When it comes down to it, packing and shipping your business’ products and merchandise can often be one of the biggest costs that your business must endure. Not only do you have to do deal with high shipping fees – you also have to worry about damaged products, lost merchandise, and stolen merchandise.
There is a huge margin for error and that margin can cut deep into your profits and available cash flow. This is exactly why it is so important to find ways to save money on shipping. If you
don’t come up with a solution now, your business’ growth may be stunted. Here are five ways to save money on packing and shipping your products.
- Streamline your shipping and receiving center. If you don’t streamline your shipping and receiving center, your merchandise may take forever to get to customers. As a result, customers may cancel orders, which will start to become incredibly expensive and time consuming.
- Make sure that all your boxes and crates are the right size. Another way to save money is to make sure that your products fit perfectly in boxes and crates. If they don’t, you may be paying to ship empty air. This is especially the case if you have oddly shaped products – you don’t want to throw them in a large box just because they fit in a large box. Ideally, you want to have the boxes made for your product so that there is minimal leeway. Over time, you will save a lot of money by reducing all that dead space.
- Understand all taxes and shipping fees for overseas orders. When you ship overseas, it is a completely different ballgame. Not only do you have to make sure your box or crate is packed properly, you also have to pay various tariffs, fees, and customs penalties.
- you don’t pay these expenditures, your package won’t arrive safely. Understanding what these costs are is important because you want to be able to include these costs into the price of your product. If you are shipping to a retailer, you may want to add these additional costs to the invoice.
- Invest in your own trucks and hire drivers. Another way to save money – in the long run – is to invest in your own trucks. With your own trucks and drivers, you won’t need to worry about the hassle and cost of going with other shipping methods.
- All you will need to do is visit Shipper’s Supplies and outfit your trucks with racks, straps, and other supplies for shipping. When it comes down to it, your product may get to the destination most safely by using your own trucks.
- Make sure that you use enough packing materials. It is also important to use enough packing materials. One of the most important things about cost effective shipping is to not let the product get damaged in transit. This is why you want to have just enough room in your boxes for packing materials. In the end, shipping will get more and more expensive if you have broken merchandise.
- [“source-businessmerch”]
