Ideally, shipping should be straightforward: either get components from the supplier to the warehouse, or ship your products from the warehouse to the customer. But as your business grows, it can quickly become much more complicated (and costly) than that.
Potential pain points are everywhere, from rising and opaque costs, to a lack of automation, to potential overcharges on carrier bills.
Fortunately, there are solutions—ways that you and your business can take back the power and boost your bottom line. Here, we’ll look at three of the most common shipping pain points, then point out how your company can power past them.
Rising Costs, Lowered Visibility
Everyone is feeling the pain.
Perhaps the biggest and most obvious pain point for businesses that ship lots of product is a dual one: rising shipping costs, coupled with a lack of transparency, visibility, and market intelligence. In other words, your costs are going up—and you don’t know why, or whether you’re paying fair prices to major carriers.
Unfortunately, this problem is all too common, and many of our clients don’t even realize it’s happening to them. You may think you’ve already negotiated the best possible prices in your recent carrier agreements, for example, but still be overpaying
In fact, you might be surprised to learn how much you can save with better visibility and more market intelligence. For example, with access to millions of transactions via MCG’s robust database, you could go into your next pricing negotiations with the power of information on your side and end up saving a double digit percentage on your carrier shipping costs; that’s a potential 15-35% cost savings.
Lack of Automation
Are costly errors hampering your business?
In the world of supply chains, shipping, and logistics, most mid- to large-sized businesses end up dealing with hundreds of individuals, from suppliers to your own warehouse employees. And though more people can mean more productivity, it also means you’re increasingly prone to human error.
Everyone makes mistakes. And while putting guidelines in place can help to reduce the likelihood of errors, it will never eliminate them completely.
But with managed services from a logistics provider like MCG, you can outsource some (or all) of your day-to-day shipment execution functions, leveraging MCG’s staff and technology to automate your processes and quickly see a number of benefits—including better efficiencies, on-time deliveries, a higher degree of visibility and reporting, and perhaps most importantly, both hard and soft dollar savings.
Auditing Bills & Invoices
Make sure you’re paying what you were promised.
Are you outsourcing to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider who has existing relationships with their own preferred carriers? If so, are you also performing your own internal audit?
If not, you could be making an expensive mistake. Though you might save some time and energy by skipping an audit, you’re also setting yourself up for potential overcharges that can put a significant dent in your bottom line.
Don’t set the foxes to guard the hen house. With MCG performing their internal audits for carrier bills and invoices, our clients frequently save from 3-7% on monthly shipping costs. These savings stem from significant carrier overcharges that can go completely unnoticed without a proper audit.
Shipping can be painful and expensive—but it shouldn’t be. With the right partner, you can transform your shipping and logistics processes from a drain to a bottom line booster.
Looking to power past common shipping pain points? Contact MCG to get started today!
