Here is a question: how many local and urgent deliveries does your company make? If the answer is a lot, then you fully comprehend just how critical a courier service can be to your firm. Here is another question: how many packages are delivered at the last minute across the city? If the answer is also a lot, then you know just how crucial a courier service can be to your firm.
In today’s economy, where consumers expect everything now, couriers have become essential to the business model of companies that ship goods to their customers, whether it is food or flowers, dry cleaning or decorated baskets of fruits.
If couriers are integral to your daily operations, then your budget is likely taking a beating. How exactly can your business reduce the everyday costs of using courier services?
Here are five tips to save money when using a courier service:
1. Use a Courier in Your Delivery Area
Should a courier need to make a long-distance trip that is outside of their delivery area, then you will be required to pay a premium. This is something you definitely want to avoid.
What’s the solution? It’s simple: only use a courier in your delivery area.
Rather than hiring a courier service that is cheap on the surface, only tap these businesses that can deliver the goods in a timely manner in your particular zone.
2. Your Shipments Must be Organized
How many times have courier services been late, delivered a package to the wrong location, or had the name wrong because the shipper was not organized? This is more common than you think – and many customers can attest to this fact.
In the event that you want to avoid disasters, headaches, and additional costs, then you need to be more organized. This consists of getting the right name and address, having the shipment ready to head out for delivery, and ensuring the product is correctly packaged.
3. Submit Orders in Advance
Although couriers specialize in last-minute shipments, they do often recommend that their clients to submit orders a bit more in advance. This will also come at a reduced price, and that is always a good thing for small budget, cash-strapped firms.
Do you know that you need to ship a box of candy at the end of the month? Submit your order at the courier company now!
4. Be Accurate in Your Shipments
This does tie into one of the previous point, but it is still worth repeating: you must be accurate in your shipments, and it is more than just getting the name and address right.
One critical area is weight and size of the package.
For instance, let’s say that when you submit your order, you inform the company that your shipment weighs five pounds. When the courier employee arrives to your location to pick up the package, and they determine that it is more than five pounds, one of two things will occur: they will refuse to accept the package or they will charge you more.
Simply put: be accurate – or be honest – whichever course of action you decided to take.
5. Use Courier Comparison Websites
In the end, a successful method of getting the best bang for your buck is to utilize a courier comparison website. These digital outlets will allow you to not only peruse the numerous courier companies in your city, they feature a tool to compare the price, the service, and the ratings.
Use it! With shipping costs the way they are these days, you need any leverage possible!
Couriers are different than the typical big boys like UPS or FedEx. They specialize in smaller, urgent parcels that need to be sent in a certain geographical location of the city. The number of courier firms is growing, which means cost savings for you. Be organized, start comparing, and only use couriers in your area. If you do this, your shipping outlays will dwindle.