Shipping

Shipping

Tricks for lowering your costs

For many businesses, shipping makes up a large part of their budget. Whether it’s paying to have supplies shipped in, or shelling out to ship your product to customers and clients, shipping solutions can put a real dent in your bottom line.

However, there are some easy ways to cut your shipping costs:

  • Be organized! This is the most important thing when you’re working out a shipping solution. If you’re the shipper, try to send in bulk so that you only have to ship once. If that doesn’t work for your client, try to arrange a logical shipping procedure so that you don’t end up running around town. If you’re shipping yourself, work out a route that doesn’t have you wasting time and gas doubling back on yourself; if you’re having it shipped, prepare all your shipping needs efficiently so that you’re not going out of your way to pick up shipping supplies. A little forethought can save you a lot of effort.
  • Go bulk. Whether shipping to or from, make an effort to minimize the number of shipping trips that are required. Storage is often less expensive than shipping, so invest in some space to stock supplies that you’ll need in the future. Offer your customers and clients incentives to have them request bulk shipments. Buy all your shipping supplies, such as boxes, tape, labels and postage, in bulk and you’ll probably get a better deal, too.
  • Keep track of things. Going hand in hand with your organizational plan, you need to keep track of your shipping supplies and processes. Take note of what supplies you have so you know when to restock and can do so in bulk. You’d be surprised how much time, money and effort you can waste when you have to run out for one extra shipping box! You can also monitor waste this way, and reevaluate any processes that aren’t cost and time efficient. You also want to be aware of how much, how often and when you’re shipping to and from your business. Doing so will allow you to again reevaluate your processes and perhaps streamline them so that you’re doing all your shipping at once, saving time and money.