Leverage Shipping Cost Efficiencies

Written by Barry Victor, Owner of PROS Parts

When it comes to acquiring parts required to keep machinery in operation, one of the factors is the shipping expense and time in transit.  Whether you are shipping across the state line or to the other side of the globe, PROS Parts can help you navigate the available options to save your company money and meet your delivery requirements.

Speed vs Cost
In general, if a domestic UPS ground shipment will take 3-4 days in transit to you and cost $25, moving to the least expensive air method, 2nd Day Air will double the price to $50 and moving to the fastest method offered, Next Day Air will double the price again to about $100. 

International shipping can be very expensive since almost all shipments are done by air.  The shipping options vary much less than with domestic shipments but other factors can affect the total cost such as consolidation.

Lead Time
While time in transit is an important part of the transportation of goods, it doesn’t make sense to pay a premium for faster transport if the company you are buying from does not have the item you need in stock and they have to wait days or weeks for the item to arrive.  Look for a distributor such as PROS that has a very large inventory allowing us to frequently ship the same day you place your order.  If we do not have the item in stock, we often have multiple suppliers for any particular item and offer expedited inbound service to help reduce the lead time. 

Consolidation
Working with a distributor like PROS Parts can help to minimize shipping costs by allowing parts from multiple manufacturers to be shipped in one shipment directly from our stock. If the items required are not in our stock, PROS Parts can act as a hub bringing in products from multiple suppliers and consolidating them into one shipment destined for a single address anywhere in the world. Having one shipment from one US based supplier can save thousands of dollars when compared to using multiple suppliers. 

PROS Parts can act as the Small Package Forwarder with the added benefit of managing the inbound product shipments and relationships with multiple suppliers.  PROS can mix different types of products into one shipment combining OEM parts, generic parts, supply items and parts sourced from the suppliers to the machinery manufacturers expanding the savings potential.  PROS Parts will manage all of the import/export documents eliminating the delays that are often caused by missing documents during the customs clearance process in the destination country.

International Freight Forwarding
Freight forwarding companies provide a variety of supply chain services offering air and sea freight options at discounted prices.  They often have regularly scheduled containers of goods shipped from one of many port cities like Miami to destination countries all over the world.  They contract with carriers to get special pricing which they can pass on to their customers.  Normally, a small package shipment cannot take advantage of reduced rates for sea freight due to size requirements for sea freight shipments.  Freight forwarders consolidate multiple shipments from different customers going to the same destination country and consolidate them to allow them to meet the minimum size requirements of ocean transport.  Freight forwarders typically offer delivery to the destination address of the customer.  PROS Parts has many Central and South American customers taking advantage of freight forwarders saving them thousands of dollars in transport costs yearly. They have expertise in the regulations of each country they ship to and can provide all of the necessary documents including commercial invoice, shipper’s export declaration and bill of lading to assure compliance with the regulations of the destination country.

Small Package Forwarders – There are a number of companies in the US that offer services comparable to forwarders for small packages such as Shipitto, Stackry, Reship, Opas and MyUS.com.  These companies have warehouses in many US cities and offer a host of services such as consolidation from multiple US based suppliers, repackaging, volume discounts, storage, photos and online shipment management.  Small package forwarders normally work with smaller shipments and ship by air services so they cannot offer the same sea freight discounts offered by the larger freight forwarders.

Multiple Carriers
PROS Parts offers a variety of freight carrier options, each with its own advantages, depending on your needs and urgency. 

USPS – The US Postal Service along with its partnerships with postal services in virtually every country in the world can be an effective and efficient method to transport goods.  Historically, the USPS has had the reputation of losing shipments or long delays in shipment delivery and to be sure this still happens more often than we would like but they have made great strides in improving these areas and can now be considered as a practical option if minimizing time in transit is not a high priority.

UPS – UPS is our preferred package shipment company in the US, capable of reaching virtually any destination in the US in 5 days or less with economical rates, delivery guarantees and excellent package tracking.  UPS can also be a very effective method to ship overseas with many of the same advantages as listed above for domestic shipments.  PROS Parts will compare the shipping costs from multiple carriers and help you chose the method that best matches your needs.

DHL – DHL is a well-known worldwide shipper of small packages and can also be a very effective shipping method.   Like UPS, they offer delivery to virtually any destination in the world.  DHL is often less expensive than UPS for destinations outside the US but there are exceptions and our staff can give you the details to help you meet your specific needs.

Air Freight – For larger international shipments that exceed the size or weight limitations of the three carriers above, PROS Parts can provide a quote for transportations costs using the air freight divisions of UPS and DHL.  

LTL Truck – For larger or heavier domestic shipments, PROS can provide point to point costs from almost any carrier working in the US.  In addition to the transportation cost, there are often additional charges for lift-gate service if the destination doesn’t have a loading dock and the part is too heavy to handle manually.

Start planning today to improve your bottom line next year by managing your inbound transportation costs.  Talk to a PROS Parts representative today. 

About Barry Victor

Barry founded PROS Parts in the spring of 1988. Before starting PROS, Barry worked in the sales and engineering departments of Vic Manufacturing, one of the largest manufacturers of dry cleaning equipment in the U.S. At Vic, Barry launched a parts sales division that supported dry cleaning equipment imported from Italy and Germany. In its early years, PROS manufactured dry cleaning machinery and then evolved into an industrial and commercial laundry equipment and dry cleaning operations parts supplier. Barry lives in Eden Prairie, MN with his wife. He has two sons, a step son, a step daughter and his dog, Sora. 

Barry can be reached at 763-231-7379 or barryv@prosparts.com.

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