Are Shipping Cost Savings Worth it?

Let’s pretend that Mr. Abernathy is the owner of a major chain of craft stores. Let’s also pretend that Ms. Eliza is the owner of a small, but impressive scrapbook supply manufacturing company. And let’s go one step further and pretend that the two of them happened to end up in the same small gift ship at the same time. Ms. Eliza introduced herself and subtly pointed out her products in the central display of the store.

In response Mr. Abernathy could request a sample. He could let her know that he was looking for something fresh to present at an upcoming corporate meeting where they’ll decide on what to order for the store inventory nationwide next spring. They could shake hands and move about their business after exchanging a few, additional, meaningless pleasantries.

Mr. Abernathy may have requested a sample because he was being polite. It doesn’t matter. Ms. Eliza now has an opportunity to send her products in to a buying meeting for what would be a HUGE client for her company. She prepped the package herself; arranging all the products “just so” to show them off effectively. She had it picked up for delivery the same day. Then she sat back and waited to hear back from the elusive, but surprisingly polite, Mr. Abernathy.

But she never hears back. She knows that the meeting has come and gone and can’t understand why he didn’t at least respond…until her package is returned to her 3 weeks later. The poor delivery man she’s usually quite friendly with gets the brunt of her frustration, but there’s really nothing he can do regarding explaining what happened to the package, where it’s been or why it wasn’t delivered. It really doesn’t matter. She’s missed her chance.

The worst part is that Ms. Eliza switched to an untried parcel service recently in order to get shipping cost savings. And after the Mr. Abernathy package debacle it’s definitely not worth it! It made a big difference in the bottom line profitability for the company, but they’ve just lost what could have been a HUGE client.

If I had been there I absolutely would have told Ms. Eliza to use a major carrier. You can’t give up quality service for shipping cost savings. It’s never worth it in the long run. I would have suggested she achieve shipping cost savings by working with Parcel Savings. They monitor their clients shipments and handle all refund requests so that you never pay for anything you don’t actually receive. This lowers shipping costs without decreasing shipping quality.

If that package had been sent to Mr. Abernathy through one of the traditional, large carriers it probably would have had a better chance of arriving on time. (Not that they never make any mistakes, but they do offer better delivery rates and guarantees than the average small shipping company). As it is…Ms. Eliza wasted her once in a lifetime “run in” and will probably never have another chance to present her products to that particular company. Don’t be like Ms. Eliza; wasted opportunities haunt you for life. Make sure you’re prepared to take advantage of every one with a solid shipping company for dependability paired with a professional parcel management service for shipping cost savings.

Ben Jamison is a consultant working with companies looking to streamline their shipping processes and decrease their shipping costs. The first thing he suggests for most clients is Parcel Savings. Parcel Savings handles parcel refunds and discounts for their clients. Many first time users are surprised to see themselves receiving $1,000’s in refunds per week.