Parcel Carrier Agreements Aren’t All Created Equally
One of the biggest challenges facing retail business owners is navigating parcel carrier agreements. In other business situations, you and the other party are on the same page, speaking the same language, and sharing a common goal. But in a situation where you’re negotiating a lower rate based on doing more business with the shipping company, it can quickly start to feel like you’re not on even ground.
Learn how to gain even footing with shipping companies with the team at Amware, then contact us to see how you can save big.
The Key to Negotiating Fair Parcel Contracts
Let’s start with what we know: all parcel carrier agreements aren’t created equally. They’re based on a ton of different factors that can change at any moment. In fact, shipping prices are notoriously in flux. Between near-constant changes in infrastructure, public policy, and the price of fuel, companies specializing in shipping have a lot of pricing factors to consider.
Understanding the factors facing the shipping company is the first step to negotiating a fair and affordable parcel agreement. Other things you might not have considered are the KPI’s or Key Performance Indicators the companies use to judge their own success. These get factored in to their pricing algorithm and can vastly affect the price you pay per parcel.
Winning the Parcel Carrier Agreement Game
There are a lot of common items you might find in a custom parcel agreement with a big shipping company. These can include rate discounts, rate caps, tier discounts, minimum discounts, published minimums, and more. On your contract, you’ll also find mention of anything else you discuss during the negotiation whether that’s a published charge or an accessorial discount.
But if you don’t know exactly what you’re talking about, you could find yourself on the losing side of the deal. That’s where a little help from an industry expert can be a huge help. Unfortunately, the services of a parcel expert can be expensive, and you might not have the infrastructure or the budget to manage that quite yet.
With a little help from your friends at Amware, you can still win in your next parcel carrier agreement negotiation. We’ve spent years uncovering the mystery of shipping pricing algorithms and created a ParcelRate software that can give you the price you deserve using information from your company.
With this service, you can see exactly where you could pinch and save, so you can bring down the bottom line of your business’s operating costs. Whether shipping is a major part of our business, or it’s just a line item on the budget, wouldn’t a lower price for shipping be a great thing?