In today’s competitive market, every dollar counts and should be looked after. Yet, when it comes to shipping costs, some companies feel like they have a blank check and that check is drawn on your account!Many companies, struggling with lower sales and fewer shipments, struggle to find revenue streams. Many come to (wrong minded) conclusion that if they add $1 or 1% to every shipping charge, they pass onto a customer, plus a handling fee of $5, $10 or even $20, they will increase their bottom line.While it is true that an increase in revenue, all things being equal, will increase their bottom line, the problem is that they are doing it at the expense of your bottom line.



There are three solutions to this problem.

A)      1)Live with it (and a smaller bottom line)

B)   2)Fight to reduce or eliminate the over charges

C)   3)Buy from companies who build shipping charges into their pricing.

Remember, the true cost of what you buy is the purchase price, plus shipping and handling, plus the time it takes to generate the PO and receive the goods.  It is fair to assume that the PO generation and the receiving of goods will have the same cost, regardless of the vendor. We are left with the purchase price, plus shipping and handling. It really does not matter what any one of those variable are, as it is their sum that is your true cost.

These dollars are your dollars and you should fight for them if you need to.Better still is to look for vendors who include this in their quotes. Remember, it is not a free lunch. You are paying for the shipping, you just know how much up front. By including shipping in your quote, your vendor is telling you they don’t need to add 1 or 2 percent to their quote to be profitable, they know what they are doing.

This allows you to compare your options apples to apples.

Sink your teeth into that.