9 Ways to Lower Your Freight Shipping Costs

FBABEE Forwarder

A growing e-commerce enterprise would need lots of funds to sustain itself. After all, there are expenses in transporting your products aside from paying for them. The prices for the goods may vary due to the costs of the raw materials, your deals and discounts with your supplier, and many more, so there are minor adjustments you can make to lower them.

Alternatively, you can apply some strategies to lower your freight shipping expenditures. They may lie on your choice of a freight forwarding firm, schedule of shipments, your reputation, and others. Only by finding the perfect strategic mix can you save money from shipping your goods. Here are some helpful ways to lower freight shipping costs that you can try.

Choose a suitable carrier

Selecting the suitable carrier not only ensures that your products can arrive safely at their destination but may also help you reduce costs in many ways. For example, if your freight forwarder has an established good reputation, the processes may run more smoothly, and there can be mark-down offers. One example that ranks in the list of good freight forwarders in Amazon FBA is the FBABEE forwarder.

Work with a good freight forwarder

One of the first things you should put in your mind is to assess whether your freight forwarder can meet your business needs. You can start by checking their clients’ feedback, offers, and whether they can help you reduce expenses. A firm with enough experience can build a good network that may benefit you in the long run.

Do not waste your time on freight forwarders that had instances of lousy service. You'll save money and get better service if you choose with a carrier that's already well-known in your area. Or, you can talk to your current and dependable transportation partner about developing new business in your lane to save expenses.

Contract forwarders nearby your destination

Long drives can spike up your costs. The price will grow the farther the shipping point is. You can check out the carriers near the warehouse where you deliver your goods to reduce your freight shipping expenses.

Develop beneficial relationships

You shouldn’t break off all relationships with current carriers and begin over with new carriers each year. Extended agreements provide carriers time to seek out additional local customers to improve their network's efficiency and reduce the number of deadhead miles as much as possible.

Adjust your shipping schedules

Shipping your items wherein they can arrive on the dot, avoid peak seasons, and ensure lower costs can bring drastic change to your business. Although there’s nothing wrong with transporting your items early, doing it a little later may provide you with some benefits.

Ensure consistent shipment load

Typically, carriers will prefer reliable clients with large freight amounts. So, talk with your forwarder about consistent shipment volumes. If they can anticipate working with you daily, the carrier may promote such transports and grow their network for receiving consistent freight. With a better network, they will do their work more efficiently, which can lower your costs.

Ship your items in bulk

Do not waste time and money by dividing a particular volume of products into multiple shipments. Instead, you can consider shipping them in one go. Doing this may reduce your costs as your carrier will only process the items once, such as loading and unloading them. Moreover, you can save up storage space, which may require some fees too. 

Avoid on-peak shipping

On-peak shipment isn't necessary unless you're a supplier of perishable products. Shipping during non-peak hours might result in considerable cost reductions depending on the local market. The use of backhaul shipping, in which carriers try to fill up empty trucks returning to the port, can help lower costs even further. Carriers located in destination centers may have backhaul capacity available if you ship large quantities.

Notify your freight forwarder in advance

Notifying your freight forwarder in advance gives them time to prepare their best assets, adjust their schedules, and develop a better plan for you. Pickup, staging, and live-loading may all be enhanced with better planning. The more time they have to prepare, the more efficient they can be and the lower their prices will be for you.

Maximize freight space

Unnecessarily taking up freight space undoubtedly spikes up the amount you have to pay. That’s why ensuring that you can maximize the efficiency of your freight can drastically lower your costs.

Reevaluate your packaging

When designing packaging and determining carton sizes, do not neglect the impact of packaging optimization on freight prices. Reducing unnecessary space almost always results in lower pricing for customers since corporations base freight rates on the quantity of space used. It pays to minimize product loss, yet minor breaking may be acceptable to save money with current packaging.

Remove unnecessary dunnage

Shippers may go too far in their efforts to keep a product safe. Carriers can assist you in reducing the amount of dunnage in your shipment and hence your transportation costs while at the same time ensuring that damage is not increased. Don't be scared to ask them for help if you have a problem. Carriers' dimensional weight pricing systems reward shippers that ship in precisely the right-sized boxes, reducing the weight and dunnage of the packages.

Conclusion

These remedies only need common sense, yet shippers routinely ignore them, resulting in overpayments. But, you can differ! See whether any of the mentioned concepts apply to your organization. You should question beliefs regarding your freight program. Changing the status quo saves money and increases investment returns.