The logistics of freight shipping can seem too complex and expensive for many companies to effectively be viable. This does not always have to be true, however, and even startups and small businesses can create viable and effective freight shipping systems with a couple of tips and tricks. With more services offering automation and integration options, you can have one software for making orders, tracking them and communicating with your logistics chain. You can even outsource your logistics and work with various partner companies to consolidate your less-than-truckload shipments.
Automate and Integrate Systems
When you automate as many of your systems as possible, you can save yourself some valuable time doing repetitive tasks. For instance, marketing automation will allow you to type in information into a form through your marketing company and then use that information to send newsletter emails you your list, put advertisements on various platforms and even allow you to change the information in the middle of a campaign. When you automate your shipping systems, you can have your customers’ shipping information be stored with their account, printed on the ticket and on the label without having to manually transfer the data.
Integrating your systems with all the steps in your logistics chain will automatically update package location for you, your freight companies and your customers. This can reduce the number of lost or misplaced packages as well as give customers better peace of mind when waiting for their items. Integration can also allow you, your customers and your logistics partners the ability to insure packages at various levels.
Outsource Logistics
One way to make freight shipping more viable for your business is to outsource your logistics. This can help you save the cost of building and maintaining your own warehouse, having a fleet of trucks and drivers and even working out how to ship internationally by water or air. When you outsource things like logistics, marketing and even answering services, you are getting the benefit of having an experienced company with resources and contacts already in place to do these important tasks. This frees you up to focus on the core competencies of your company such as making products and providing services. While large corporations use outsourcing to save money on bulk needs, startups and small businesses can also save by having a smaller payroll without sacrificing professional logistic practices and equipment. Companies you outsource with can even offer you better insurance plans on your shipments than you can afford on your own.
LTL Freight Shipping
When you can consolidate shipments with less-than-truckload freight options either to your location or from it, you can save on fuel and driver costs. Full-load trucking can be more cost effective for many larger companies but being able to consolidate loads within your company or with close partner businesses can help you save money over running a partially empty truck. For instance, if both your small accounting practice and the restaurant next door order paper goods from the same place, you can coordinate your shipments to come in the same delivery and save on gas, driver time and overall costs. You can sometimes find shipping companies who specialize in LTL and are able to split their truck loads between various clients. This takes the coordination out of your hands without costing you as much as running your own truck at a partial load.
Freight shipping is not an inexpensive process, but you can find ways to cut your costs or even share the expenses with other businesses. When you automate and integrate your systems, consolidate shipments and outsource your logistics, you can create a viable freight shipping system for almost any size of company. You can even take advantage of combining your shipping needs with those of other companies in for LTL freight shipping to and from your company. Cutting costs with automation and shared loads can make freight more viable for your company, whether you work in the logistics industry or in one which ships products and supplies.
