Tag: surcharges

Holiday Shipping 2020: Will Your Parcels be Picked Up and Delivered on Time?

Posted on | by Charles Moore

Days after “Black Friday” UPS put holiday shipping restrictions on Nike and Gap and directed drivers to stop Cyber Monday pick-ups at other large retailers that are already exceeding parcel volume forecasts through booming online sales.  

In a year marked by a pandemic-driven shift in consumer buying habits that has driven consecutive quarters of record e-commerce growth, parcel networks have been at or near capacity for months. An unprecedented holiday peak has been on the radar, but as expected, early promotions and efforts to bring parcel volume forward could never be enough.

And in the midst of a monumental peak period, the parcel carriers continue to adjust their strategy to not only drive revenue growth in high demand e-commerce service areas, but also protect volume and achieve competitive advantage as Amazon’s delivery networks continue to evolve. 

Let’s look at some of the latest developments in the parcel shipping environment. They may affect your ability to delight customers this holiday season – and continue serving them well through 2021 and beyond.

E-Commerce Bloats Parcel Volume Beyond Capacity

Demand for the 2020 holiday peak shipping season is forecast to exceed 86 million packages a day – about 7 million packages outside current parcel network capacity. These estimates are validated by the National Retail Federation’s estimate that online shopping increased 44 percent during a five-day stretch that included Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

Both UPS and FedEx prepared retail shippers for tight holiday shipping capacity, issuing advice for holiday shippers and encouraging clients to “shop earlier than ever with special offers or other incentives.” Yet, before December even dawned, both carriers were enforcing volume agreements and applying peak season charges and accessorial fees that create additional order fulfillment cost for shippers. 

In this environment it is critical that you have real-time understanding of your parcel shipping activity. While volume outside agreed-upon levels or historical averages may result in added cost during other parts of the year (as it did with COVID peak surcharges), packages exceeding a shipper’s determined space simply will not be served – at least until additional capacity becomes available.

Shipping Delays: Expect, Forewarn and Facilitate

Based on the recent trends observed, the average package delay rate during the 2020 holiday season may range between 14 percent and 18 percent. Consumers in densely populated cities can expect delays as high as 25 percent to 30 percent. 

Unless you create an expectation of delayed delivery, this can be a real problem for customer experience. Proactive communication with your customers about anticipated delays is one of the most important steps in preserving holiday shipping experience.  Use your website and email communications to help set expectations. 

That said, as consumers’ expectations on speed evolve, we are seeing an increased willingness to wait for a delivery, especially if it means free shipping. According to BoxPoll, more than half of consumers opting for free shipping (57 percent) considered five-day delivery to be “fast” – that’s up 8 percentage points compared to last year. One-third of respondents in the weekly survey said that seven-day delivery is “acceptable” at minimum.

Retailers are positioned to capitalize when they maintain awareness of shipping characteristics, alternative service models and, of course, their customers’ expectations. A “no-rush” option is a familiar part of the Amazon order process, and now other brands are following suit, even offering incentives for delayed or “slow service.” If a consumer considers five-day service “fast,” are you driving up cost by offering more service then they need?

FedEx Counters Amazon’s E-Commerce and Logistics Buildout

The FedEx acquisition of ShopRunner complements the actions that we have seen FedEx taking to remain relevant in e-commerce as Amazon continues to strengthen its logistics and fulfillment capabilities.  

The move reinforces the FedEx position as the anti-Amazon solution for companies seeking an Amazon alternative. Some of the carrier’s other recent activity following the same strategy includes:

  • Acquisition of GENCO to form the basis of Fulfillment by FedEx
  • Moving to a seven-day-a-week delivery schedule
  • Severing ties with Amazon for delivery to focus on other e-commerce volume
  • Pulling SmartPost deliveries into the Home Delivery network to bolster density and profitability.

With the global parcel market positioned to more than double by 2026, fueled by e-commerce growth and further accelerated by COVID-19, both FedEx and UPS will need to continue adding value to retailers’ unichannel solutions to keep volume when Amazon opens their delivery network to third party shipments. Amazon suspended its delivery service earlier this year due to the pandemic, but it is expected to reopen in the near future.

Of course, the parcel carriers are among an ever-growing contingent of organizations devising new strategies to compete with Amazon. Just in time for the holidays, WalMart is dropping the $35 minimum on free shipping for e-commerce purchases of electronics, toys and clothing made for participants in its WalMart+ membership program. The move – and the program – are both designed to compete with Amazon Prime.

Are You Positioned to Compete?

Can you quickly determine how your parcel shipping volume falls within your capacity agreement with your carriers? Do you know how quickly your customers are getting their orders – and whether you are meeting your delivery commitments? Can you determine which SKUs are making money – and which are not?

Ongoing awareness of evolving trends in the parcel environment – from service disruptions to capacity shortages – is integral to your ability to pivot your small package shipping strategy. 

Understanding how those trends affect your transportation cost and service to end customers requires expert analysis and actionable intelligence. The latest enhancements to our technology platform puts the power of that information at your fingertips with best-in-class visualization of data gathered across your entire supply chain.

Schedule a demonstration today to see how our clients are able to identify business trends, understand the impact of cost and service on working capital, and recognize ongoing performance improvement opportunities.

2021 Parcel Rates: 3 Areas for Attention

Posted on | by Todd Benge

The average rate increase for primary services provided by UPS and FedEx mirrors that same familiar 4.9 percent increase that we have seen for many years. 

And just as we have seen for many years, the 2021 parcel rates increase announcements are just a visible layer in the carriers’ rate and service pricing structures. With multiple layers, the complex pricing and surcharge practices of UPS and FedEx can make it difficult to determine the true cost for your small package shipments. 

Beyond the average increase on standard services, it is also important to recognize that surcharges, accessorials, new fees and tweaks to the carriers’ terms and conditions could require you to budget a 2021 cost increase closer to 8.5 percent. Capacity pressures created by exponential e-commerce growth during the pandemic and uncertainty about mid-year or peak surcharges for 2021 creates an environment of unknowns.

You need to understand how your shipment characteristics align with carrier networks. If you are a large shipper with a great contract, be prepared to defend that as tight capacity drives renegotiation motives for UPS and FedEx. Your parcel partner can be a real asset during this time if they have the ability to analyze your historic performance and determine areas for future cost savings that do not jeopardize performance. 

Let’s explore three aspects of this year’s parcel rate increase that could drive new costs in your transportation budget. 

  • Expanded ZIP Codes for Delivery Area Surcharge 

More ZIP codes than ever before will be eligible for Delivery Area Surcharges (DAS) for both UPS and FedEx. Both carriers adjust the applicable ZIP codes every year, but the past two years have reflected significant changes. In 2021, these charges will apply to almost 38 percent of the United States.

The increase for UPS DAS areas will apply to almost 12.3 million people, while the FedEx changes will affect about 11 million people. Ultimately, that means you are facing an additional surcharge for more of your customers. 

This is a difficult adjustment to calculate on your own, but when that much of your customer-base is affected by new costs, deep analysis is required to determine how these changes will impact your budget in 2021.

We talked more about the changes around DAS during our recent parcel rates webinar. Watch the replay for more insight on the how and the why behind this move by the carriers. 

  • Additional Handling Charges for Large Parcels and More to Come

    If your packages measure over 105 inches in length and girth combined, you will be charged an Additional Handling Fee of $16. This dimension change on the fee targets packages that barely miss the Oversize criteria of 130 inches (L and W combined). It applies to packages that take up a lot of space on conveyor belts, but do not get charged high dimensional weight.  

    Parcel carriers are becoming increasingly selective about the packages that move through their automated networks. Large packages, in certain instances, can cause significant problems in an automated facility. Moving them often requires more work from human resources, a costly and time-consuming element. 

    Beyond this $16 charge, UPS is also implementing a new structure for additional handling and large package rates that will differ by zone. Those rates will be announced at a later date, April 11, 2021 for non-hundred-weight packages and July 11, 2021 for hundredweight packages. 

    For heavy retail customers that are not clothing-oriented, this change could create a significant impact. We work with clients to identify specific impacts and solutions to mitigate the added cost.
  • Lightweight 2021 Parcel Rates Face Steepest Increases

    It is important to understand that when the carriers have a rate increase, it is not a universal rate increase across all weights and zones. The average rate increase is 4.9 percent. The level of rate increase for your volume depends on your shipping characteristics. For many shippers a larger percentage of their packages qualify for minimum charges, especially larger shippers with more aggressive pricing. 

    This year, parcel shippers charged at the zone 2, 1-pound minimum will face a steeper increase – about 6.4 percent – than their counterparts in other weight and zone combinations. Likewise, UPS and FedEx rates match between 1 and 15 pounds, and for these lightweight shipments the increases are generally higher than those for heavier packages. 

This strategy of larger increases on lightweight packages is an abrupt change for UPS and FedEx. Two factors likely affect the decision:

  • Competition from Priority Mail: Last year (before COVID-19), FedEx and UPS were both concerned with competition from Priority Mail. Lightweight Priority Mail rates are significantly lower than UPS and FedEx Ground rates, especially to residential addresses. Heading into 2021 with the parcel industry at capacity, there is less concern on competitiveness and more emphasis on profitability.’
  • Profitability: Lightweight packages are typically less profitable for small package carriers than heavier weight packages. Carriers are likely to continue to increase lightweight packages at higher levels as long as there are capacity constraints. Regional carriers can offer an efficient alternative in some of your lightweight shipping scenarios. In light of capacity challenges and other disruptions during 2020, many of these operations have filled a niche and grown. These carriers can sometimes be easier to implement, and they don’t often bring the surcharges the national carriers apply.

    During our Parcel Rates Roundtable we share tips for leveraging regional carriers as part of your parcel program. Watch the webinar to make sure that type of move does not drive up cost with your national carrier due to your tier commitments.

Parcel Bills: Do Not Pay Late

Another area for attention: when its GRI takes effect Jan. 4, 2021, FedEx will begin applying a 6 percent late payment fee. UPS implemented this fee in 2004, and this gives FedEx customers cause to pay close attention to the payment terms in their contracts. 

Not paying your bills on time now becomes a more financially impactful decision, and these fees can add because they apply at the invoice level.

Master Your Parcel Plan, Minimize Rate Impact. 

Do you have your finger on the pulse of your parcel program so you can understand the true cost impact of the 2021 annual General Rate Increase across your end-to-end supply chain?

Questions to consider:

  • How do your contract terms and conditions address volume caps?
  • How will volume caps affect your actual rate increase, surcharges and other fees?
  • How does your customer base change now that more than 11 million people have been added to the DAS delivery charge?
  • How do you budget for these changes?

Open our Parcel Rate Outlook 2021 for our expert support in preparing a plan that carefully considers these questions – and all changes across the parcel environment. Leveraging deep parcel expertise, tools and technology, we’re able to provide rate impact analysis specific to your personal needs and design a business solution that controls cost and protects experience.

Get our Parcel Rate Outlook 2021 today and make sure your 2021 transportation budget considers the nuances lurking in the layers below the 4.9 percent average rate increase.

Why Audit Parcel Service Now? Here’s 4 Reasons

Posted on | by Toni Caputo

If you don’t think the delivery experience is directly related to customer retention, think again. According to Dimensional Research, of customers who report a bad experience, almost all of them (97 percent) changed their future buying decisions. Further, 58 percent stopped buying from the company, more than half went to a different company for the product or service, and 52 percent told others not to buy the product or service. 

Maybe the shipment was late, perhaps it was damaged, maybe it was delivered to the wrong house, or perhaps the shipping label was wrong in the first place. In the small package shipping environment, it is hard to have awareness of the problem without parcel audit validating the service received.

Whatever caused the problem, the bottom line is that this and other issues could be making you lose customers right at a time when no company can afford to have this happen. Between the global pandemic, the economic recession, and the business volatility occurring in most industries, organizations need to be at the top of their games when it comes to customer service. 

$1.50 Per Package Adds Up Fast

No matter how much customers love your product, many won’t come back if the experience is not good. This should be reason enough to conduct frequent service audits. 

There are also other reasons, some of which do not relate to the customer experience. For example, Transportation Insight recently worked with a shipper that noticed a significant change in its per-package shipping costs. After a service audit, it realized that its cost-per-package had increased by about $1.50 due to a billing adjustment error made by the carrier (for early-morning deliveries). 

Had the shipper not conducted that analysis, there’s no telling when it would have recognized that it was being overcharged by $1.50 per package. Multiply that number times thousands of shipments per year and the value of frequent service audits becomes crystal clear.  

Why Bother Auditing?

With service guarantees being waived right now, many companies are wondering if they still need to audit their invoices and charges. The answer is “yes,” and here’s why: even with these waivers, there are still a high number of errors and ways to ferret out savings on pretty much any transportation bill. 

For example, shippers are still being hit with duplicate charges and other billing errors on top of late, incorrect and damaged shipments — problems that can directly impact customer service and retention. With fewer drivers on the road and higher demand for parcel capacity — largely due to the massive uptick in e-commerce shopping — both loss and damage incidences have increased. 

By auditing every package to make sure it’s successfully delivered, companies can manage the loss and damage process from start to finish. Audits can also uncover data regarding insufficient packaging and ensure that payments are accurate and on time. In fact, auditing is a great risk management tool that companies can use during both peak and regular seasons.    

Here are four more reasons why you need to continue service audits:

  • Good visibility into what you’re actually paying. The audit platform you use should break down carrier invoice details to the charge level to analyze all peak season surcharges, rates, and discounts. This year, we’ve seen a number of rate errors and worked on our clients’ behalf to recover over $1.4 million in savings. We’re also identifying duplicate charges and billing errors at the charge level, which is impossible to do without an invoice audit in place.
  • Make sure it gets there on time and in one piece. Sure, some service guarantees are waived right now, but shippers should still want to audit every package to ensure it is delivered and not lost in transit or damaged. This year, we’ve seen the perfect storm of greater-than-usual demand, fewer drivers, and more retailers shipping items that normally would be purchased and picked up in store. Without a doubt, that’s caused an increase in lost and damaged packages. 
  • Tracking losses and damages. The best approach is to manage the entire loss and damage process from identification to resolution and recovery. So far this year, Transportation Insight has secured over $1.7 million in loss and damage savings, and all while providing data regarding insufficient packaging details down to the SKU level. This is particularly helpful for companies that are introducing new products and/or shipping with new vendors.  
  • Pay accurate bills on time. The data collected during a service audit provides insights into how new surcharges or new carrier rules will impact transportation and the related costs. For example, FedEx recently announced a new late-payment fee effective January 2021. Using a compliance audit, companies can keep close tabs on these types of fees and either avoid them completely (by paying on time) or correcting errors (by flagging erroneous late fees). With so many staffing changes and work-from-home scenarios taking place in 2020, shippers need to be especially careful about paying their carrier invoices correctly and on time.

Helping You Rest Easier

Transportation Insight is the only parcel audit and logistics solution provider that undergoes an annual SOC 1 Type II third-party compliance audit. We check every parcel package within your supply chain to make sure you’re getting the service you selected at your contracted price. For example, if your company is paying for guaranteed service, Saturday pickup or delivery, or other services, we’ll make sure you get them. We also check for invalid pickup, as well as identify and follow up on lost or damaged packages.

Possessing deep industry expertise, our parcel team also monitors ongoing changes in the small package environment to help keep shippers apprised of the emerging cost-drivers that affect their profitable performance. 

Q4 Forecast: Parcel Rates and Cost Impact

Posted on | by Todd Benge

Not long ago parcel carriers were transporting 20-25 percent of their deliveries to residential addresses. By 2019, that number increased to about 50 percent. This year, 70 percent of all parcel carrier movements involve a residential address. The shift is largely driven by a consumer who is shopping from home either by choice, necessity or both. 

According to the Department of Commerce, U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the second quarter of 2020 were $211.5 billion, an increase of 31.8 percent over the first quarter of the year. During the second quarter of 2019, e-commerce sales increased just 12 percent over the same period in 2018. 

These are some telling numbers, and they paint a picture of a shifting consumer purchasing environment that’s pulling the major parcel carriers right along with it. For example, UPS saw its residential delivery volume increase 65 percent during the second quarter. This is just one of several carriers being asked to absorb and handle volume increases unlike anything their networks have ever experienced.

Here’s what shippers can expect on the parcel shipping front as 2020 winds down and the holiday season kicks into full speed.

2021 Parcel Rates: FedEx

FedEx Express (Domestic, U.S. Export and U.S. Import), FedEx Ground, and FedEx Home Delivery shipping rates will increase by an average of 4.9 percent. FedEx has increased these rates 4.9 percent every year since 2007. FedEx Freight will increase rates by an average of 5.9 percent. 

These are a sampling of the changes becoming effective Jan. 4, 2021:

  • Institute a 6 percent late fee to U.S. FedEx Express and FedEx Ground customers who don’t pay their invoice within their agreed upon payment terms. UPS implemented this fee in 2003.
  • New $16 Additional Handling Fee for packages where dimensions are greater than 105 inches in combined length plus girth. 
  • Additional handling charge for weight increased 6.25 percent to $25.50.
  • Additional handling charge for packaging increase 7.7 percent to $14.
  • DAS for Home Delivery is 7.5 percent from $4 to $4.30.
  • Oversize charge for Home Delivery has increased 8.3 percent from $120 to $130.
  • Residential Delivery charge for Home Delivery charge increased 8.75 percent from $4 to $4.35.
  • The ground minimum package charge (zone 2, 1 pound list rate) has increased by 6.44 percent to $8.76.
  • 2Day and Express Saver (3 day) shipments will take larger increases.
  • Longer zones have larger increases than shorter zones for Express services.
  • Surcharges have increased by more than the announced 4.9 percent for the ones most commonly applied.

Even though the GRI is 4.9 percent your true rate increase will be somewhere between 4.9 percent and 8 percent depending on usage of these additional services. This is the type of analysis Transportation Insight provides to our clients. Every year a GRI report is generated for our clients to aid in understanding the impact these rates will have on their transportation spend.

When Peak Season Lasts All Year

Carriers typically experience peak season about six weeks a year. Because of COVID-19 carriers have been running at peak season pace for several months straight. There’s never been this level of capacity utilization in the small package network, and it’s clear that carriers weren’t ready for it. As a result, the massive increase created management difficulties for the carriers which, in turn, implemented COVID-19 surcharges that create new cost management challenges for shippers. 

These charges went into effect in the U.S. during the first quarter of the year, with UPS and FedEx creating a peak season operating plan for spring and summer (to handle the demand of home delivery while simultaneously experiencing the collapse of their commercial delivery volume). This created major problems: commercial deliveries are traditionally carriers’ most profitable and have been reduced to a fraction of their “normal” levels. 

Tracking the cost impact of these surcharges isn’t always straightforward. UPS created a $0.30 charge for residential and SurePost packages while also raising by $31.45 a surcharge on difficult-to-handle parcels (e.g., extra-large boxes). FedEx imposed its own surcharges on large shippers and added a $0.30 charge for express and ground residential deliveries, and a $0.40 addition for SmartPost deliveries.  

Navigating the New Gauntlet

With COVID still impacting the shipping environment, carriers rolled out holiday peak season surcharges. For 2020, these charges will be broad-based and targeted at the shippers that more significantly impact the parcel carriers’ networks. 

Charges for UPS will range from $1, $2, and $3 for ground residential and SurePost packages. These charges will begin Nov. 15 and continue through Jan. 16, 2021. UPS is also tacking on an additional handling charge of $5 per package, a large package surcharge of $50, and an over-max-limit of $250. These charges will be in effect through Jan. 16. 

FedEx began its holiday peak season surcharges of $4.90 on Oct. 5 for packages needing additional handling. Oversized package incur a $52.50 surcharge and unauthorized packages cost an additional $350. These rates will be in effect until Jan. 17. In addition, FedEx’s residential ground packages incur surcharges capped at $4 per package, while residential express shipment surcharges are $5. The latter charges are both based on specific formulas. 

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will implement its own peak season surcharges beginning Oct. 18 and running through Dec. 27. The fees still need to receive regulatory approval, but we expect them to be passed. The USPS fees will be applied per package and will pertain to all commercial shippers.  

Maintaining Profitability

For the first time, we’re also seeing small package regional carriers implementing surcharges. Because these fees are based on formulas and difficult to compute, planning for, managing, reporting and auditing the surcharges is difficult. Unfortunately, the combination of COVID-19 and an e-commerce boom overturned the parcel industry’s apple cart, and the change will be forever felt as parcel shippers navigate this new gauntlet.

For most companies, speed is the most important supply chain deliverable. They’re looking to move volume to the end consumer to achieve speed at an acceptable price point. We’re also seeing many companies: 

  • Exploring opportunities for faster growth or service into specific markets.
  • Going direct to consumers
  • Pivoting to maintain Amazon Prime designations by complying with requirements taking effect in February.

Managing these complexities on your own has become a major headache for parcel shippers – especially when logistics management isn’t your core business. Not prepared to make long-term commitments in technology, infrastructure, and employees, more companies are turning to third-party logistics providers (3PLs) to move quickly and affordably in this customer-centric business world. 

Third-party fulfillment allows companies to ramp up quickly to meet demand. It also creates a more elastic fulfillment environment that can be scaled up or down, depending on the volume of freight that’s moving through the operation. A 3PL will also help you lay out a master plan in advance, and then adjust accordingly as rate hikes, surcharges, and other variables come into play.   

In light of the rising costs of parcel shipping—and the myriad surcharges that went into effect in 2020—the biggest questions that shippers are asking themselves right now are: Where should I place my inventory? And, what SKUs should I be stocking in order to meet customer demand?  The companies that find the right balance between these two points will then be the ones that maintain profitability through this uncertainty…and beyond. 

Don’t Let Peak Surcharges Kill Your E-Commerce Profit

Posted on | by Todd Benge

Shippers often don’t expect accessorial changes and peak season surcharges that carriers introduce at different times throughout the year. In most cases, seasonal demand swings and business peaks drive these cost changes. 

This year a global pandemic prompted peak season surcharges. Because these new costs coincided with skyrocketing demand for online shopping, many shippers lacked the visibility required to protect e-commerce profit on every shipment.

An Aug. 7 communication from UPS confirmed that more peak surcharges are coming for the holiday season. 

Here are three ways to keep these surcharges from killing your company’s profitability. They’ll become increasingly important as peak season surcharges could become a new year-round norm.

  1. Carefully Audit Every Carrier Invoice
    Go beyond examining the invoice number and dollar amount. Taking the position, “Okay, last week I shipped $75,000 worth of merchandise. That sounds about right,” isn’t a deep enough dive into your parcel invoices. 

    This high-level analysis doesn’t give you the insights you need to pivot effectively when surcharges are imposed. Get down to the actual package and charge level. This is one of the most important practices in managing peak season surcharges and protecting e-commerce profit.
  2. Share the Cost – Pass It or Promote It
    Don’t assume that these surcharges have to get tacked onto your “costs of doing business.”

    As long as it doesn’t affect your competitive position, pass the surcharge costs along to your customers. By strategically aligning products with marketing promotions, you can also increase order value, optimize shipment density and, ultimately, mitigate bottom-line impact of peak-season costs.

    If you do have to absorb the additional cost, be sure to factor that into the sale, versus waiting for your parcel carrier’s invoice to arrive and taking it right out of your profit for a specific order.   

  1. Team-up with E-Commerce Partners 
    Burdened by carrier surcharges and operating in a challenging business environment, shippers may be tempted to only deal with carriers when they have a gripe, a fee that needs to be refunded, or a surcharge that doesn’t apply (but was charged anyway). 

    These situations generally reach a positive resolution when shippers have win-win relationships with their carriers. This has been a practice for years in the truckload/less-than-truckload sector, where being a “shipper of choice” has become a popular stance for companies that are assessing their total costs of transportation.   

    The same applies in the parcel space, where we rely on accurate, up-to-date, supporting data when working with carriers on behalf of our customers (versus just managing issues in a one-off manner). 

    By serving as a link between shippers and carriers (who would otherwise be forced to work with thousands of different customers on an individual level), we are an extension of your parcel team. 

Master Your Parcel Program

To help you control costs in an ongoing peak season surcharge environment, we created “Manage the Surge: Avoid Surcharge Shocks, Power Performance.” It explores the how and why behind parcel carriers’ cost-recovery tactics. Read it today for the strategies you need to power a parcel program response that offsets these costs and protects your e-commerce profit.

3 Ways to Manage Surcharges

Posted on | by Todd Benge

Here are three ways to manage surcharges during parcel carriers’ peak season and it’s impact on our profit margin.

  1. Manage Surcharges: Face Peak Season Head-on.
    Review the terms and conditions of the agreements you have with your carriers. Work with your logistics partner to stay on top of these new charges, and to come up with ways to offset, absorb, or pass them along to your customers. We help customers understand those charges, why they were implemented and how they affect profitability (via good reporting and data analytics). Analysis comes with a roadmap for minimizing the impacts. 

  1. Dissect Charges on Your Carrier Invoices
    Many times, carrier invoices are so lengthy that the charges are lumped together. It’s not unusual to see duplicate charges, for instance, or duplicate tracking numbers being charged multiple times. And with the COVID-19 peak surcharges, the carriers are billing in multiple different ways, including paper invoices, follow-up emails and averages over multiple transactions. 

    Dissecting those charges and ensuring that everything was charged correctly can be time-consuming and onerous. Our audit team constantly reviews the applicability of the charges and the actual rates that were charged to ensure accuracy. 

  1. Use best shipping practices. It can be tempting to take orders and push them out the door without giving much thought to how much it costs to ship those packages. 

    Most companies understand that transportation costs take up a big chunk of their operating budgets. Few take the time to examine the true cost of shipping those goods. 

    Factor both predictable/annual rate increases and unpredictable carrier surcharges into the equation, and you get a recipe for poor profitability. To avoid this problem, always use best practices centered on the cost of shipping each and every package. 

Master Your Parcel Program

With regular invoice auditing and business intelligence reporting, you can remove most of the uncertainty from the current surcharge environment while also preparing for any new fees that may be coming. 

Deploying additional best practices in your parcel program can supplement your ability to proactively plan for mitigating the cost impact of peak season surcharges. See our infographic for more tips that will help you monitor and manage surcharges.

To help you control costs in an ongoing peak season surcharge environment, we created Manage the Surge: Avoid Surcharge Shocks, Power Performance. It explores the how and why behind parcel carriers’ cost-recovery tactics. Read it today for the strategies you need to power a parcel program response that offsets these costs and protects your profit.

Carrier Surcharges: What’s the Real Impact?

Posted on | by Todd Benge

Now we know more peak surcharges are on the way for the traditional holiday season. Between the major carriers, the UPS plan is quite a bit different than the FedEx strategy for applying new costs.

FedEx has set peak surcharges to begin as they plan to pull back the COVID surcharges, in essence, keeping the charges in place through the Christmas season. The biggest difference between the FedEx and the UPS charges is the SmartPost charge. It appears all SmartPost customers will have the charge, while the UPS and Home Delivery surcharges will be used for larger customers.

In particular, it appears the FedEx SmartPost charge looks to jump 100% for one week in December and then drop back to $1 the remainder of the season. This type of complexity between carriers and service impacts makes it difficult to manage cost.

Unlike global changes that impact all shippers (i.e., the modification in dimensional weight definitions introduced in 2015 and again in 2018), surcharges affect companies differently.

For example: 

  • An e-commerce apparel company sending most of its orders to residential addresses likely felt the brunt of COVID-related surcharges. 
  • A large B2B company delivering primarily to commercial addresses, on the other hand, was likely shielded from the brunt of these impacts, unless they were moving larger packages. 

The good news is that even though individual companies can’t control parcel carriers’ surcharges, they can minimize the budgetary impact with accurate shipping data, experienced logistics partners, and quick responses to carrier announcements.

What are Carrier Surcharges Costing You?

One 30-cent surcharge on a residential parcel shipment may seem innocuous. Multiply that fee across thousands of parcel shipments, and it’s clear just how burdensome this unexpected fee can be to a company’s bottom line. 

Furthermore, spend management becomes more complicated when carrier surcharges are based on average volume benchmarks, especially when they become retroactive to all shipments once thresholds are crossed.

Consider this: 

If a retailer averages 200,000 weekly packages shipped through UPS Ground Residential or SurePost in February, what’s the cost impact of a 30-cent surcharge when that volume increases to 250,000 weekly packages?

*After average threshold is exceeded, surcharge applies to all packages shipped.

  • If a distributor averages 50,000 weekly packages shipped residential through FedEx Ground, what’s the cost impact of a 30-cent surcharge when that weekly volume increases by 75,000 packages?

*FedEx surcharge volume threshold was higher at 40,000, and included the stipulation that weekly volume had to be 120% higher than the February weekly average.

Factor in any additional fees for oversized packages, and a shipper operating on tight margins can quickly find itself losing money on every order. And without a plan for dealing with unexpected surcharges, SKU profitability moves out of reach quickly. 

Adding to the complexity, carriers can make changes in how or when surcharges are applied – at any time. We saw this with the reduction in dimensions and weight for when carriers applied additional handling surcharges.

Although not a specifically a surcharge, shippers saw a significant change with the migration of the DIM factor from 194 to 139, which increases the billable weight for many packages.

Manage Carrier Surcharges to Avoid Budget Shock

Both the predictable and unexpected carrier surcharges are likely here to stay.

As you plan your transportation spend for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021, be sure to factor in the reality of carrier surcharges. It doesn’t take a global pandemic to create peak season pressure on carriers’ profitability and spur added fees on your parcel shipments. 

While none of us has a crystal ball — nor can we control the steps carriers take to shore up their own operations during peaks and difficult periods — preparing in advance, understanding the impetus behind the charges, and taking the proactive steps can improve your ability to control costs in the current and future parcel freight environments.

To help you improve your ability to plan for and respond to carrier surcharges, we created “Manage the Surge: Avoid Surcharge Shocks, Power Performance.” It explores the how and why behind parcel carriers’ cost-recovery tactics. Read it today for the strategies you need to power a parcel program response that offsets these costs and protects your profit.

Peak Season Surcharges: 4 Things to Know

Posted on | by Todd Benge

Less predictable, peak surcharges are creating additional complexity for parcel pricing, especially as UPS announces its holiday peak season surcharges. These new charges come in addition to similar costs in place the past few months.

For example, a parcel carrier may announce a general rate increase of 4.9%, but this is an average taken across all services, weight breaks, and zones. In reality, many rate increases are above 6% when applied to a shipper’s actual volume. 

Predictable by nature, these annual increases are usually baked into the “cost of doing business” for shippers, many of which understand that the GRI impact on their transportation rates is at least an increase of about 5% annually. 

Now, carriers are introducing accessorial surcharges at different times throughout the year in response to seasonal demand swings and business peaks. These unexpected peak season surcharges can be difficult to manage, especially during a global pandemic when dynamic shifts are occurring across the marketplace. 

Here are four things all shippers should know about peak season surcharges in 2020.

  1. Peak Season Surcharges Becoming Routine It pays to stay on top of these variations and respond accordingly. Companies that take proactive measures to offset pending surcharges are often best positioned to maintain profitability, protect their bottom lines, and keep their customers happy (and coming back for more).

    Alongside existing peak surcharges implemented earlier in 2020, UPS announced it will increase surcharges for the holiday season. Starting Nov. 15, surcharges on Ground, SurePost and domestic Air services will increase to between $1 and $4 per package, depending on the shippers’ parcel volume. At a minimum, that triples the increases implemented May 31. 
  2. Parcel Carriers Felt the COVID-19 Impact During the traditional holiday season, UPS and FedEx often start hiring up to six months ahead of time. They also require larger shippers to provide volume estimates to support capacity planning. Staffed and trained, the carriers position everyone for success during the busiest time of the year. 

    These proactive moves weren’t possible during the global pandemic, and that’s precisely why the surcharges surfaced quickly in 2020.
  3. Residential Deliveries Bear the Brunt of COVID Surcharges Surcharges surfaced quickly in 2020, with higher costs on residential deliveries and large package shipments to homes and businesses quickly consuming the carriers’ margins. In response, UPS and FedEx implemented peak surcharges for U.S. domestic residential shipments and large/oversize packages due to the increased demand. UPS implemented the new charges on May 31, and FedEx quickly followed on June 8. 

    Not all shippers were caught in this particular surcharge web. Some charges solely affected large shippers with significant increases in residential deliveries compared to their average pre-pandemic weekly volume from Feb. 2 and Feb. 29, 2020.
  4. Advance Peak Season Surcharge Planning Isn’t Easy Budget planning for surcharges isn’t easy in an environment where these increases can arise unexpectedly. No one was prepared for the massive impacts of COVID-19, for example, so shippers had little (or no) time to prepare in advance for the surcharges. 

    The good news is that even though individual companies can’t control parcel carriers’ surcharges, they can minimize the budgetary impact with accurate shipping data, experienced logistics partners, and quick responses to carrier announcements. 

Avoid Peak Season Surcharge Shock

As you plan your transportation spend for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021, be sure to factor in the reality of “unexpected” carrier surcharges. It doesn’t take a global pandemic to create peak season pressure on carriers’ profitability and spur added fees on your parcel shipments. At the same time, in the wake of COVID-19, expect significant changes in the last-mile delivery environment, especially in terms of pricing complexity.

Individually, a 30-cent surcharge on a residential parcel shipment may seem innocuous. Multiply that fee across thousands of packages, and it’s clear just how burdensome this unexpected fee can be to a company’s bottom line. 

Remember the proverb: forewarned is forearmed. Prior knowledge of a potential issue will always give you a tactical advantage.

To help you avoid surcharge surprises, we created “Manage the Surge: Avoid Surcharge Shocks, Power Performance.” It explores the how and why behind parcel carriers’ cost-recovery tactics. Read it today for the strategies you need to power a parcel program response that offsets these costs and protects your profit.

Mitigating Parcel Challenges in a Post-Coronavirus World

Posted on | by Todd Benge

Consumers are now using e-commerce as their primary channel to buy everything from groceries and small electronics to home appliances and even cars. Most of those items move through one of three parcel networks: FedEx, UPS, or the U.S. Postal Service. Because of the sheer amount of parcels being processed and handled across the United States, we’re seeing natural “log jam” points come alive, resulting in delayed delivery and dissatisfied customers.

With the challenges mounting, is it possible to mitigate issues and maintain customer satisfaction? It’s possible – but it’s critical for teams to work together and understanding the challenges currently in play.

UPS Experiences Backups In The Northeast

The Northeast region of the United States was heavily impacted by the spread of COVID-19, forcing major cities like Boston and New York to virtually shut down overnight. Although those cities are starting to open, there remains a major backlog of parcels waiting for sorting and delivery.

At one UPS facility in Rhode Island, at least 40 UPS trailers remain on the dock, waiting to be processed. The parcels in these trailers represent a substantial amount of packages, destined for many different destinations across the northeast. Potentially, that could reflect over tens of thousands of customers who are frustrated because the items they ordered are not being processed for delivery.

The northeast isn’t the only facility experiencing problems. In Tucson, Arizona, employees at one facility is expressing concern about an outbreak of COVID-19. The local union claims 36 employees tested positive for Coronavirus, while three have been hospitalized for COVID-19 symptoms. If this facility shuts down for cleaning and sterilization, it could also create problems for parcel delivery in the Southwest as well, including the major population centers of Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Trouble Continues for the U.S. Postal Service

Packages sent through the mail are also facing delay threats due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Postal Service is chartered by the U.S. Congress to deliver first-class mail, and in 2019 they delivered over 143 billion pieces of mail to 160 million addresses across the country, including parcel delivery through Priority Mail and other products.

But the COVID-19 outbreak has forced massive changes in their structure and how they manage their workforce. According to data from the USPS, at least 60 postal workers have passed away due to COVID-19 complications, 2,400 have tested positive for Coronavirus, and 17,000 employees – or three percent of their workforce – were temporarily displaced on quarantine. While there’s no way to measure the human loss, the number of employees affected by this virus is forcing the Board of Governors to work up a plan to keep employees healthy despite a decline in profit.

The profit drop comes from a reduction in one of their most successful business areas: Direct mail advertising. At one point, direct mail advertising made up 23 percent of revenue for the Postal Service. As companies look to save money and find new ways to get in front of consumers, they are pulling away from pre-sorted and direct mail advertising, putting a major impact in the USPS budget. The future of the Postal Service is now in question, as they are experiencing both a cash and personnel crunch like never before.

Managing Difficulties and Driving Customer Satisfaction

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is creating challenges, it’s nothing that we cannot overcome. With a combination of actionable insight and sound decision making, it’s possible to still drive customer satisfaction by understanding and controlling the current situation.

To start, it may be useful to start a relationship with a secondary carrier. Opening a new door with a carrier can expand your options, especially when it comes to expedited parcel delivery. For example: although UPS has an expansive ground network, FedEx can offer more daily flight connections. Understanding the tradeoffs and opportunities give you an upper hand in determining how to ship parcels to consumers, and through what options.

From there, constant analysis of parcel delivery optimization can help you determine how effective your plans are, and how to improve them even further. Through service and compliance audits, you can find out how quickly your packages are moving, if they are moving within guaranteed service parameters, and if how many packages end up lost or damaged.

Finally, understanding the current parcel situation can help you mitigate and manage customer expectations. Expressing the potential problems and managing an understanding of when parcels may be delivered can help customers better plan for the issues, driving better loyalty in the end.

Bringing it All Together With a Trusted Partner

Navigating the parcel world in a post-Coronavirus world doesn’t have to be intimidating. The experts at Transportation Insight can help you identify change opportunities in your parcel delivery program, and lead to long-term success. Schedule a consultation with us today, and learn how our decades of experience can quickly improve your parcel program.

Parcel Volume Caps Emerge Amid Retail Slump

Posted on | by Todd Benge

Bound for a stay-at-home society quarantined under COVID-19 guidelines, a whipsaw in residential delivery volume is a burden on small package carriers like FedEx and UPS which are accustomed to commercial service driving operational revenue.

In response to the dynamics of the current norm, service providers across the e-commerce supply chain are taking unprecedented steps to control their own financial performance while still delivering a satisfying shopping and delivery experience.

Effects of the COVID-19 disruption are still emerging, even as organizations work to pivot their processes to meet the needs of a post-pandemic supply chain. Shippers that understand how shifts in consumer demands manifest across small package networks can pivot their supply chain strategy to control costs, avoid risk and capitalize on opportunity.

Retail Sales Plunge During April

U.S. retail sales dropped 16.4 percent during April, the largest drop of its kind since 1992. The April decline doubled the previous record for one-month tumble in the sales indicator – set just a month prior during March’s 8.3 percent record drop.

While the U.S. Department of Commerce reports the sharpest dips for clothing, electronics and furniture stores, society’s continued migration toward the online sales platform accelerates.

Month over month, the online segment posted 8.4 percent growth in April as Americans shopped from home for an expanding diversity of products, from groceries to office supplies. Compared to last year, the changes in consumer behavior accelerated by COVID-19 has increased e-commerce sales 21.6 percent.

DHL, which provides local e-commerce delivery in major U.S. markets, reported volume increases of 36 percent compared to February numbers. Increase is sharpest in the Northeast, according to a release that also stated that an increase in e-commerce orders over the past five weeks has pushed DHL’s parcel volume to peak season levels.

As U.S. businesses begin reopening their doors, monitoring the evolution of consumer buying habits after COVID-19 will be an important piece in maintaining an optimal parcel shipping strategy. Will the U.S. embrace on-site shopping again, particularly in malls and other brick-and-mortar establishments? How much of your retail sales will continue to come through the e-commerce channel?

Whether your organization is an e-commerce legacy or you’re seizing new market share, serving online customers requires an expert understanding of the service implications on transportation costs. In the hurry to serve peaking customer demand, it is easy to lose sight of profitability at the order and item-level. Lacking that visibility could prevent you from capitalizing in growth areas emerging in the same environment as broader economic changes.

FedEx Limits Parcel Shipments for Kohl’s and Others

FedEx limited the number of items that about two dozen other retailers can ship from certain locations. Applied in certain geographies where volume is heaviest, the move comes as retailers across the nation have increasingly begin using closed storefronts to fulfill online orders.

For retailers, this alternative fulfillment strategy facilitates sales even when other conditions pre-empt an on-site purchase. When fulfillment alternatives are included in supply chain contingency planning, retailers can quickly pivot their network to serve emerging customer segments or specific geographies, and still maintain optimal transportation cost.

“These customers have seen significant volume growth since the spread of Covid-19,” FedEx said last week in a notice to its Ground workers reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “In a time of already high volume growth, capping the number of packages to be picked up at these locations will limit any negative impacts to the FedEx Ground network.”

While retailers are able to keep inventory moving off shelves though online fulfillment, the volume increases in certain parts of the country have challenged FedEx facilities that were not prepared to handle a rapid increase. This is most prevalent along the East Coast and West Coast, particularly the Pacific Northwest, where the COVID-19 impacted has persisted the longest.

Customers initially affected by FedEx shipping limitations included: Kohl’s, Belk Inc., Neiman Marcus Group Inc. and Nordstrom Inc., retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. and Eddie Bauer, and other sellers like Groupon Inc. and Young Living Essential Oils LLC. The limits varied at each location.

In an environment when parcel carriers are limiting volumes, shippers can improve critical business decision making through on-demand access to dashboards that reveal real-time access to your order volume, historical transportation transactions, carrier volume requirements and accessorial trends. Increased visibility to these and other Key Performance Indicators can deliver improved cost management and increased awareness of cost-service trade-offs.

Supply Chain Master Can Map, Mitigate Risk

Organizations that are re-calibrating their supply networks to address the weaknesses and opportunities emerging during COVID-19 can benefit significantly from the support of a supply chain expert.

Our unrivalled expertise gained across thousands of supply chains allows us to offer guidance when the way forward is unclear. We’re currently helping hundreds of clients assess their small package program to make sure they have the network in place to meet e-commerce delivery demand today and tomorrow. Deploying a best-in-class technology platform to gather, manage and analyze your parcel data, we provide evidence to support your go-forward strategies.

Leveraging this technology alongside deep parcel industry knowledge and multi-modal expertise, shippers can effectively identify any existing supply chain gaps impact performance and cost management.

To learn more about how we can map your strategies for e-commerce success in the face of supply chain disruption, talk to an expert today.