parcel rates on the rise? Try these five cost-cutting tips
Shippers can try to hold down parcel shipping costs through rate negotiations, of course, but there are other ways to attack rising prices, according to a supply chain management consulting firm.
It's a new year, but for parcel shippers it's not a happy time. As they do every January, UPS, FedEx, and DHL increased their rates in lockstep last month. Standard rates for ground services rose by an average of 4.9 percent, excluding hefty fuel surcharges. Domestic and international air-express rates rose by an average of 6.9 percent, which all three carriers offset with a 2-percent reduction in their fuel surcharges. The operative word here is "average": many individual rates increased by a much higher percentage, and most surcharges increased as well.
Shippers can try to hold down parcel shipping costs through rate negotiations, of course, but there are other ways to attack rising prices, says Jeffrey Haushalter, an associate with Chicago Consulting, which specializes in supply chain management for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. The consulting firm has identified a number of tactics its customers can use to control parcel shipping costs. What follows are some examples of those techniques, most of which apply to shippers that send multiple pack- ages to a single consignee:
Pound shaving. Parcel carriers round weights up to the next pound when they rate shipments: 1.1 pounds is rated as 2 pounds, for example. To get around that, shippers should look for opportunities to shift contents among packages that are destined for the same consignee, bringing the weight down on some packages and adding to others to minimize the number of packages whose weights are subject to rounding. A simplified example: If two parcels each weigh 2.1 pounds, shifting the contents to bring one down to 1.9 pounds and the other up to 2.3 pounds will save on shipping costs.
Dimensional weight packaging. Rates may be assessed not on the actual weight but on the higher "dimensional weight" in cases where the packages are light but bulky. The usual antidote is to use smaller cartons if possible. "If you can downsize to a smaller box, you can get your load factor up and limit the amount of corrugated," Haushalter says. But be careful: Sometimes using a larger carton can be more cost-effective if it reduces the number of boxes in the shipment. "You want to focus on the total cost of corrugated, fill, and transportation," he says.
Optimal wave creation. The way you design picking waves can affect parcel costs. "Try to come up with a total volume estimate and work backward to release a wave that will fill the trailer," Haushalter recommends. That will bring down unit costs. In addition, waves should be planned to keep packages to a particular consignee together on the same truck.
Back-order management. If there are multiple items on back order for a particular consignee, holding them until the entire back order is ready may be less costly than shipping each item as it becomes available. That's a good decision only when it does not harm customer service, of course. Another twist on this strategy: Waiting a little longer may reduce the num- ber of back orders. "We found a lot of times that if you hold off a day on a wave or a release, you eliminate a lot of additional back-order shipments," says Haushalter.
Service review. Do your customers really require delivery by 9: 00 a.m.? Or even the next day? Make sure you're not paying for expedited services that your customers don't need.
These tactics aren't for everyone, Haushalter acknowledges. Low-volume shippers, for example, might not find they're worth the effort. But for high-volume shippers, the payoff can be substantial: Haushalter reports that one of his clients used these strategies to cut $2 million from a $25 million parcel shipping spend.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.