We Always Use the Post Office...It Costs Less…Or Does It?

We hear this phrase almost daily any more. And yes, many times this is a true statement, but our CPS customers are finding out that this is a very bad assumption. In fact, using only one carrier to ship your products can result in much higher costs than you could ever realize even if you are shipping only a few packages per week!

A good example of this is when one of our employees recently decided to ship a large flat box that weighed 4 pounds. Like many of our customers, he first checked the rates for shipping it using USPS Parcel Post because he incorrectly assumed that they were the cheapest. He found that the cost was $63.23 because of the package dimensions and it would be delivered in 2-9 days. This seemed very high since the shipping cost was nearly as much as the value of the product. He then decided to let CPS shop for the best price and service. To his surprise he discovered that by using standard UPS Ground rates the same package would be delivered in 1-5 days and would only cost $12.81. This is a cost savings of $50.42 for a single package!

So you say, I will look at each thing I ship and determine the best way. After that I will always use the best way I discovered when I ship that item. This is another false sense of security concept. With things like fuel surcharges and prices changing constantly the results of this decision can be costly, too. This points to the fact that automated systems for doing pricing on a box by box basis optimizes savings and is your only real choice to keep from over-paying in today’s fluctuating economy.

If you want to minimize your shipping costs and maximize your profits on every box you ship, you need to have access to multiple carriers and shop between them for each and every parcel. This is especially true when you receive carrier discounts because this, too, can have varying results depending on many factors. The savings you will receive by employing the right tools will easily pay many times over for any solutions needed to get this done in an automated fashion.