Beyond Dimensional Freight: Customizing Your Shipping Needs

 

In the earliest days of trucking, shipping rates were based on weight and most of the shipping was focused on commodities and standard types of products.  However, as shipping became an essential part of the way companies did business, a wide variety of types, weights, and sizes of items found their way into the logistics chain.  This made just using weight an inefficient measure for pricing shipping needs.

Responding to Customer Needs

Shipping firms came to find it necessary to balance shipping weights with the volumes of the freight being transported.  Each trailer provides a certain cubic size of freight capacity.  Efficiently using that capacity is now a top priority.

Manufacturers have learned not to “ship air”.  Companies such as Ikea lead the way in developing KD or “knockdown” furniture that can be compactly packaged and shipped at the lowest rates.  Likewise, the field of packaging has become a science focused on minimizing wasted materials and space.

Around 2015, major shippers such as FedEx and UPS began using a dimensional weight formula in their pricing.  In this approach, a package, box, or pallet is measured by its length, width, and height.  Then, shippers are billed on the greater of that dimensional weight or the actual weight.  Some shippers use terms such as space-based pricing and density-based pricing to address the amount of shipping space a product requires relative to its weight.

The explosion in e-commerce shipments and the recent capacity shortages in the trucking industry have made this focus even more common.  As carriers focused on “capacity efficiency,” they shifted from rates based on classes of freight or just weight.

That may be acceptable for most standard shipments.  However, many of today’s shippers are in the business of providing products that don’t fit into such “productized” packaging or palletizing concepts.  Such things as ladders, robot arms, and construction components can face shipment premiums of 30 percent or more under the dimensional weight approach to shipping.

Thus, innovative shippers such as Road Scholar Transport have developed a specialized capability to handle odd-sized or non-palletized freight.  Their approach is to view their relationship with a shipper as a transportation partner dedicated to finding the most efficient shipping solution.  A significant part of this process is providing specialized trucking capabilities and insurance along with the knowledge to save costs.  Taken together, this approach is designed to guarantee your items are delivered safely and efficiently in the most cost-effective manner.  With Road Scholar Transport, we are NOT going to reweigh to reclass so you don’t have to worry about unexpected charges.

The latest trucking capabilities also allow the most progressive shipping companies to provide transportation with products riding on a cushion of air, a concept called Air Ride Transport.  This added convenience is often vital to protecting sensitive electronics and fragile freight.

Shipping Capabilities You Expect and Deserve

Whether you are a firm just exploring your optimized shipping solutions or an established manufacturer of non-traditional-sized products, take the time to evaluate all your options. That effort may produce a big return with more efficient shipping capabilities.  The right transportation partner will assist you with:

  • Exploring the latest in packaging concepts and capabilities.
  • Developing a customized solution to your needs, whether it is one unique item a month or hundreds a week.
  • Understanding your delivery schedules to meet your production schedule and your customer needs.
  • Providing the appropriate insurance, security, and professional handling to minimize the hassles you face in getting your product to the end user.
  • Ensuring that your shipment is trackable from pick-up to final delivery and providing constantly updated telemetrics.
  • Providing peace of mind knowing your shipment is being transported in safe, modern, and well-maintained vehicles by professional and well-trained drivers.

You work hard to deliver the product your customer needs and that meets their specific requirements.  The right transportation partner will work just as hard to ensure the program they develop for you is also customized to meet your specific needs and those of your customers.

Learn more at https://roadscholar.com/dimensional-freight-solution.html.

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