Page 196 - Schooley Mitchell Marketing Manual

SCHOOLEY MITCHELL
MARKETING MANUAL
Cheat Sheets – Small Package Shipping
Manual Revised: April 3 2025 Confidential
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Small Package Shipping and Courier Cheat Sheet
specific location. It turned out that the ZIP code saved to the client’s shipping software was mistyped by a single digit and saved that way. The result? Up to hundreds of dollars per month in avoidable additional charges. We helped Mike and his team isolate the error and update their address book to stop the hemorrhaging of fees $18 at a time.
Mike had expected that we might be able to negotiate improved rates but was shocked to see how easily the bills could be inflated by a simple process error. He was ultimately relieved to ensure that his carrier was only billing him for the shipping charges truly needed for his operations.
You just never know what opportunities you may be missing unless you take the time to closely and regularly review your invoices.
eCommerce Company
Eric is the VP of operations for an e-commerce company selling goods to help create edibles, and they were experiencing rapid growth.
Eric already offered free shipping on ground shipments, but as the business grew, he found that customers demanded faster shipping times but still expected a $0 shipping fee. As more shipments and faster shipping times drove his total shipping expenses higher and higher, Eric knew something would have to give.
We completed an analysis of the business’ shipping environment and were successful in negotiating with the incumbent vendors to drive significant savings to the business. The business saved approximately $66,000 in the first year of post audits and exceeded $100,000 before the business experienced more significant changes.
Laws and regulations in their industry were changing, forcing Eric to adapt his business. As a result, his shipping volume shifted to a different facility and total volumes decreased. Eric was far too busy dealing with keeping his business running efficiently to monitor the impact this had on his shipping Pricing Agreements. Thankfully, we were monitoring the changing shipping environment, and when it became appropriate to do so, re-engaged with the vendors to update the pricing again.
A new program that was better-suited to the new shipping environment was identified and implemented to result in a new estimated annual savings of $70,000 moving forward. Eric was thrilled to ensure that his profit margins were maximized with regards to shipping costs with a minimum of effort from his team.
It just goes to show how easily changes can impact a business’ bottom line and how much value there is in having trained specialists regularly review your accounts.
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