Freight shipping can be expensive. There are many variables involved, such as tax, packing supplies, and carrier fees, all of which increase the shipping cost. What’s more, it’s often hard to find a carrier that can fulfill your needs and offer the best quotes that won’t squeeze your shipping budget.
However, you can look into possible opportunities to help you take advantage of reduced freight quotes. One great way to do this is by working with Betachon. Betachon can help you lock in the best freight quotes that can save your business thousands of dollars.
9 practical ways to get the best freight quotes for small parcel shipping
While shipping small parcels should be relatively cheap, it’s not always the case. Every year carriers increase their charges. Therefore, it’s no surprise you might want to cut corners and take advantage of practices that can help lower these costs. To help you with that, here are nine ways to pen in the absolute best freight quote for small parcel shipping.
Negotiate the freight cost
If you are a shipper with a high volume of parcels to be shipped, consider negotiating with your carrier to get a discount.
Negotiating the shipping cost can help you cut off a significant amount of money from the original quote.
But you have to do your homework before making the bargain. Some of the things you can do to increase your chances of getting the best rates are:
Have ready data to support your case
This can be a report showing the high volume of packages you have been shipping for the last couple of months. It can also be data to show you ship frequently and deliver parcels to customers within a few days.
Betachon can help you come up with a comprehensive report suitable for negotiation.
Compare what other freight carriers are charging
Don’t go to the negotiation table without comprehensively understanding what other carriers are charging. When you know what they are all charging, you’re in a better position to know if they all offer a 10% discount, which of them will still be a better deal.
Consolidate your freight shipping
Consolidating freight shipping means shipping your parcels less frequently and using optimally-sized packages.
For example, if you ship from point A to point B all the time, you can stack as many parcels together to ship more orders less frequently.
Luckily for you, stacking small parcels together can be a lot easier.
If shipping a parcel from your supplier costs $500, but shipping five parcels costs $2000, you might want to go with the second option that cuts on costs and saves you time that you would typically use to make arrangements for shipping individual parcels.
Request quotes from several freight forwarders
Every freight forwarder has its shipping charges. And it can work to your advantage if you compare their rates and pick one that offers the best quotes.
When picking a freight forwarder, don’t just look at their pricing. The freight forwarder can be cheap, but their services can be wanting.
So ask yourself, does the forwarder offer consistent, high-quality freight services, or do they have a reputation for disappointing customers?
Compare their services and their pricing to make an informed decision.
Having a handful of forwarders, you can choose from also helps you when it comes to bargaining. You’ll have powerful bargaining power as you’ll already know what each offers beforehand and the reasonable percentage discount to ask for.
Tip: GDS freight is an excellent outsourced freight solution that offers competitive rates.
Cut down on packaging
As much as you’re shipping small packages, you might be using more oversized packaging materials than you should.
When shipping, the size of the boxes plays a considerable role in how much you’ll be charged. The bigger and heavier the box, the more you’ll be charged.
This is because a big and heavy box takes up more space, and you can only fit a few of them in the truck before it’s full.
Therefore, to offset costs from packaging material, aim to use small, lightweight boxes.
Apart from this, you can also opt to use poly bags. Poly bags are cheap. They are also small and lightweight, meaning you’ll be charged less for shipping with them.
However, note that poly bags should only be used to ship non-fragile items like clothes.
Select the best carrier for your route
When it comes to the shipping business, choosing a carrier that meets your needs is the most crucial part. Therefore, you need to choose right.
Each carrier has its lanes, and cost can fluctuate greatly depending on the carrier’s lane.
Certain carriers are great for long, cross-country shipping, while others are excellent for regional transportation.
Regional carriers should be your best option if you ship within a specific region. Regional carriers are great for short distances, and they are relatively inexpensive.
You might want to look into international freight services from popular carriers such as DHL, USPS, USP, and FedEx if you ship internationally.
Choosing a carrier that offers the best quotes also goes beyond looking at the cost they charge for their services. It requires you to compare their services to the charging fee.
Don’t be tempted to go for the cheapest carrier before analyzing if they can fulfill your needs as expected.
Research and confirm that they are a credible carrier worth the money they charge for their services. This way, you’ll be at peace whenever you’re shipping with them.
Make use of programs and discounts
All freight carriers have programs and discounts for their customers.
Joining these programs and discounts can help save a significant amount of money in the long run.
Some discounts are available once you create an account with a freight carrier, even if you’re shipping just once. Other discounts are only available to high-volume shippers.
For example, FedEx offers up to 30% off once you open a free account with them. They also offer up to 70% off freight shipping on select business accounts.
On the other hand, DHL offers up to 30% off when you make a shipping order with a credit card and up to 45% off on international business shipping when you use your DHL Express business account.
Know your freight classification
Freight classification is a standardized pricing shipping method designed by National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) to establish uniform shipping costs between multiple brokers, warehouses, and carriers.
A freight class measures an item’s value, ease of handling, liability, weight, length, height, and density.
There are 18 freight classes, and they range between 50 to 500. 50 is the lowest and 500 is the highest.
The lower the class, the cheaper the freight shipping services, and the higher the class, the more expensive the freight shipping services.
To keep your freight class as low as possible:
- Consider making your parcel as dense as possible.
- Don’t leave empty space.
- Avoid exceeding your package beyond 60 inches in height.
Understand carrier lanes
Freight routes or carrier lanes impact the freight quote you get.
To get the absolute minimum charge, you need to understand the two most commonly used terms; head haul and backhaul.
Headhaul refers to the initial freight shipment. This is the parcel order that’s shipped first. Shipping carriers charge relatively high for head haul because their trucks are full, and they only have one business- to ship your products.
Backhaul, on the other hand, refers to parcels shipped on the return trip. And since no carrier wants to pay for an empty truck, backhaul shipping rates are usually significantly discounted.
If you can schedule your freight shipments through a backhaul lane, you can save a lot of money.
Lock in the Best Freight Quotes for Small Parcel
Getting the best freight quotes for shipping small parcels can be a lot of work. You have to do a lot of research and factor in many variables, all of which will be worth it in the end.
And while you can find favorable freight costs for your shipping operations, getting an audit can help you evaluate what you’re actually paying for. An audit can help you save thousands of dollars on shipping costs. What’s more, an audit comes in handy for optimizing shipping rates and carrier agreements. It also saves time as you don’t have to analyze your report trying to figure out what each data mean and if it’s correct.
Betachon offers audit services to small parcel shippers. And we would like to help you. Our methods have been tested and proven to work by leading shipping businesses. And the best part- there’s no risk working with us. You only pay a percentage of what you save! Request a demo today, and let’s lock in the best freight quotes for your business.