Skilfully Shipping

Shipping tips

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Are you Buying Boxes for your Company the Right Way?

This year I have seen a huge shift in how companies are actually working.  They have moved from brick and mortar stores to eCommerce as a main focus and it has really shaken up the economy.  This is mostly due to the shutdowns and regulations being put in place by local governments.  It is mostly affecting small stores because big box stores are not closing down or being forced to change capacity like a small store is. This makes no sense to me but what I am seeing is these companies that are transition are losing money by not purchasing their shipping supplies in the correct location.  That is causing them to not be able to be competitive and they are simply losing money on each sale because of this mistake.  So I want to go over the different areas you can go to purchase these shipping supplies and why you should choose one over the other.

 What I have seen the most is that companies are just wanting to jump in and buy the first thing they think their product will work with.  Sometimes that pull out a catalog where they purchased their shelving from to order boxes.  Sometimes they run to the local big box packaging store to buy things at retail pricing.  These are usually the most expensive and the least option rich places to shop.  They are higher prices and low quantity with low choice.  The fact is that most companies do this because it is quick and it is what they iknow.

Now the more savvy companies and managers are pulling out their phones and shopping on Amazon.  Here they can find quick shipping which is a great benefit and also a good amount of variety between companies.  Pricing is usually better than a local store or catalog company.  So this usually is where many companies go.  The issue is that these companies do not offer advice or the best pricing.  Selling on Amazon simply is a guaranteed 13% upcharge from what the company could sell. That is the loss they take by being on Amazon for each time they sell an item.  So keep that in mind and know you are simply not getting the best price for the convenience of buying on your phone.

What I have seen to be the most successful way is to buy from shipping supplies stores online. These are massive companies that offer the best prices and actual advice from real people.  These are the giants who have sold to every industry for decades and have helped create campaigns for every industry.  That means that their customer service team can simply give you free advice and then give you bulk discounts if you buy it all there.  I have seen my companies pricing go down 20% from Amazon and we even got better products that were rebranded for our items.   How can you not think this is simply the best way to go. Shipping took a few extra days, but the quantity and options were thousands more than anything we found on Amazon.  That is why I think a 20-minute call could save you 20% of shipping on every sale and that is beyond worth it. So don't rush it, take some time to make the best decision for your company.

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Buying shipping materials

This year has been an interesting year when it comes to business.  The regular ability to do business has fundamentally changed in the United States.  The Economy has locally and federally been shut down for two months due to the supposade pandemic outbreak.  This has shut down thousands of business and left unemployment sky rocketing across the country.  It has been a crushing blow to the economy and many companies are now not sure how to get back into doing business like they used to do.  This has put a new crunch on the way companies can come back and start selling.  Now they are in need of being able to produce services from home or be able to use shipping supplies and get those products into the hands of people.

So what are some of the things that companies need to know when they are changing from a brick and mortar storefront into an ecommerce store.  The big thing is that customer service is now completely different. Now an interactive or interface on your phone is more important than the ability to talk to your customers.  The information they see in front of them may be all the ability you have to sell them and instead of talking with them and discovering their problem you must describe the product and section in a way that fits that problem. happened and is completely changing the way business is done on a normal basis.  This is a complicated and unfortunate side effect of companies these days.  It is a problem that is now going to have to be dealt with.  So what are some of the things that can be done to help these companies stay ahead of the ever changing game.

Shop around for the best shipping supply prices.  The first company you find that sells boxes and tape will most likely not be your best choice. There are companies dedicated to simply selling these items in bulk and if you contact them directly they can help you pick the right product to ship your items and also give you discounts on larger orders of those items. So take the time to shop for the best company to help with your supply needs.  It is worth the time to get a good one.  The worth is generally in cost of savings from mistakes being made by choosing the wrong supplies and having to send items multiple times.

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Shipping Changes

Is it safe to ship products any more?  This sounds like a ridiculous question since the pandemic just happened and shipping products became one of the most important parts of our economy.  But this week has changed the process of shipping. We have seen across the nation hundreds of shipping vehicles and trucks getting demolished or looted during the nation wide riots. It has been an insane reaction that I never thought would be possible in our country.  Instead of actually making our economy better since the opening up of stores the market is shutting down again due to violence and fear of not being able to ship products.  So is it worth attempting to buy more shipping supplies in order to get products out during the riots?  I think so.

The media has portrayed lots of violent actions taking place on shipping companies and the regular postal service carriers.  But in reality the violent actions are not even a small fraction of the actual amount of shipping that normally takes place.  The actions of a very select few are being blown up on the news and in reality more wrecks and crashes that cause damage to shipping supplies and trucks is more prevalent than the violent looting and rioting that is taking place.  So in a nutshell it is still ok to place orders and go online.

The odds of an accident happening from a truck crash are much higher than your items getting stolen or looted during one of the current riots.  But then again there is always a time to be smart about what and where you are shipping.  If you know an address is going into an area that is effectively being shut down by the current local government then you most likely should use common sense and probably not ship the package there. That would be like trying to ship an item during the forrest fires last year in California.

If you know a fire is occurring and all local people have been evacuated then it wouldn't make much sense to ship an item there would it? For many companies this may get some backlash, but you should take the initiative to let people know you wont ship to a place that wont accept goods and that is the same principal that will also save you money when the item simply doesn't arrive. Or worse you get charged for it coming back to you and losing the sale with the shipping cost on top of it.

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Unnecessary Packaging: Which retailer is the worst culprit?

The world has become more conscious of the effects of human activities on the environment. Just like any other sector, the retail industry has a big role in environmental conservation

There have been calls for retailers to minimize their use of excess packaging material. This particularly concerns online stores that require extra postal packaging.

Environmental conservatives and the general public are always keen to see companies that are making tangible efforts to minimize the size of their packaging materials. But are there companies that are already taking any steps in regards to this matter?

Methodology

In order to determine which companies are making effort in reducing the amount of packaging materials, we decide to order the following products:

• An operation Board Game

• Single Serve Blender

• Stereo Head Phones

• Dolls

• Max Lithium Drill and project set

 After which, we weighed each of the packages when they delivered. The measurements were on the distance between the postal packaging and the product and the void gap of the package. We also wanted to know the type of materials used for packaging.

The results

One of the largest online retailers started off well with the headphones. They had used far much lighter packaging materials compared to the other three brands. Their packaging weighed a little over 2.0 oz because of using padded kraft envelopes instead of cardboards. The total package weighed 9.8 oz.

The package from the second brand weighed 4.7 oz - double the amount of the first brand’s package. The total weight of the package came to 12.4 oz.

The first brand performed poorly when it comes to the void gap. While the second and the third brand were 2.5 and 3.5 inches, the first brand had a total of 9 inches. Which was double that of the second brand.

It is important to note that the envelopes padded with bubble wrap have been under a lot of scrutiny in the past years. Despite the fact that the packaging is recyclable, the two types of materials used can only be recycled separately. Otherwise, it can cause issues with recycling companies.

However, using this type of packaging material is important as far as deliveries are concerned. They require minimal space in delivery trucks – leading to a more effective postal system with fewer greenhouse gas emissions in the process.

The blender from the first company also performed well in terms of packaging weight. The packing was again one of the lightest because of the use of craft envelopes. On the other hand, there was almost no difference in the void gap between the headphones and the blender.

It was the third time the first brand was leading in the weight of the package. This is despite the fact that they did not use craft padded envelopes. They used almost the same packaging materials as those of the other three two brands.

From the above analysis, it became clear that the first brand had the lowest amount of wastage in their packaging.

 We found out that apart from the dolls, all of its products had the lightest packaging weight. However, the void gap of this popular brand was not very impressive. But it still performed well compared to the other brands.