Written by Brian Gibbs, President, Refund Retriever
With ecommerce sales expected to grow to $6.54 trillion by 2022, it’s no surprise that shipping is big business. Here are 4 best practices to use when shipping with UPS. From preparing the perfect packaging that holds your inventory to making sure your logo stands out along the way, there are a lot of details to consider when it comes to delivering inventory purchased via ecommerce. Among these responsibilities include understanding what best practices exist to ship with UPS. UPS is the largest global courier service in the world.
Tip 1: Pay Attention to the Details of Your Package
Options for shipping a package will vary based on a variety of factors. This includes the location of delivery, the weight of the package and even the details of what it ships in. Among these factors include the actual package details, with UPS suggesting the below as their preferred standards when it comes to preparing a package delivered in a box versus a pallet.
- Use a rigid box with flaps intact
- Remove any labels, hazardous materials indicators, and other previous shipment markings on the box that are no longer applicable
- Wrap all items separately
- Use the adequate cushioning material
- Use strong tape designed for shipping
- Do not use string or paper over-wrap
- Use a single address label that has clear, complete delivery and return information
- Place a duplicate address label inside the package
Tip 2: Know You Can Make Edits to Shipments – Even Once in Route
Retailers know more than most that customers can be – quite frankly – demanding. This often includes last-minute requests to delivery time, change of delivery location and more. UPS offers ecommerce solutions that provide flexible shipping options, shipping costs, and tracking visibility. In addition, the ability to make changes to packages that are already en route. This ability helps make convenient deliveries despite customer interferences. It’s this type of agile ecommerce shipping management that helps to position online sellers to excel in customer rankings.
Customers can request that UPS return packages, hold for future delivery, or change a domestic package’s delivery location. Of course, these will cost an additional fee that varies according to the method in which you request the change to UPS. A delivery intercept will cost $16.40 or $22.90, but a delivery change request is much cheaper. A delivery change request via a web request will cost $5.50 or $6.60 for phone requests.
Tip 3: Welcome Analytics Into Your Shipping Management
UPS may be seen as the #1 courier in the world, yet even that title doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes. Unintentional late deliveries or damages to a package due to weather are just a couple examples of why it’s critical to manage when your packages arrive to your customers and more so, if they were done so with accuracy or not. Using advanced, automated technology, merchants can gain full transparency across all the touchpoints of their shipping thanks to parcel auditing. From spotting overcharges to recognizing unintentional mistakes made by UPS to capturing proof of delivery and more, there are a lot of fine print details to monitor when it comes to shipping.
Parcel auditing does this. Auditing gives online sellers the trust that their packages are being monitored and their investment in shipping is not overlooked. Another perk? Parcel auditing gives shippers credit – aka dollars back. These credits are based on errors, mistakes, late deliveries and more that translate to shippers deserving refunds. To explore more on how you can benefit from parcel auditing, click here.
Tip 4: Review Your UPS Shipping Contract
Regularly reviewing carrier contracts from any carrier you work with, including UPS, should be a must on your to-do-list. This is particularly important when you factor in the reality that carriers announce rate increases annually. For instance, UPS raised ground and air alone by 4.9% in 2019. Because of this, it is important to consider how these changes impact your business and your shipping spends. Yearly price increases can be mitigated to help combat these increased shipping dollars.
Among the ways to do this is to review your carrier contracts no less than annually. Ensure you are positioned with UPS and any carrier you work with as best as possible. Negotiation will be an essential piece to carrier contract reviews. But let’s face it – fine print details can be confusing of any contract, and UPS contracts are no exception. By welcoming an expert to do this for you, you welcome more opportunities to save and ease carrier frustration. To learn more, gain expert insight here.
Conclusion
Finally, remember that shipping is a powerful tool that can help differentiate ecommerce businesses from their competitors. These 4 best practices to use when shipping with UPS will also help to meet customer expectations.
Yet it’s often the details that happen behind the scenes that make this possible, including who you ship with, the details of your shipments and of course, your packaging. To further support your UPS shipping goals and all your shipping best practices, explore the Refund Retriever blog. Here you can gain updated, frequent insight on how to best accommodate your e-commerce shipping goals.
This article was written by our partner, Refund Retriever. Make sure you're getting the most out of your shipping.