Neal Elbaum- Life of an Entrepreneur Transparent International
Florida, USA
Here’s a quick tip that you can implement right away to save on shipping charges
Use USPS flat rate boxes We use USPS flat rate boxes to mail our packages. We also use a service called ShipStation, which syncs up with our website and allows us to create labels easily. Using this gives us discounted rates on our shipping as well.
Purchase a label printer Two ways that we found to save the most on shipping charges and shipping costs are, purchasing a label printer can not only speed up fulfillment times but also decrease your cost from having to buy expensive packaging slips that stick on the outside of the package.
Avoid locking yourself in one carrier The best way to save money on shipping and postage is to avoid locking yourself into one carrier. Instead, we recommend choosing the best carrier for each order individually.
Use zone skipping The most effective method to save in our business is zone skipping. We ship rather large products, so dimensional weight and even actual product weight make our rates quite expensive when shipping across the country.
Send by freight One of the things we do to save on shipping is to send by freight instead of UPS or FedEx. For this to work, the order needs to be large enough to make sense. You can even split up an order on different freight trucks, but only do this if the customer agrees to it as they may arrive at different times.
Negotiate with multiple carriers Shipping cost is one of the most important factors to staying competitive in the e-commerce’s industry. Through experience, I was able to find ways to trim my shipping cost. Most small business owners are unaware they have negotiating power. Don’t be afraid to negotiate with multiple carriers to see which company will give Getting youStarted thewithlowest a Presentation rates.
Belong to a professional association If you belong to a professional association, see if they have negotiated a discount with major private carriers. I enjoy a good discount with UPS, one benefit provided by Green America, a nonprofit membership organization promoting ethical consumerism, which I joined.