Managing Costs of Shipping for Small Business

Any business that doesn’t sent hundreds of packages a day falls into the category of small businesses. If you have such business, it means that your business is a home-based one and you use eBay and other platforms for the shipping of your products. Or you may have a formal business address but then, the types and pace of your business operations bring you in the category of small businesses.

One of the biggest challenges for the small businesses is to manage shipping in order to contain the costs and improve efficiency and effectiveness of shipping process. For this purpose, you will first need to find a shipping service for your business. A few things are worth mentioning in this regard.

Shipping considerations for small businesses

You will need to find a shipping service that offers you the lowest overall cost on shipping. There are a few factors that need to be taken into consideration.

• Product delivery time
• Package’s weight
• To and from shipping addresses
• Package’s dimensions
• Tracking
• Handling

Rates are negotiable

You can negotiate over the costs of shipping if you ship your products frequently. You can have this leverage by shipping more. However, it doesn’t really mean that you cannot ask for the lower rates if you are a too small business.

If you ship 100 products every month, you can ask the carrier’s representative for discounted rates. They will provide you the discount if your business is running at a promising pace.

Pickup and delivery of products

It doesn’t sound easy to run to courier’s office every now and then. Therefore, you can look for the option of free pick-up and delivery. However, the only disadvantage of this approach is that you are going to rely on the pick-up schedule.

Package handling charges

There may be the fragile items that you need to ship to your customers. Fragile items need special handling. For this purpose, there are going to additional handling charges on you.

Shipping materials

You will need to ensure your product reaches safe to the customers. For this purpose, you will need to pay attention to the packaging supplies you use. The most considerable packaging solutions include envelopes, cushioning material, boxes and tape. You can get advice about these items from your shipper.

Multiple shipping partners

Dealing with one shipping carrier and negotiating for the lowest cost may work well but it is going to be even better if you go for other shipping options as well. Having several options in hand is going to help you go for the most suitable one.