Does your company spend enough time calculating your shipping costs and trying to save on shipping when you can? If not, you may be spending more on shipping than you should.
This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to shipping and packing. But there are also other mistakes you might be making that can be detrimental to your business.
Here are five more shipping and packing mistakes you should avoid at all costs.
1. Using the Wrong Packing Materials
If your business is shipping things all the time, you should set up a product fulfillment center to do it. You should also equip this center with the right packing materials.
You will need to have everything from shipping boxes to packing tape on hand at all times. You might even want to go as far as to have custom packaging created to set your company's packages apart.
2. Failing to Label Shipping Boxes Properly
Are you still labeling your shipping boxes by hand? Outside of not looking very professional, this is going to lead to shipping and packing mistakes occurring.
You should invest in something like this Afinia L801 label printer. It'll print out labels for you to save time and ensure accuracy.
3. Measuring and Weighing Shipping Boxes Wrong
The measurements of your shipping boxes will determine how much it'll cost to ship them. It's why you shouldn't just guess how big shipping boxes are and how much they weigh.
To accurately predict the price you'll pay for shipping products to customers, you should have your product fulfillment center measure and weigh every box going out the door. It's one of the shipping strategies that can help you avoid getting hit with an unexpected shipping bill later on.
4. Relying on the Wrong Shipping Partners
Did you pick the first shipping partner you could find when you opened your business and run with them? They might not be the right shipping partner for you today.
In fact, you really shouldn't trust only one shipping partner to assist you. You should take advantage of the fact that you have many shipping partners available to you and ship products through as many of them as you can.
5. Neglecting to Come Up With a System to Track Shipments
Once a shipment leaves your product fulfillment center, it's going to be out of your hands. But it shouldn't be an "out of sight, out of mind" situation.
You should set up a system that will allow you to track shipments and let your customers know when they'll arrive. It'll make your customers happy and help you avoid angry calls coming into your customer service center.
Don't Make These Shipping and Packing Mistakes
Shipping and packing mistakes can hurt your business dearly. These shipping and packing tips should help you steer clear of them.
Do you want to find out about other ways you can improve the efficiency of your business? Read through some of our business-related blog articles to discover them.
