carriers and cut down costs.
Offer Free Shipping with Minimum Order Thresholds: Encourage customers to ship more by offering free shipping for purchases exceeding a specific amount or multiple products.
Implement a Flat-Rate Shipping Model: For certain product categories or domestic shipments, consider a flat-rate shipping charge to simplify and potentially control costs.
Consolidate Shipments: Combine multiple orders into a single shipment whenever possible. This reduces the number of parcels, lowering shipping expenses.
Explore Cost-Effective Shipping Options: Investigate alternative shipping methods, such as regional carriers or third-party logistics providers (3PLs). These options may offer competitive rates and service quality.
Understand Dimensional (DIM) Weight Pricing: Familiarize yourself with dimensional weight pricing, which factors in package size. Adjust your packaging and shipping strategies accordingly to avoid unnecessary charges.

2. Considerations for renegotiating shipping contracts

Evaluate Current Contracts: Carefully review your existing contracts with FedEx and UPS. Identify areas where you can negotiate for improved rates, discounts, and service levels.
Gather Data and Analysis: Before entering negotiations, prepare data on your shipping volume, service usage, etc to strengthen your bargaining position.
Contract Flexibility: Seek flexibility in your contracts to adapt to changing needs. Consider shorter contract terms and options to adjust rates as market conditions evolve.

3. Optimizing shipping practices to minimize expenses

Invest in Shipping Software: Explore shipping software solutions that provide real-time rate comparisons, print labels, and manage orders.
Leverage Automation: Automate repetitive tasks, such as order processing to not only save time but to minimize labor costs, streamline processes, and reduce manual errors.
Real-Time Tracking: Implement real-time tracking and monitoring of shipments to identify potential issues early and proactively resolve them, thereby reducing the risk of costly delays or returns.
Utilize Fulfillment Centers: Strategically locate fulfillment centers closer to major customer bases to reduce shipping distances and potentially qualify for lower zone rates.
Offer Pick-up Options: Allow customers to pick up their orders at local stores or designated locations to eliminate shipping costs.

How LateShipment.com can help in Navigating the Rate Increase

Check your contract with your shipping carrier, be it FedEx or UPS, and ensure that you haven’t signed any money-back guarantee waiver — as there are a lot more pitfalls than benefits in signing them.

For instance, you may overpay shipping bills by up to 20% by not claiming refunds from shipping carriers for service failures and billing errors.

The Money Back Guarantee policy of shipping carriers promises 100% refunds on shipping charges if a parcel is delayed even by 60 seconds. You can claim refunds for carrier service failures and billing errors.

However, manually claiming refunds from carriers can be both exhaustive and expensive, making it extremely challenging to recover refunds for valid claims before their eligibility window expires.

On the other hand, LateShipment.com automates the process of auditing your shipping invoices regularly and claims refunds for 50+ carrier errors that include late deliveries, incorrect surcharges, lost or damaged packages, and more. By regularly claiming refunds and holding your carrier accountable for your service failures, you can ensure better quality service from them, and save up to 20% on shipping expenses.

That’s not all! LateShipment.com also helps you analyze your carrier’s performance and getting insights on performance lapses such as delays or lost parcels. This will put you in control of shipping rates and help you negotiate for better rates.

You can also take note of our data-rich shipping reports and conclude which carrier works best for which type of delivery/destination/cost/customer/product.

Conclusion

The logistics landscape is dynamic, and the 2024 FedEx and UPS rate increases are just one wave in its constant flow. By proactively planning, making informed decisions, and embracing a culture of continuous optimization, businesses can navigate these changes with confidence, turning every tide into a springboard for growth and success.

Remember, the key lies in flexibility, strategic foresight, and a commitment to delivering exceptional value to your customers. So, raise your sails, adjust your course, and confidently sail towards a prosperous future in the ever-evolving world of shipping.

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15 Shipping Strategies for SMBs to Reduce Costs

Sashank Ravindranath — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 09:24:15 +0000

Shipping is an Inevitable Cost-Center of The E-Commerce Industry

Shipping in e-commerce holds a higher priority for two reasons: One, it plays a huge role in the CX, and two, it is the second most expensive area of a business, only next to product costs.

Product costs can be cut down by making executive decisions. However, shipping, on the other hand, is one of the primary areas where merchants don’t directly take up things but outsource things to a third-party shipping carrier.

Making the shipping process effective requires merchants to invest more and more as technology advances. Also, with the risks of shipping being frequent given the events that happen outside anyone’s control, cutting down shipping costs is a real challenge.

Shipping involves substantial logistics and fulfillment expenses, including packaging, warehousing, and transportation.
With the rise of giants like Amazon, customer expectations for fast and free shipping have skyrocketed. SMBs too are forced to meet these expectations to remain competitive
Shipping is closely tied to customer service. Delays, lost packages, and damaged goods can harm a brand’s reputation
Managing returns is a complex aspect of e-commerce. Handling reverse logistics efficiently is costly but necessary to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty

All of these processes incur significant costs that cannot be avoided. However, while shipping comes with financial challenges, investments in it are crucial for e-commerce businesses aiming for sustainable growth.

Large businesses always have tricks up their sleeves to make profits but SMBs? Each time their shipping budget goes a bit high, they are forced to go back to the drawing board and relook things, cut down budgets for other areas to make room for an effective shipping process, etc.

How SMBs find it harder to manage things compared to large businesses

Luckily, time-tested strategies work for all e-commerce businesses, small and large, as cost-cutting measures. And the purpose of this guide is exactly that.

This guide is specifically designed for SMBs, particularly new merchants looking for ways to cut down on their expensive shipping bills and make profits akin to market leaders.

If you’re an SMB owner, leveraging these strategies allows you to manage your shipping costs better and stay ahead of the competition.

15 Shipping Strategies to Reduce Costs

1. Packaging effectively

Smart packaging can help reduce your shipping costs, especially if you’re sending out multiple packages in a single day.

You can start with repurposed boxes and packing materials whenever possible, reusing shipping labels is also a perfect norm in the shipping industry. Bulk buying packaging supplies can also lead to significant discounts.

As much as the packaging matters, the content within it matters too. Don’t miss out on secure packaging while cutting costs.

On an average, 1-in-10 e-commerce packages arrive damaged

Remember, damages to your packages can prove to be costly when they happen frequently in the long run. Thus, keep in mind to use proper materials like bubble wrap, packing peanuts, crinkled kraft paper, etc.

2. Adjusting based on DIM weight

Dimensional weight (or volumetric weight) was introduced because lightweight, low-density packages had become unprofitable for shipping carriers due to the amount of space they occupy in relation to their weight. So, for each shipment, carriers charge you based on the dimensional weight or actual weight of the package—whichever is greater.

DIM weight is calculated based on the formula:

Dimensional Weight = (Length x Height x Width) / DIM factor (traditionally 139)

If you’re a merchant, who deals with odd-sized packages frequently, then DIM weight would make shipping packages more expensive. It is therefore important for you to ensure that you use the right packaging techniques to save on costs.

In this case, the key is to use the right size of box that can comfortably hold your odd-shaped item without taking too much excess space.

3. Making the right shipping carrier choices

Making the right carrier choice for your shipping needs is like a falling pile of dominoes where one thing leads to another and ultimately you end up saving a lot or paying more than you ought to depending on your choice.

As a priority, you can understand your needs by asking yourself these questions:

Is my shipping volume higher than usual so that it might require frequent services?
Am I selling products that are based on urgency and require faster shipping options?
What are my most frequent shipping destinations?

Following up, you can check if your carrier offers any value-added services that can help you avoid unnecessary cost inflation.

4. Claiming refunds for carrier service failures

Order deliveries aren’t always 100% successful.

Shipping carriers are prone to mess up on deliveries and billing from time to time. In fact, there are over 50 types of carrier errors such as late deliveries, products damaged on delivery, lost packages, etc.

Unless you audit your shipments, you will never know how much you’re actually overpaying your shipping carrier.

Thus, regularly auditing your shipping invoices helps you hold your carriers accountable for their mistakes by claiming refunds for service failures. This can help you get your carrier to improve the quality of their service and also be a negotiating tool.

Auditing can be a pain if done manually, but there are automated options to make your life easier.

LateShipment.com is one of them. Check us out. We’re waiting.

5. Not falling prey to money-back guarantee waivers

Out of all service failures, the most frequent and damaging in the current e-commerce delivery scenario is the ‘late delivery’.

Around 8-12% of shipments are delivered late

Customers are already blaming the brand (you) for delivering their parcels late. So, why bear the brunt of the costs as well? Carriers too are aware of this and have their policy titled ‘money-back guarantee’ or ‘guaranteed service refunds’ that allow you to file refund claims and ensure you are rightly compensated for each late delivery incident.

However, here comes the catch. Carriers also have ‘waivers’, a small clause in the money-back guarantee policy that once signed, discourages you from claiming refunds. Of course, it is suggested under the guise of discounts and other benefits but these waivers often come with a series of pitfalls.

Therefore, ensure that you haven’t signed a money-back guarantee waiver and file refund claims for late deliveries.

6. Negotiating with your carrier

Many new SMBs fail to realize that shipping rates are negotiable.

Don’t just settle for the rate your carrier charges you. Do a thorough comparison of the rates various carriers offer before settling on a carrier, and then negotiate.

The carrier needs your business as much as you need their service. Inform the carrier representative of the rates other carriers offer. Tell them your options are still open. You will probably end up getting a sweet deal!

Also auditing your shipping invoices gives you insights into your carrier performance that you can leverage to gain an upper hand while negotiating.

7. Using multiple carriers for your shipping needs

As mentioned, each carrier has their own set of pros and cons.

One might offer superior speed for urgent deliveries, while another excels in cost-effective ground shipping. By having access to multiple options, you can choose the carrier that best suits the specific needs of each shipment.

Also, if the performance of one carrier isn’t keeping up with your expectations and is frequent with delays or service disruptions, you can still fulfill your shipping needs by seamlessly switching to another provider with minimal impact on your customers.

8. Including the cost of shipping in the final bill

This is something many small businesses overlook.

Explicitly state and include the cost of shipping on the billing page. If you don’t, the burden of paying for shipping will fall on you.

Another thing that is possible is that the customer will be required to pay for shipping on delivery. This can lead to a bad delivery experience, and the customer may choose to not buy from you again.

Also, if the shipping price varies from region to region or you plan on shipping internationally, make sure you include the relevant rates on the billing page.

P.S. On that note, absorbing shipping costs entirely might be too expensive at times and on the other hand, not offering free shipping can be a factor for the customer to avoid your business. Thus, the key is to offer ‘free shipping’ only for customers in the loyalty program or have an item/spend threshold.

9. Choosing multiple delivery options

As a shipper, you have the advantage of choosing a list of delivery options that work best for your business needs at that point. For instance,

Invest in flat rate shipping to optimize costs if your business frequently ships packages to select locations
Encourage options such as BOPIS (Buy Online Pickup In-Store) for shoppers at close distances to prevent shipping in the first place
Offer options like standard, expedited, and even same-day delivery to cater to a wide range of customers. P.S. Allow customers to see the exact cost of different delivery options upfront, empowering them to make informed choices

10. Setting up delivery areas

Creating designated delivery warehouses or hubs within your city, region, or where your shoppers frequent can significantly save last-mile delivery costs, which are often the most expensive part of the shipping process. Here’s how:

Firstly, optimized delivery routes and consolidated multiple deliveries, mean fewer stops for your carriers, thereby minimizing travel time and fuel consumption.

Secondly, reduced shipping distances and the number of individual trips needed also improve delivery speed and lower the chances of late delivery incidents.

Remember, this strategy is most effective if you have a high volume of deliveries concentrated in specific geographic areas. Individual carrier pickups might be more efficient for a low volume of dispersed deliveries.

11. Preparing yourself for the peak season

The peak season is the perfect time for SMBs to boost sales.

However, amidst all your shipping strategies, things can still go out of control during peak season times like the holidays. This is because the shipping volume increases multifold during such times, forcing carriers to strain their capacity to deliver parcels on time.

With the probability of late deliveries becoming 2-3x, things get even worse with carriers temporarily suspending their money-back guarantee owing to the increased demand.

Here’s where you can bring your a-game to the table and draft special plans for the peak season like shipping out parcels early, letting customers know that delays are imminent once we get close to the holiday season, getting familiar with carrier service schedules for closing times and last day to ship, etc,. Such actions can ensure that a sudden surge in demand has less/ no damage to your shipping.

12. Tracking your orders

Tracking your shipments, especially in real-time, empowers you to stay on top of your customers’ orders. You can then extend the capabilities of ‘real-time tracking’ by communicating the same with your customer. With customers in the loop of their orders, they are less prone to contact your support team with WISMO inquiries. This frees up staff time and reduces costs associated with fielding inquiries.

Similar to order status information, tracking also allows you to identify exceptions like delays and lost packages promptly. This enables you to take proactive actions such as course-corrective measures to minimize delays and potential re-delivery costs.

Also, frequent tracking gives you detailed records of on-time deliveries and delays for each carrier you use. This data strengthens your position when negotiating with carriers for better rates. You can demonstrate your business value and hold them accountable for performance.

Tracking packages manually is an option that is not preferable, given that there’s no room to scale. Thus, you can always make use of a real-time tracking solution like LateShipment.com that:

Provides the most up-to-date order tracking information for your support team to intervene and proactively fix issues
Enables easy access to tracking information to customers through your website, emails, or SMS notifications.
Reports of trends or recurring issues to help you optimize your fulfillment process to minimize delays

All of which can contribute to significant cost savings.

13. Insuring your shipments

Unexpected damage or missing items during shipping can be a significant financial blow for you

In such cases, insuring your shipments provides peace of mind from the financial protection that you get while covering the cost of replacing the items.

Plus, with insurance absorbing the costs and potentially impacting your cash flow, you can confidently commit yourself to resolving any issues that might arise during shipping. This builds trust and confidence, potentially leading to repeat business.

Now, you can either insure shipments with carriers or pick a third-party insurance provider that offers custom insurance rules that allow you to decide on what gets insured and what doesn’t, thereby keeping insurance cost-effective.

14. Optimizing order returns and return shipping

Contrary to popular beliefs of being a cost center, when optimized, order returns can be a goldmine for cost savings for your business. Here’s how:

Returns are a necessary evil. Thus, they need to be kept to a minimum to display high customer satisfaction metrics. Start with high-quality product photos, detailed descriptions, and size charts to ensure customers receive what they expect. This minimizes the chance of unwanted returns due to size or feature mismatches
Apart from ensuring reasons for return and a nominal return window, you can also offer and incentivize customers to opt for exchanges/ store credits over refunds
Also, tracking and analyzing the reasons for returns can help identify recurring issues and areas for improvement in your product descriptions, packaging, or fulfillment process, etc, and can lead to fewer returns and lower costs in the long run.

Apart from cost-cutting, if you’re also a CX-obsessed brand, you can choose a tool like LateShipment.com that makes returns self-service and helps you boost buyer confidence.

With an easy returns portal, flexible return methods, seamless return shipping, automated and immersive returns tracking, LateShipment.com can be your one-stop solution to offer return experiences that your customers truly love.

15. Using a 3PL for your shipping needs

For SMBs fairly new to the market or ones struggling with managing shipping costs, a 3PL partnership can be a strategic decision.

Since 3PLs have expertise with shipping packages of multiple SMBs, they already have established relationships with major carriers and can leverage this buying power to negotiate significantly lower shipping rates.

Outsourcing warehousing to a 3PL eliminates the need for SMBs to lease or manage their own warehouse space, reducing overhead costs like rent, utilities, and equipment. Also, with shipping-related tasks now outsourced, your staff can now focus on core business activities, and you can reduce labor costs associated with in-house fulfillment.

How Lateshipment.Com Helps You Save On Shipping Costs

Want to make the right choice of shipping carrier?

Want to reduce your WISMO tickets-related costs?

Want to build return experiences that retain profits?

Want to reduce your shipping costs by up to 20%?

Look no further.

LateShipment.com is the ultimate all-in-one post-purchase success platform for e-commerce retailers, D2C brands, and businesses shipping small parcels, no matter their size or shipping volume.

Delivery Experience Management (DEM): To build memorable experiences that prevent bad delivery experiences and also boost recurring revenue during order tracking moments.

Returns Experience Management (REM): To make returns hassle-free with flexible return options and smart automations to help retain revenue.

Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds: To save big on shipping costs through automated shipping refunds and drive supply-chain optimization with in-depth shipping analytics and insights.

Shipping Insurance: To simplify protecting your e-commerce parcels from lost and damaged packages via fully customizable and automated processes for maximum cost savings.

LateShipment.com seamlessly integrates with 600+ Shipping Carriers and Business Tools that include E-commerce platforms, Order Management Systems, Helpdesks, and Marketing Automation tools to help you drive post-purchase experiences and shipping cost savings, at scale.

The post 15 Shipping Strategies for SMBs to Reduce Costs appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How to Reduce the Impact of Oversize Charge on Shipping Costs

Joelah James — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 15:50:42 +0000

Shipping is an expensive part of any ecommerce business. Therefore, it is wise to cut corners wherever you can to save on costs and grow your business. However, that may not be as easy as it sounds.

Your shipping bills can contain additional expenses over existing shipping fees that can put a dent in your wallet and deter your plans to save on shipping costs.

One of such expenses is an oversize charge, which unfortunately is a common expense for businesses dealing with particularly large products such as pianos, washing machines, refrigerators, etc to name a few.

With the right optimization techniques, businesses dealing in large goods can reduce the impact of oversize charges. But first, let’s understand the basics.

What is an Oversize Charge?

An oversize charge is a surcharge levied on packages that exceed the carrier’s permitted weight. This charge is applied to the package’s actual weight or dimensional weight, whichever is higher.

Major carriers such as FedEx and UPS treat oversized packages differently according to their own calculation and nomenclature.

FedEx Oversize Charge

A FedEx Oversize Charge is applied to packages that exceed 96 inches in length or 130 inches in length and girth.

As we mentioned, the surcharge will be based on the greater of the package’s actual rounded weight or dimensional weight with 90 lb as the minimum billable weight.

FedEx also suggests that the package shape and dimensions may change during transit, affecting the package’s dimensional weight and surcharge eligibility. In such cases, FedEx may make appropriate adjustments to the charges at any time.

UPS Large Package Surcharge

A Large Package Surcharge is applied to each UPS package when its length plus girth [(2 x width) + (2 x height)] combined exceeds 300 cm but does not exceed the maximum UPS size of 400 cm.

Large Packages are subject to a minimum billable weight of 40 kg in addition to the surcharge itself.

UPS does not apply an Additional Handling charge when a Large Package Surcharge is levied.

Catching up with the Price Hike for Oversize Charges in 2022

If these surcharges don’t worry you enough, keep in mind that FedEx and UPS increase the rates of these surcharges YoY. Not to forget the additional peak surcharge during the holiday season.

In 2022, both FedEx and UPS increased the rates of their services by an average of 5.9%. This applies to oversize and large packages as well, making you, the retailer, feel the brunt end of the price hike.

Here’s a quick rundown of the FedEx and UPS Oversized and Large Package price hike.

FedEx price hike for Oversize Charges in 2022

As of January 24, any packages sent under FedEx Express and Ground services will cost a minimum of $110 to a maximum of $145 (which was $105 in 2021) based on the designated FedEx zone of the destination.

Similarly, FedEx Home Delivery will cost anywhere between $135 to $170 from a common $130 for all zones in 2021.

That’s not all! Oversize Packages under International Express and International Ground services will now cost $145 per shipment, a significant increase over $105 the previous year.

UPS price hike for Large Package Surcharge in 2022

Just like FedEx, UPS too has increased the rates for Large Packages with effect from December 26, 2021.

Commercial packages that are considered large and oversized can cost you between $110 to $140 based on the zone under which the destination is marked.

Residential packages, on the other hand, are even more expensive and can cost you between $135 to $165, with an increase of $10, $15, and $20 based on the respective zones.

While this rate change did not come as a surprise to many, it shows shipping carriers’ stand on oversized packages. They have made it downright difficult for shippers to ship heavier items without paying a pretty penny.

What Do Oversize Charges Mean for Your Business?

While retailers are still coming to terms with the effect the price hike will have on their margins, those who deal with furniture, gym equipment, mattresses, home appliances, etc are worried even more. These particular retailers will now have to come up with other inventive means to make up for the loss.

Shipping carriers would no doubt get the better end of the deal when such products are shipped. But, the main motive behind the rate hike seems to be the need to compensate for their significant losses due to COVID-19 without regard for ecommerce businesses, who went through the same ordeal.

However, all things considered. There are still ways for your business to make sure that the damage as a result of Oversized Packages surcharges and regular increases in their rates is trivial.

What You Can Do to Minimize the Impact of This (Significant) Hike

Try renegotiating the terms of your contract with your shipping carrier (in this case FedEx or UPS) and work out a cheaper alternative if you are a bulk shipper.
Consider choosing Freight services if your profit margins are affected too much (delivery usually takes 4-6 business days).
If the alternate service options aren’t working out, you could consider shipping with other carriers who can accommodate oversized packages at better rates.
If the product consists of various parts that could be divided and shipped, then you could dismantle it and then send it. This would work with automobile parts, electronics, gym equipment, furniture, or bikes.
In the case of mattresses, investing in compression boxes or packaging might be a tad more cost-effective than paying the oversize price.

How Lateshipment.Com Can Help

Does your company have an issue with oversized packages? Many shippers really have no idea of what they are paying for when they pay an invoice from their shipping carrier.

In this case, LateShipment.com can help you reduce your shipping costs from additional expenses such as Oversized charges.

Firstly, LateShipment.com helps you regularly audit your shipping invoices and claim eligible refunds to recover up to 20% of your shipping cost.

Apart from delivery issues, this also includes incorrect surcharges and billing errors such as duplicate entries and complex DIM weight errors, helping you save up to $170 per package in 2022.

That’s not all! We can also help you renegotiate your contract with your shipping partner.

LateShipment.com provides you with carrier performance reports that let you dig deeper to uncover gaps, know where you’re seeing profits, and review areas where you’re not.

The reports equip you with good data while renegotiating contracts with shipping carriers and can help things work in your favor.

Not just that, keeping a close watch on carrier performances and claiming regular refunds also ensures better service quality by your shipping carriers.

In conclusion, LateShipment.com’s automated Parcel Audit and Refunds solution can help you with these Oversized Charges and Large Package Surcharge with FedEx and UPS respectively.

The post How to Reduce the Impact of Oversize Charge on Shipping Costs appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Shipping Carriers’ 100% Money-Back Guarantee Policies and Why Avoid Signing Refund Waivers

Rohan Rinaldo Felix — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 08:44:18 +0000

Shipping is an area of e-commerce business that is highly risk-worthy and more prone to errors than the other phases of the order journey. The carriers responsible for your customers’ orders during this stage are very much aware of this — hence, major carriers such as FedEx, UPS, Canada Post, Purolator, Royal Mail, DHL, UK Mail, etc, offer the option to claim refunds when they commit a service failure.

Given that over 15% of parcels shipped through them face service failures and delivery issues (it becomes 2x or even 3x during busy seasons such as holidays), claiming refunds is a must to ensure you’re not overpaying your shipping carrier.

While carriers provide the option to claim refunds for different errors from their end, they understand the need for shippers like you to extra-emphasize handling as many late deliveries as possible. This is what led them to specifically come up with a money-back guarantee policy for late deliveries.

What are Money-Back Guarantees or Guaranteed Service Refunds?

Shipping carriers work on the condition that they abide by their contract and one such condition is their commitment to on-time deliveries. If these deliveries are missing their mark, carriers will ensure a 100% refund under their ‘money-back’ guarantee policy’.

Money-back guarantees are refund policies within the carrier’s SLAs that promise a 100% refund on shipping charges for select service types if a parcel is delayed (sometimes even by 60 seconds) except in exceptional circumstances (natural disasters, weather delays, etc.).

Major carriers that provide money-back guarantees for late deliveries

Here’s the list of different terms and conditions on money-back guarantees from major shipping carriers that you can revisit to stay aware of while filing refund claims.

Shipping carriers offer money-back guarantees to assure customers of the reliability and timeliness of their services. I.e., if the carrier fails to meet certain predefined service standards or delivery commitments, then you, the shipper, are entitled to hold them accountable for their service failures and thereby are eligible for a refund of the shipping cost.

Benefits of claiming refunds under the money-back guarantee

Shipping carriers such as FedEx and UPS have money-back guarantees that offer refunds for late deliveries. However, they either don’t get automatically credited to your account nor are not easy to claim. Therefore, shipping invoice audits act as document evidence that can help you recover costs directly associated with late deliveries. There’s more to it.

Firstly, making full use of the money-back guarantee and claiming refunds gives you the opportunity to save on your shipping costs.

Second, regular auditing of invoices and claiming refunds holds carriers accountable for their service level agreements (SLAs). This ensures better visibility into your carrier’s delivery performance and fosters a more transparent relationship between you and the carrier.

As a third, with insights into the form carrier performance metrics such as recurring delays with specific routes, services, etc., you can optimize your shipping and make informed decisions regarding logistics.

Data from audited invoices can also be used as leverage in negotiating better terms (lower rates or improved service guarantees) for future contracts with shipping carriers, thereby enhancing overall logistics efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

However, enjoying these benefits and claiming refunds are not so straightforward, as these money-back guarantee policies often come with certain fine print caveats that make it complicated for you to claim refunds.

Refund hurdles under the money-back guarantee policy

There is a list of eligible services – Only certain services are applicable for money-back guarantees. It is important to check if your packages are sent through a service where the guarantee is valid.
It can be excluded based on conditions – Money-back guarantee is not applicable when delays are caused by natural disasters, weather conditions, incorrect addresses, customs delays, the unavailability of the recipient, or other events beyond the carriers’ control.
There are modifications and suspensions – Carriers reserve the right to modify (increase the permissible duration) or suspend the money-back guarantee during high-volume periods like the holiday season.
The claim process is tiresome and time-consuming – Even if all conditions are in your favor, the claim can still be rejected owing to the reason that the carrier must be notified within a specific time frame after the delivery (typically 15 days). This can be a hassle, especially if you’re filing these claims manually.

What Are Shipping Refund (Money-Back Guarantee) Waivers And Why Avoid Them?

Shipping refund waivers or (specifically called) money-back guarantee waivers are clauses within the SLAs that provide special benefits (typically discounted prices) to shippers in return for giving up (waiving off) their right to claim shipping refunds. Carriers more often than not claim that not signing the waiver will deprive you of saving on your shipping costs and insist you do sign them.

However, signing a shipping refund waiver might not be best for you and hence, must be avoided. Before we look into why you must avoid waivers, let’s see why carriers insist on signing them so much.

Why do carriers want shippers to sign refund waivers?

Now the obvious question arises: Why are carrier representatives so keen on getting shippers to sign refund waivers? Is it because they want to provide them with discounts and help their clients reduce their shipping costs in the bottom line?

Not at all.

So, why are they insisting then? This is why:

Over 3 billion dollars go into unclaimed shipping refunds each year – Unclaimed refunds are just money left on the table and carriers want to keep it for themselves. This money rightfully belongs to retailers like you, but if you cannot claim your refunds because of the waiver you signed.
Fear of accountability despite ever-increasing shipping costs – Shipping carriers have dodged accountability despite higher shipping costs due to a lack of close watch on their service failures and not claiming refunds.

However, the growing demand for refund claims and better service has proved inconvenient for them. This makes them eager to get shippers to sign refund waivers so that they can skirt their responsibilities despite increasing costs YoY.

Now that it is evident that signing waivers only stands to benefit these carriers, let’s consider how you, the shipper, stand to lose because of them.

What are the disadvantages of signing a shipping refund waiver?

Not claiming refunds roughly translates to not holding your shipping carrier accountable for their failures.

With your shipping carrier conveniently left out of accountability, the next thing that happens is you bear the brunt of the delivery issues. And as if that won’t be enough, keep in mind that about one-third of customers won’t repurchase from you after a late delivery.

In the long term, lack of accountability also leads up to the fact that you can’t expect better service performance from the carriers. In a situation where a waiver has been signed, there would be nothing you could do to pull up the carrier for the poor quality of service, leading to your last-mile suffering in a big way.

Amidst growing concerns about on-time deliveries, you end up overpaying your shipping carrier. It is to be noted that the meager discounts that are promised at the time of signing a waiver are often superseded by add-on charges beyond the cost of shipping. Also, discounts promised on waivers usually last for a limited period. On the other hand, the waiver is permanent.

Worry not! At the end of the day, there are ways for you to avoid being forced to sign a waiver of your money-back guarantee.

What can you do to avoid signing shipping refund waivers?

Be prepared with comparative data about the services of various shipping carriers before negotiating a contract.
Ask the shipping carrier representative to provide you with an impact summary to detail how signing a refund waiver will affect your monthly shipping spend and how many packages will be affected.
Before signing the contract, check to ensure that there is no clause waiving off your right to claim refunds.

Congratulations! You’ve managed to avoid signing a waiver and are now eligible to claim refunds from shipping carriers for their service failures. So, what next?

Before you start claiming refunds, there’s one more thing that you must keep in mind.

Manually claiming shipping refunds with carriers is such a hassle for more reasons than one. Therefore, it is a good ploy to start using automated parcel audit companies such as LateShipment.com to do it for you.

Rather than seamlessly cruising through the tiresome process of late delivery claims, LateShipment.com also helps in identifying and claiming refunds for 50+ service failures and billing errors.

The post Shipping Carriers’ 100% Money-Back Guarantee Policies and Why Avoid Signing Refund Waivers appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Damaged Packages: How to Handle Them

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 13:34:25 +0000

Why Do Packages Get Damaged in the First Place?

The packages you dearly send to your customers can get damaged for various reasons such as

Mishandling at the sorting facility – sorting your fragile package under other heavier packages
Wrong packaging – Haphazard packaging using cheap packing material for cutting costs
Damaged in-transit – Bad weather or road conditions too can weaken your packaging and damage the contents within.

What Happens When Your Customer Receives Packages That Are Damaged?

Here’s a short but not so sweet description of what would happen if such an event occurs:

Even if the order reaches on time with all its contents, when the customer finds it damaged there are still chances of them getting frustrated
It doesn’t matter if the carrier has caused the damage, the customer holds YOU responsible for damaged packages and decides not to shop with you
To make matters worse, they also tend to take the issue to social media and tarnish your reputation, demotivating others from shopping with you as well.

Is that distress I see in your face? There’s no need to worry…

Before you start to panic over what can be done, we’ll just spoil the ending for you.

Yes, just like late deliveries, lost packages, or even package theft – issues that arise from damaged packages can also be resolved and you can turn your frustrated customer into a happy one that shops with you again.

Stay tuned to learn how you can effectively handle damaged packages, so that you recover your lost dollars and your customers are no longer frustrated – that’s two birds with one stone.

How to Handle Damaged Packages

By making use of the right packaging material and technique you can reduce damage to an extent but despite all that, a package gets damaged and your customer informs you of it – What’s next?

First things first – Acknowledge your mistake even if you had nothing to do with it. The last thing your customer wants is you staying mum over the issue or a blame game between you and the carrier. Therefore, take this as an opportunity to communicate with your customer at the earliest and apologize. This makes sure that their frustration is mitigated to an extent.
Secondly – Ensure a fast resolution. Assure the customer that the issue will be resolved based on their requirement ASAP. This further elevates their satisfaction levels.
Last but not least – Make sure they receive a compensation offer to make it worth their while. This is kind of a bonus, pro-tip. But works to your advantage when it comes to changing your customer from a frustrated one to a happy one.

Also, you need to watch out for fraudulent claims made by certain customers over damaged packages. They might have damaged it themselves or simply fake damage for personal gain.

In such cases, you can follow the footsteps of other retailers who require proof of damage or cross-verify with the shipping carrier for a seamless issue resolution.

While acknowledging and providing a resolution works to your advantage to an extent, there are still certain hurdles you need to watch out for while handling damaged packages.

Handling damaged packages is an expensive process

Faux or not, either way, handling damaged package queries are expensive.

If the customer’s frustration doesn’t seem to reduce and they stop shopping with you – you have to spend on customer acquisition costs
If you’re looking to reduce their frustration, you’ve to spend on refunds, product returns, sending out replacements, providing special offers, etc.

Don’t you worry! There are time-tested ways for you to recover the costs you spent on damaged packages. For example, The shipping carrier indeed provides an option for you to claim refunds for damaged packages as compensation under their service guarantee.

How to File a Claim for Damaged Packages with the Shipping Carrier

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind if you’re going to file a claim for damaged packages:

If the contents of the package cost less than $100, you can complete the entire form online and request a refund without documentation.
In the event of the package costing anywhere above $100, proper documentation is necessary for the claim to get processed.
Documentation can include pickup records, photos of the damaged contents, and proof of value documentation.
The tracking number that was initially allocated to the package is vital to the process and has to be provided.

After a scheduled inspection, your claim will be processed and you can track its progress.

While these are the common things you should be aware of, here are more specific conditions that adhere to particular shipping carriers.

FedEx damaged packages claim – must be reported within 21 calendar days and all supporting documentation filed within 9 months of the delivery date.
UPS damaged packages claim – file within 5 months online, within 9 months through customer service, and within 45 days if it is an uncollected C.O.D
USPS damaged packages claim – file within 60 days for all services except Priority Mail Express, First class, and Surface Mail
DHL damaged packages claim – file within 30 days

If you think filing refund claims for damaged packages is as straightforward as it looks, caution! It isn’t.

Filing refund claims for damaged packages by yourself is a huge hassle

Apart from running your hectic business, manually submitting claims with shipping carriers by yourself is a huge hassle for more reasons than one:

So, what is the easy way out?

LateShipment.com’s Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds solution effortlessly audits your invoices and helps save up to 20% on your shipping costs. The best part is that it takes less than 2 minutes to set up and seamlessly integrates with your existing workflow.

Our parcel audit and refunds solution:

Not only submits claims on your behalf but also constantly follows up till issue resolution.
Make sure that all claims are submitted within the timeframe of the carrier(s).
Not just damaged shipments, but also helps you recover refunds for 50+ service failures like late deliveries.
And best of all this, you don’t have to pay anything out of your pockets. We only charge 50% of the refunds you’ve received, that too only when it is successfully recovered.

Damaged Packages? Here's How to Make Them Right

Sure, refunds are great for your business.

But what about mitigating the pain of a loyal customer who has an important package such as an anniversary gift damaged in their hands?

That’s when our other feature Delivery Experience Management (DEM) platform can help. DEM is particularly helpful if you are a bulk shipper who uses multiple carriers and would prefer an efficient automated workflow.

DEM helps you track your parcels in real-time and lets you stay aware of packages that are damaged at the loading or sorting facility (when it is about to be sent out for delivery).

By letting you know well in advance if your packages are damaged, it gives you an edge when you get in touch with the carrier to resolve the issue or send a quick replacement in case of a time-sensitive delivery.

While damages are inevitable, handling them appropriately can really be the deciding factor between your customers being agitated and calm. It also ensures that your customers go to the extent of becoming advocates for your brand based on your commitment to handle issues.

Try LateShipment.com today and take your first step towards handling damaged packages or write to us at sales@lateshipment.com if you have any questions.

The post Damaged Packages: How to Handle Them appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Everything You Need to Know about the Changes Made to Canada Post, UPS, FedEx and Purolator’s Money-back Guarantee

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 12:44:03 +0000

This article has been updated as of 23rd August, 2021.

It’s been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic debuted and created panic across the globe, dramatically changing the way we live our lives.

The eCommerce retail industry felt the brunt of the pandemic’s impact, just like every other industry out there.

While many retailers had to shut shop temporarily, others scrambled to deal with the humongous surge in demand. As a result, eCommerce retail – especially the supply chain and post-purchase aspect went under the scanner.

And as if this weren’t overwhelming enough, businesses also faced challenges from shipping carriers through peak surcharges and a suspension on money-back guarantees which have almost emptied SMB owners’ purses in the form of shipping bills.

While peak surcharges are still levied on packages that are being shipped to certain remote locations, major shipping carriers such as FedEx, UPS, and Purolator reinstating their money-back guarantee for select service types is certainly some good news for eCommerce business owners.

What is the Money-back Guarantee Policy?

The Money-Back Guarantee (MBG) is a clause that is part of a shipping contract that stipulates that major shipping carriers such as FedEx, UPS, Purolator, etc promise to offer you a full refund on shipping charges if parcel delivery is delayed by even 60 seconds except in exceptional circumstances (natural disasters, weather delays, etc). Apart from the Money-Back Guarantee, shipping carriers offer refunds for 50+ service failures & billing errors including late, lost, and damaged deliveries, surcharge errors, etc.

And as you may be aware, due to disruptions in the global supply chain caused by COVID-19, all major shipping carriers around the world had suspended their Service Guarantee, also known as Money-Back Guarantee across all service types.

What are the Recent Changes Made to the Money-back Guarantees?

While continuous efforts are being made to restore normalcy in operations – carriers including UPS, FedEx, and Purolator have REINSTATED their Money-Back Guarantee for some service types, effective April 5, 2021.

The latest carrier to resume On-time Delivery Guarantees is Canada Post for parcels shipped within Canada. The delivery guarantees will take effect starting August 23, 2021.

This translates to more savings on your shipping bills, given that over 20% of all shipments faced delivery issues in 2020.

But first, you must stay in the loop of the select services that are now eligible for the money-back guarantee. And that’s why we’ve compiled them for you.

Want this list right in your device?

We’ve also presented the same as a downloadable document below for you to access the links and read more about money-back guarantee being reinstated from the carriers themselves.

How LateShipment.Com Can Help You

At LateShipment.com we are committed to ensuring that every dollar in refund claims is returned to you.

Throughout the pandemic, LateShipment.com has been monitoring and filing claims for 50+ service failures on your behalf. With the reinstatement of select Money-Back Guarantee claims, we will be able to recover even more claims (that’s even more shipping cost savings!)

Our automated parcel audit and refunds solution effortlessly audits your invoices and helps save up to 20% on your shipping costs. The best part is that it takes less than 2 minutes to set up and seamlessly integrates with your existing workflow.

That’s not all! Here are some more benefits of using LateShipment.com

50+ carriers supported – With customers in over 40 countries, we successfully claim refunds from carriers worldwide.
Highly-trained algorithms – Our exclusive technology is built in-house with algorithms trained from tracking over 100M parcels.
Human-backed automation – Our automated claims system is human-backed to ensure that you never miss any refunds.
Maximum refunds recovery – Apart from common service failures, our systems are built to recover refunds for 50+ carrier errors.
No upfront cost – Zero out-of-pocket costs for your business. Pay only a part of the refunds claimed.
Refund claims for previous shipments – We don’t wait for you to ship out packages. Our systems can backtrack up to 45 days and claim refunds even for past shipments.

Feel like you’re missing out? Worry not, it is never too late to start claiming refunds!

Try LateShipment.com today now and save up to 20% on your shipping costs while providing memorable delivery experiences for your customers (It just takes 2 minutes).

Still doubtful? You can get in touch with us by scheduling a call with our expert or writing to us at sales@lateshipment.com

The post Everything You Need to Know about the Changes Made to Canada Post, UPS, FedEx and Purolator’s Money-back Guarantee appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

50+ Shipping Carrier Service Failures That are Totally Eligible for Refunds

Sashank Ravindranath — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 10:05:11 +0000

Have you spent time taking a good, hard look at your shipping invoices?

If not, try it once. You’ll likely end up quite shocked!

Why? You ask.

You’ll discover that you’ve been charged wrongly more than once.

Shipping invoices are often plagued by errors and discrepancies that could be costing your business valuable dollars month-on-month.

When you fail to audit your shipping invoices, you unwittingly become an accomplice to an inefficient shipping carrier.

Or you could follow in the footsteps of other retail businesses that have become increasingly savvy and claim refunds for various shipping carrier service failures using automated shipping audit services like LateShipment.com.

Read on for the 50+ service failures that shipping carriers are prone to and how you can save up to 20% on your shipping costs by claiming refunds for them.

Here’s Why You Should Take a Closer Look at Your Shipping Invoice

Shipping invoices are, without a doubt, complex. However, there is a need to understand them to identify and dispute errors with your shipping carrier.

The onus is on you to understand YOUR shipping invoice because

It is simply not in the best interest of shipping carriers to own up to their failures.
Shipping carriers are known to hide information on service failures such as late deliveries to prevent themselves from being shown in poor light.

Once you’ve understood your shipping invoice from top to bottom, you can immediately start saving!

Imagine a wrongly calculated Dimensional (DIM) weight of your package making your bill go up to $16 instead of $10. While this $6 additional charge may not seem much in a one-off incident, it may prove to be costly in the long run if repeated with many packages. And it’s money that belongs to you.

Once you receive your monthly invoice, you can ensure that every delivery issue or billing discrepancy is identified and have refund claims submitted for each.

Did you know that claiming refunds for service failures like late deliveries could save you 12-14%, and an additional 6-8% could be saved through submission of claims for other billing errors and wrongly-applied surcharges?

This is why it is critical to understand your monthly shipping invoice and optimize your shipping costs.

What Are The 50+ Service Failures That Are Eligible For Refunds

The 50+ failures of shipping carriers that are eligible for refunds can be separated into service failures and billing errors. Billing errors themselves can be classified separately into surcharges & fees and other billing errors.

This classification helps you immediately identify and recognize the types of service failures and billing errors and act accordingly when faced with any of them.

Service Failures

Late Deliveries
Lost Packages
Damaged Packages
Invalid Service Exceptions
Manifested but Not Shipped
No Proof-of-Delivery

Billing Errors - Surcharges and Additional Fees

Invalid DAS (Delivery Area Surcharge)
Invalid Extended DAS
Invalid Residential Surcharge
Unauthorized Charges
Chargebacks
Wrongly-Applied Additional Handling Fees
Invalid Address Correction Surcharge
Incorrect Fuel Surcharge
Invalid Hazardous Material Fees
Wrongly-Applied Refusal Fees
Incorrect CoD Collections
Invalid Holiday Exceptions Fee
Wrongly-Applied Minimum Charges
Charges for Re-Delivery
Incorrect Weekly Service Fee
Wrongly-Applied Early AM Fees
Incorrect Saturday Pickup Fees
Incorrect Large Package Surcharges
Discrepancies in International / Customs Fee
Inapplicable Additional Delivery Fee
Incorrect Proof-of-Delivery Fee
Incorrect Domestic Dimensional Fee
Incorrect International Dimensional Fee
Incorrect Duties & Taxes
Wrongly-Applied Pickup Fees
Wrongly-Applied On-Demand Pickup Fees
Incorrect Package Reroute Charges
Duplicate Charge

Other Billing Errors

Missing Discounts
Incorrect Discounts
Misapplied Incentives
Entered Weight / Billed Weight
Void Shipments
Discrepancies in Calculation of Zone Jumping
Incorrect Combined Weight (CWT) / Multweight (MWT) Shipments
Discrepancies in Insured & Declared Value
Incorrect Weight
Discrepancies in Calculation of Rebates
Incorrect Application of GRI
Incorrect Application of Revenue-Based Thresholds
Duplicate Tracking Number
Duplicate Invoice
Missing Account Number
Invalid Account Number
Incorrect Shipper Billed
Misapplied Payments
Incorrect Exchange Rates

You could manually claim refunds for the service failures of your shipping carrier, or you could make use of an automated algorithm-based service to do so. Here’s why the latter is the better option.

Manual Filing of Refund Claims a Hassle

While shipping carriers allow you to file claims manually, they are not exactly a viable option as they are subject to certain limitations.

It is a tiresome process – Identifying and submitting claims manually is a process that takes up significant time and effort on your end.
It is expensive – The resource cost of claiming refunds is so expensive that you will spend more to get a refund than the compensation you are entitled to receive.
Short eligibility window – Manual claim submission is a tedious process. It might take more than five days to obtain a refund for a single package. Also, refund claims are honored by carriers only if they are filed within a short eligibility window, which can be a problem when submitting multiple claims.
It is error-prone – A positive outcome is not guaranteed for manual claim submission as the communication process with shipping carriers is often inefficient.

For this reason, it is best to use a parcel audit solution like LateShipment.com to claim shipping refunds.

How Lateshipment.Com’s Intelligent Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds Solution Can Help

LateShipment.com’s automated refunds solution effortlessly audits your invoices and helps save up to 20% on your shipping costs. The best part is that it takes less than 2 minutes to set-up and seamlessly integrates with your existing workflow.

600+ carriers supported – With customers in over 40 countries, we successfully claim refunds from carriers worldwide.
Highly-trained algorithms – Our proprietary technology is built in-house with algorithms trained from tracking over 100M parcels.
Human-backed automation – Our automated claims system is human-backed to ensure that you never miss any refunds.
Maximum refunds recovery – Apart from common service failures, our systems are built to recover refunds for 50+ carrier errors.
No upfront cost – Zero out-of-pocket costs for your business. Pay only a part of the refunds claimed.
Refund claims for previous shipments – We don’t wait for you to ship out packages. Our systems can backtrack up to 45 days and claim refunds even for past shipments.

How you can start claiming refunds right away

It is never too late to start claiming refunds. Every parcel you ship and get billed for by your shipping carrier, you could be losing an opportunity to claim refunds and save up to 20% on your overall shipping cost.

Here’s how easy it is to start claiming refunds:

Create a LateShipment.com account
Add your shipping carrier credentials
That’s it. You’re all set!

Our automated shipping refunds solution:

Audits your monthly shipping invoices
Submits refund claims to your carrier(s) on your behalf
Deposits the refunded amount directly into your account
Saves up to 20% on your shipping costs

The best part is, it takes less than 2 minutes to see LateShipment.com in action without any change to your existing workflow.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand. Try LateShipment.com now.

The post 50+ Shipping Carrier Service Failures That are Totally Eligible for Refunds appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Understanding the Increased Rates of FedEx and UPS for 2020

Joelah James — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 02:03:53 +0000

Every year, shipping carriers increase the rates for their services, hitting retailers below the belt, as if the damage they do during the holiday season weren’t enough.

This year, there have been identical rate increases across both carriers on multiple services.

FedEx has announced its General Rate Increase (GRI), which will be effective from January 6, 2020, with an average increase of 4.9% on Express shipments and 5.9% on FedEx Freight.

UPS, on the other hand, will increase the rates of its services an average of 4.9% effective from December 29.

However, one can see an increase of more than 11% in certain cases.

Being aware of shipping rates can help you plan out your shipping strategy in advance and put you ahead in your last-mile game.

That might seem a challenge, but worry not! In order to save you time, we’ve charted out the data for you!

Some of the highlights from the upcoming price changes

FedEx has increased the rates of its International Premium®, Express, Ground Multiweight®, Freight, and SmartPost services.

In addition to the mentioned services, it has also increased its additional surcharges in the following ways:

A rise of 25% on Extended Service Area Delivery from $140 per shipment to $175.
An increase of $200 on Ground Unauthorized Packages from $675 per package to $875.
Their surcharges for weight will apply on FedEx Express® and FedEx Ground® U.S. domestic packages if a package has an actual weight greater than 50 lbs, which was earlier applicable only for shipments with a weight greater than 70 lbs.
Surcharges applying to any freight handling unit that measures greater than 70 inches along its longest side will now be applied to unit measures greater than 62 inches along its longest side.

UPS, on the other hand, has made the following changes:

A rebill fee for each request to change the billing account for a shipment.
A prohibited Item fee for packages containing prohibited articles or restricted articles not in compliance with all UPS policies & procedures and applicable laws & regulations if found in the UPS system.
Value-added services and other charges will apply to undeliverable packages returned to the shipper. A late payment fee will be applied if an invoice is not paid in full by the invoice due date.
The weight threshold for applying an Additional Handling surcharge will be lowered from 70 pounds to 50 pounds actual weight for UPS Ground and UPS Air services.

Impact of these rates on retailers

Despite being aware of these shipping rates and taking effective measures, there is still a worry for retailers as these rates tend to add up.

Retailers who routinely ship large packages, use long-zone express, three-day express, or ship to remote areas are likely to be subjected to an increase much larger than the stated 4.9%.

They will need to face the list of multiple, additional surcharges that make their way into their shipping bills.

With retailers barely escaping getting caught in the holiday last mile, all these increased rates from the start of the new year will be their next challenge.

After all, this is just because of carriers looking to make their last-mile delivery processes more profitable.

How businesses can reduce their shipping expenditure and minimize the damage incurred

Here are a few ways to minimize the impact of the price hike on your business.

Stick to freight if you’re shipping oversized packages more than regular-sized ones. Anything that requires additional handling will put a dent in your pocket for sure otherwise.
Generate shipping labels online. There are sites like Shopify that give you great discounts. As of this year, printing a return label will be twice as expensive.
The larger your box, the more you pay, regardless of the size of the item inside. Even odd-sized objects won’t cost you additional handling charges if you package them right. You can read more on packaging odd-shaped objects here.
Analyze your carrier’s performance and get insights on performance lapses such as delays or lost parcels. This will put you in control of shipping rates and help you negotiate for better rates.
You can also take note of data-rich shipping reports and conclude which carrier works best for which type of delivery / destination / cost / customer / product.
If you ship in significant volumes, sign up with multiple carriers. Carriers tend to offer better discounts during such situations to ensure a shipper stays on.
Claim refunds for all the eligible service failures. There are over 50 of them that can get you a refund!

Check out other ways to reduce shipping costs here.

Conclusion

With these rates coming into effect right after the surcharges in the holiday season end, it is clear that shipping is not going to get any cheaper and will require a proper strategy, like while playing a game of chess or minesweeper.

While having a better understanding of these rates and shipping contracts with carriers is necessary, making use of technology that keeps you in control of your last mile and ensures that carriers always keep their word can help you ace your shipping game.

A Little about LateShipment.com

LateShipment.com is the world’s only logistics cloud tool that helps businesses of every size reduce shipping costs by up to 20% and provide memorable delivery experiences to customers at scale.

Save up to 20% on Shipping – Automatically audit your shipping carriers’ invoices and recover refunds for 50+ service failures & billing errors including late deliveries.
Real-Time Visibility – Monitor your outbound & inbound shipments across multiple shipping carriers on a centralized window, in real-time.
Critical Delivery Alerts – Pay attention to daily deliveries with predictive delay alerts and more on a purpose-built dashboard for support reps.
Proactive Issue Resolution – Proactively communicate with customers to prevent them from having bad experiences due to delivery failures.
Custom Delivery Notifications – Send custom or automated delivery status notifications for events like “shipped,” “attempted,” & “delivered.”
Branded Tracking Pages – Build fully-customizable order tracking pages for your customers to improve brand recall and sales.

You can start using these features in less than 2 minutes without the need for any IT/business process change or coding. And the best thing is that LateShipment.com is a simple cloud-based plug-and-play solution that can seamlessly integrate with the tools you already use.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand.

It’s that simple!

Click here to start saving money on your shipping and provide outstanding post-purchase experiences.

The post Understanding the Increased Rates of FedEx and UPS for 2020 appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Modern Supply Chain: Leveraging Blockchain in Logistics

Deepa Shankar — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 13:47:53 +0000

The world is a global village now and while it has expanded horizons for businesses, it has also added to supply chain complexities. Supply chain management professionals are constantly on the lookout for technology that will help them collaborate efficiently on a global scale.

Among emerging and newly developed technologies used in SCM, blockchain shows much promise.

The important and useful aspects of blockchain technology are

decentralized/distributed ledger infrastructure for transparency and traceability
even playing field for trusted data
accountability and
streamlined governance

These reasons make blockchain a perfect match for business applications within procurement and logistics.

Source: cnet.com

Supply chains are based on the physical movement of goods and human interaction, action, and sequences. There is scope for a lot of error and oversight, given the nature of multiple players and human intervention from several legs of the supply chain. Blockchain offers several technological capabilities to accomplish excellent efficiency levels with streamlining and automating processes.

Recently, an Israeli shipping organization managed to incorporate blockchain technology in digitizing the eBL of a ship. An eBL is a manifesto of a ship’s cargo which is given to the master or captain of the vessel as part of the ship’s legal documentation. The measure has shown immense improvement in reducing time, complexity, and operating costs for all the stakeholders involved.

With blockchain, logistics and shipping have scope to improve by leaps and bounds. In July 2018, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia used bloackchain tech to track the shipping of 17,000 kilos of almonds halfway around the globe.

Cost Optimization

Supply chains, with their phenomenal shipping and trade, have a huge impact on the global GDP. Blockchain technology can greatly optimise costs and have a good result on GDPs across the world. Maersk and IBM launched an optimised stakeholder pool by digitizing end-to-end shipment tracking. The move can eliminate several costs associated with trade documentation and administrative processes for global shipments. Data exchange in terms of documentation is made tamper proof via blockchain. Blockchain technology can track and trace millions of shipping containers all at the same time. so, delays and frauds can be identified and resolved immediately.

Transparency

A very simple application of blockchain technology in the supply chain is to denote transfer of goods on the ledger as transactions that would identify the parties involved, price, date, location, quality and state of the product etc. Having a central ledger of all information is a great measure to enhance the processes involved. At any given point of time, stakeholders can see what has happened, where and when. No one person can forge the data or change anything about the process. So, to identify disruptions, inefficiencies, fallacies or problem-origins, one simply has to look at the ledger.

If you run an e-commerce organization, things become immensely easy and efficient with blockchain since there is transparent tracking technology. Right from the moment your customer places an order, the chain of events from the warehouse inventory to logistics, everything is clocked individually. Every action is tracked and time stamped. So, there is no way you can miss something.

Source: globaltranz.com

Enabling IoT functionalities

The Internet of Things (IoT) can be used alongside to achieve optimum efficiency in the supply chain. Product verification is done through QR verification codes. Individual products are tagged into groups, providing easy identification regarding ownership, throughout the supply chain.

A distributed database helps stakeholders get information on inventory from anywhere in the world. One needn’t have channelized access to a specific warehouse as everything is integrated into the blockchain. It is also brilliant in terms of accountability. Data is not locked in one place, in one computer or available to a select set of individual to tamper records. So, it greatly dampens enthusiasm insiders have for data theft as they know they will get caught.

Procurement

Procurement excellence is highly dependent on the compliance of first-tier, second-tier, and even third-tier suppliers. With every added tier, the process becomes more complex.

Technology enables linking people and collaborating on monstrous scales. Procurement rates are also made transparent via the blockchain. Coming to procurement processes and the transparency involved, blockchain enhances tendering processes. Tendering is efficient, without any leakage of information and it helps find the best suppliers, resulting in improved quality and performance.

Smart tendering, an integral part of IoT enabled blockchain technology, has a streamlined process that is in use today in parts of Finland. Pallets in the warehouse are equipped with RFID tags. These pallets cite their reasons and need to traverse from point A to point B on the ledger. Carrier mining applications enable bids to win the stated move. The RFID assigns the job to the bidder with the most suitable conditions. All the processes involved are automated and the transaction is registered on the block chain. Each movement of the shipment is tracked through the supply chain.

Anonymity with Transparency

There is no bias in choosing a trader, agent or producer in the supply chain where the RFID or the automated process chooses the most optimal player for each part. Blockchain technology offers balance of transparency with anonymity. Furthermore, there are large producers who do not want to reveal provenance of their goods for fear of losing a competitive advantage. In this case again, block chain allows flow of information in a trustworthy and anonymous way, thereby creating a trustworthy network without revealing who the involved people are.

Auditing and Governance

Transactions are stored with time stamps and the data is tamper proof. So, blockchain offers scope for easy governance. Procurement teams can eradicate defective players with audit reports. Audits offer a one stop shop to see which player has failed where and how. So, block chain enables fraud control, helps eliminate money laundering, ethical oversights and child labour among other things.

Smart Contracting

Every move leaves a trace in the blockchain controlled supply chain. So, automatic triggers are sent using smart contracts. A proof of delivery from a shipping partner can trigger online invoices and initiate a bank payment. So, processes are optimized in terms of time, effort, money and complexity. And since everything is based on verification methods, the payment processes are reliable and accurate.

Supplier Relationship Management

Not only do you see transparency in blockchain technology, but also accountability. The process ensures that players are accountable for their actions. Compliance is interlinked in the entire process. For example, a data transfer between two countries is expected to comply with the regulations in either country. All of this is managed in the blockchain. So, across the world, procurement professionals, suppliers, shipping and logistics partners can align themselves with their trades, improve their own businesses while indulging in trade over trustworthy channels.

Projections for 2019

A major obstacle in the path of accepting Blockchain technology has been its reputation, as it is associated with cryptocurrency and BitCoin. Both of these entities are seen with suspicion across industries. While blockchain technology is very suitable to be adopted by the logistics sector, the association with these unsavoury elements puts people off. But, if 2019 projections are to be believed, blockchain will be re-christened and disassociate itself from cryptocurrency. According to Deloitte’s 2018 Global Blockchain Survey, companies are interested in moving away from proof-of-concept projects to real-world applications. Industry majors will be interested in seeing not just where blockchain could fit, but to find places where it is the best fit.

If you liked this article, you can also check out

Blockchain: The missing link in your logistics strategy

The post Modern Supply Chain: Leveraging Blockchain in Logistics appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

What the recent FedEx price hike means for retailers

Joelah James — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 13:52:48 +0000

By now, you’d have heard about the FedEx price hike for Additional handling and Ground Unauthorized surcharges. Effective since September 3, this recent hike comes right on the heels of the January price hikes for additional handling, oversize and ground unauthorized surcharges, third party billing, and FedEx Freight over length surcharge. When carrier rates have been rising left, right and centre, this news can have a major effect on the bottomline of small business owners who have a niche customer pool.

What’s new with this surcharge?

As per this recent FedEx price hike, the additional handling charges for packages weighing more than 70 lbs will increase from $12 to $20. The same will apply for international express package services.

The ground unauthorized package charge will increase from $300 to $675.

What this means for retailers

This hike will be a disadvantage to several shippers, say for instance furniture or automobile retailers. These rate increases specifically target niche shippers who ship heavy or oversized products. This highly minimizes the impact (as it is aimed at only specific industries), and shipping carriers get to escape the brunt of the backlash that is usually inspired by such sudden price increases. If there are around 100 shipments in transit, and a few of them get damaged or unevenly distributed, the change in dimensional weight is inevitably billed to the shipper.

The irony is that shipping carriers try to penalize customers for mistakes, while they do not own up to their own mistakes and offer automated refunds for service errors.

In many cases, the mistake in dimensional weight billing lies on the carrier’s side but is slapped onto the customer and billed to his/ her invoice. It’s high time shipping prices became transparent and these unfair pricing policies came to an end.

The post What the recent FedEx price hike means for retailers appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

5 Factors to Consider When Choosing A Shipping Carrier

Joelah James — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 12:46:02 +0000

As a proud owner of an ecommerce store, there are plenty of things that demand your attention and money. Choosing the right shipping carrier to take your products to the customers’ doorstep is one of them.

Finding a shipping partner to work with is no easy task as you well know. A third party carrier takes over your shipment, and you have no control of it till the customer or the carrier gets back to you. This takes a lot of trust and research on your part I’d say. Especially if you want each customer who shops with you to have a memorable post purchase experience.

Here are 5 important factors that can help you choose the right shipping partner to suit your business.

Prices that don’t scare your wallet

That’s the first thing you look at before anything else. Does the carrier fall into your shipping budget?

Image source: Proship

Consider local carriers first as they always offer better pricing than the major carriers. What your local carrier cannot handle can be distributed between other carriers depending on their performance in specific areas. There are also services that are specially designed for retailers like DHL ecommerce that you can check out.

Apart from this, there are additional surcharges that are billed to your invoice later. So these surcharges might decide which carrier is more pricey even if their base rates are almost the same. You can read more on shipping surcharges here.

If you take an oversized package for instance, FedEx would charge $72.50 per package without negotiation. UPS charges $650 for any product that weighs over 150 lbs!

Oversize rates are calculated by choosing either the actual weight or the dimensional weight of the product (whichever is greater), and an additional handling surcharge is applied as well.

When shipping in bulk, it is wise to make note of all these differences before choosing one carrier. The dimensional weight pricing followed by major carriers is yet another thing you need to keep in mind. It is possible to negotiate good deals even when dimensional weight pricing is in play. Consider the following example.

A baseball bat that actually weighed 2 lbs was weighed at 8 lbs based on its dimensional weight.

This raked up the shipping costs for the sports retailer.

To negate this effect, they negotiated a deal with their shipping carrier (FedEx in this case) to increase the dim weight divisor based on which they were billed.

The results were remarkable, as the shipping charge of each package was brought down by approximately $4!

This is how far negotiating deals with your shipping carrier can help optimize shipping costs.

Reliability and convenience go hand in hand

Reliability and convenience top the list if you’ve got the pricing sorted out.

How does the pick up work? Do you have to drop if off with the carrier or will they pick it up for a nominal price?

What about the specific location you’re shipping to? Does the carrier have a great track record with the area?

Here’s a graph generated from LateShipment data that shows the percentage of delays committed by carriers divided geographically.

Map showing geographical representation of FedEx delay percentage

Map showing geographical representation of DHL delay percentage

Consider different services from the same carrier. Which one would be better for which part of your business? FedEx for instance dominates the air, while UPS provides far better ground services. Keep all this in mind before you choose a particular service type.

Check out this breakdown of delay rates based on service type.

Customer experience is everything.

The last mile is quite possibly the final frontier to conquer when it comes to customer experience. Winning it will make a lasting impression in the minds of customers, thereby providing a seamless post purchase experience.

Image Source: Hyken

Go with a carrier who has a proven track record of efficient and smooth last mile deliveries. A carrier with a solid money back guarantee in place is also usually confident about their ability to deliver on their promise.

Customers today prefer extensive tracking facilities for their packages, just as they would for an Uber. If you’re using a shipping carrier whose tracking is not that great, but has otherwise been a great fit for your business, you can go in for tracking tools or softwares. LateShipment.com provides real time tracking on all your packages across multiple carriers, and even sends in notifications to customers in case of predicted delays or changes in the delivery schedule.

When your customer support team can handle delivery exceptions proactively, there is a noticeable improvement in the customer experience front. People choose to stay on with a brand despite a few delivery mishaps when they are warned well ahead of time, given due compensations, and overall treated as a valuable customer.

Performance is key

How exactly can you rate a carrier’s performance? Comparing the pricing or contracts is a piece of cake compared to evaluating carrier performance. The immense amount of data it takes to do that is mind boggling if you’re a small business owner. This is where services like LateShipment.com can help you. Take a look at the following graph that shows the percentage of delays recorded for different industries in the US for the year 2017 (data was collected after tracking over 25 billion shipments in real time across carriers).

Depending on the areas you are shipping to, geographical data can be collected and used to determine if a different carrier should be used for specific areas. If you’re shipping to say Puerto Rico or Hawaii, FedEx would be the best idea as they deliver faster than the UPS or any other carrier to those locations. Eventually, it all boils down to the fact that your customers receive their packages on time no matter where they live. So the carrier who has the fastest and most efficient track record with that area will be the best bet even if they prove to be a little more expensive than their competitors. The following map shows the percentage of delays recorded in specific geographic locations for UPS shipments.

Map showing geographical representation of UPS delay percentage

Using criteria like this, carrier performance can be determined and you can choose the best fit for your business.

All it takes is asking

Truly. You need to get your data ready and go have a discussion with your shipping partner regarding discounted rates for the next quarter. Carriers tend to get more competitive with prices when there is another carrier vying for your business at the same time. Collaborating any sister businesses you may have, or allying with other ecommerce stores to ship your products can help in increasing the quantity of your shipments, thereby ensuring better shipping rates.

For holiday season shipping, most carriers void the money back guarantee in your clause if you are already availing a discounted price. So make sure you negotiate a separate holiday shipping contract that would ensure the presence of the clause along with a bulk discount.

After analyzing carrier performance and negotiating prices, all that remains is to gather customer feedback on the delivery they received. The customer always comes first, and any friction in the last mile has to be resolved immediately. Finding a shipping partner or multiple ones to juggle various aspects of your shipments might seem like a truly daunting task in the beginning, but once you’ve established a good working relationship, it’s smooth sailing from there.

Hope this helps you choose the right shipping carrier for your business!

The post 5 Factors to Consider When Choosing A Shipping Carrier appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Best 3 Ways to Offer Free 2 Day Shipping Without Going Broke

Joelah James — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 16:44:24 +0000

With retailers of all calibres entering the ring with free shipping options, it is near impossible to remain isolated from the melee and continue charging flat shipping rates. Free shipping, especially free 2 day shipping is a nudge in the right direction for most customers who are stuck indecisively at checkout. Well, that and the ease of checkout of course.

According to the Walker Sands report for 2018, free shipping has become a major deciding factor after Amazon set the standards high.

Image Source: Walker Sands

Retailers have been forced to climb aboard this bandwagon irrespective of the damage to their bottomline (what with soaring shipping prices and additional charges).

Contrary to what it may seem it, this certainly isn’t the end of the world. Here are three strategies that will help your ecommerce business offer free 2 day shipping without going broke.

1. Free shipping on orders above $X

This is one of the simplest ways to hold on to your profit margin and still offer customers free shipping. One, this encourages customers to choose high-value items. Two, they end up adding a few other items to their cart in order to qualify for free delivery. Adding personalized suggestions of lesser priced items that are related to the purchase during checkout can make it easy for customers to make up their minds about qualifying for the free shipping option. This also drastically minimizes cases of cart abandonment.

Adding the shipping cost to the product cost can be helpful in the case of items with a low-profit margin. On items like jewellery where the profit is mostly over 50%, it doesn’t put a dent in the retailer’s pocket when free shipping is provided.

Apple, for instance, offers free shipping on any order above $50 on all products except the customized Macs.

Image Source: Apple

Pros:

The difference between product profit margin and shipping cost is usually negligible for most items
Encourages customers to buy more
Brings down cart abandonment

Cons:

Results in losses when too many minimum value items are ordered in bulk

The following study by statista shows the actions taken by digital shoppers in the United States to qualify for free shipping as of February 2017

Image Source: Statista

Around 48% of customers add items to their cart with the sole intention of qualifying for free delivery, and 44% choose even the slowest shipping option if it’s free. Imagine the edge you can gain by offering free and fast shipping!

2. Got an exclusive membership?

Offering a customer loyalty program or exclusive membership is another strategy that can even out your free shipping option. When you offer free 2 day shipping across all products for an yearly or monthly membership, it ensures that customers do not go in search of competitor sites in the interim and are happy about the exclusive benefits availed through the membership.

With stores like Walmart and Target joining the ranks of Amazon in offering exclusive membership programs to qualify for free and fast shipping options, smaller retailers can see if the same works well among their target audience.

Image Source: Amazon

Pros:

Customer retention will be at its peak
New customers will be lured by the prospective benefits available to members

Cons:

Non members may be persuaded to try other sites if the membership cost is too high
The membership price must be calculated precisely in a data-based manner, otherwise losses cannot be controlled during the middle of the membership period.

3. Promo codes and free shipping offers never go out of style

When you’re trying to build an extensive customer base, you can provide limited period free shipping during the holiday season, or free shipping promo codes based on certain criteria like past purchases, referrals or social media advertising.

Some of the high-end retailers who have increased online sales over the last year by offering free shipping for limited periods include Macy’s, BestBuy, PetSmart, Rent the runway, Instacart, and Wholefoods. Deliv has enabled Shopify retailers like Nordstrom, the Outnet, Farfetch, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue and net- a- porter to offer same day shipping at nominal prices. These stores do offer promotional vouchers for free shipping that would increase customer turnover.

Image Source: Macy’s

Pros:

The exclusive treatment increases level of customer loyalty
Word of mouth advertising and referrals would increase
Site visitors during free shipping offer times can become recurring customers

Cons:

When there are no offers on shipping, new customers rarely shop
Cart abandonment can rise if shipping cost is totalled during checkout

In a highly competitive retail landscape, etailers and multichannel retailers alike need to up their game in order to stay ahead of competitors. If all your competitors are offering free shipping options, then you simply cannot afford to stamp a price too high at checkout for shipping costs. Try integrating the cost of shipping into the price of the object so that you need not compromise too much on shipping costs.

Free shipping does not necessarily mean fast shipping, but not delivering on the promise of the last mile can be a major setback for your business. Holding your shipping carrier accountable by constant monitoring of shipments and claiming refunds for service errors can help in demanding a superior delivery performance across the last mile.

The above strategies can be used to stay ahead of the curve and create a loyal customer base for your ecommerce website. Follow a (or create your own) shipping strategy that will suit the products you sell, the consumer base you target and will set you apart from the competition.

Deliver a superior last mile experience along with the free 2 day shipping and watch your profits grow. Here’s to winning the last mile!

Compare Shipping Rates of USPS vs UPS vs FedEx vs DHL in 2018

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Compare Shipping Rates of USPS vs UPS vs FedEx vs DHL in 2018

Bianca Barath — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 12:54:28 +0000

Dimensional Weight Pricing

UPS and FedEx have recently started to charge a dimensional weight fee. Until recently, your shipping rates with these two carriers depended on package weight. Now, the package size matters. So, if you have been shipping light weight goods that occupy significant space in shipping trucks or planes, you will be expected to pay more now. Dimensional weight pricing was applicable only with packages that are larger than three cubic feet. If you shipped smaller items, there was no change in your shipping rates. But that again has changed and now, every package is subject to dimensional weight rules.

FedEx had changed its dimensional weight divisor from 166 to 139 on January 2, 2017, for only U.S. ground and Express shipments. Now, in 2018, FedEx SmartPost is also added to the list of service levels with the 139 dimensional weight divisor. UPS has a dimensional weight divisor of 139 for packages bigger than 1,728 cubic inches or one cubic foot. And the weight divisor is 166 for smaller packages.

Peak Shipment Surcharge

UPS announced a new peak surcharge fee in June 2017. And then, UPS updated it twice to expand its geographic reach. There are also added extra charges for excessively heavy packages going to Puerto Rico, Hawaii or Alaska, as well as packages from Hong Kong or China.

General Rate Increases

UPS raised its air and ground service rates by 4.9% in 2017. FedEx has raised rates differently for these services.

Negotiable Rates:

FedEx and UPS account managers have the authority to lower your shipping rates if you offer volumes. So, if you are a higher volume shipper, ask your account manager to lower rates. FedEx depends on several middlemen to deliver their goods. So, there are bound to be more taxes in their invoices.

DHL is a great choice if you are looking to ship internationally. Within the US, it’s not a viable option. This is because DHL is headquartered in Germany and not in the US. They excel in international shipping. So, choose DHL services if your shipments are predominantly in overseas markets.

The USPS has affordable options within the US. In fact, it is the most affordable choice among all four. There are no surcharges for fuel, remote areas, additional handling etc. Their delivery speed is not excellent but it works well if you are on a budget. If you deal with non-urgent, small-scale and nearby deliveries, USPS is your best bet.

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