How Small Parcel Shippers Can Adapt to the New Normal
Now five months into the pandemic, and with no end in sight, it’s a good time for small parcel shippers to re-evaluate their shipping strategy. The current way one ships, such as with their preferred carrier or volume discount, may no longer be optimal in the COVID-era.
If you haven’t already, there’s no better time than now to take a few hours or days to run analyses to see how your business has changed. Many of our customers report having seen shifting trends in what and where they are shipping. If you don’t adapt to these shifting trends, you could be leaving money on the table.
After gathering your data from before and during the pandemic, there are two main trends to look for. The first is geography: has there been a shift as to where you are shipping? Second, how have the weight and size of your shipments changed?
Try to evaluate where your business has lost and gained in order to optimize shipping moving forward. For example, if you see in your data that your business has seen a shift to heavier parcels, it might make sense to invest in more flat-rate packaging, which can be better for heavy parcels.
Another example could be the discovery that you are shipping more internationally than you were before. Depending on your volume, you may be entitled to international volume discounts from your carrier.
In any case, by having a complete and thorough understanding of your new needs, you will be able to negotiate better deals when working with carriers, or simply just make optimal decisions in your packaging purchases.
The specific recommendations will depend entirely on the trends you find in your data. After running your analysis, please do not hesitate to reach out to us to see if we can assist in finding you a cost-saving shipping strategy moving forward.
