Companies often need help when looking for ways to reduce transportation costs. They often think of the box when looking at obvious ways to save money. Freight management is currently a hot spot in the logistics industry. It’s hard for people who work for the company to look away from what is and always has been to find new and unique ways to change and, in turn, cut costs.
When an external consultant can see the current load management of the company, he sees everything as it is at the time of the analysis. It makes it easier for them to determine which areas are competent and which are not. It is the reason why logistics and supply chain consulting companies are hired.
Important tips for saving money when managing freight
Discounts compared to actual rates. As shown in the scenario above, discounts sometimes give the customer the lowest basic rate. Even if the carrier offers a big discount, look at how high the initial shipping cost is. A typical table of rates lower than other discounted carriers shows how outdated discounts or percentages can be.
Fuel surcharges. It is another area where businesses often receive additional fees. Many companies believe that fuel surcharges are fixed at a specific rate. It is not what should be assumed. Unless it is specified in your agreement with the carrier, the truck fuel surcharge charged to your company may be twice what could have been agreed upon. It is often an area where you can save a lot of money.
Behind the scenes daily operations. When considering employee costs associated with freight management, you need to factor in the time spent each day receiving and reviewing carrier proposals. Even if the company gets fewer requests per shipment, and the average shipment per week is ten, sixty requests need to be analyzed and evaluated.
If it takes ten minutes to review each offer, you’re counting on six hundred minutes or ten hours a week when the transportation manager is busy reviewing offers. Thanks to technology that logistics consultants can implement today, this time can be significantly reduced. Web-based logistics software can reduce time spent on tedious tasks and increase time spent on profitable operations within the company.
Implementation of the freight management software helps in other areas of freight management, such as checking and auditing bills of lading. Inaccurate billing results in lost profits in the company’s cargo division. To save money, software should be introduced to check for inaccuracies in the audit process.
Conclusion
Package management. By hiring a cargo management consulting company, they will carefully audit the current internal process. They then implement a plan that will work within the organization to minimize the time spent handling damage claims, lost shipments, claims settled, delivery schedules, and document preparation.
