Which is Better for Taping Parcels? Paper or Plastic Shipping Tape

By Guest blogger Jay F. Perdue

We are grateful that a real expert answers the question today about which is better for sealing packages, paper or plastic tape. Jay has 25 years of experience delivering packages for UPS and has seen more packages than just about anyone. Here is his guest post.

Will that be paper or plastic Sir?

When it comes to shipping packages you have two choices for sealing your box: Paper tape or plastic tape. Most small shippers don’t even know that there is more than one option and use plastic tape. The larger shippers sometimes use the reinforced 3″ water activated paper tape using a tape dispenser. You can set the dispenser to give you a specific length of tape. Then, pull the lever and it gives you a perfect piece of tape every time. Sounds great, and it is fast and accurate.

 DON”T USE IT!

After delivering packages for UPS for 25 years I have seen what happens to the packages that are sealed with paper tape and it is not pretty. I end up resealing at least 50% of these packages with plastic tape to keep them closed because the paper tape is either broken or not sticking anymore.

• Paper tape will not stick to plastic tape if you are recycling a box with old plastic tape still on it
• Paper tape does not do well in the extreme heat of summer
• Paper tape is not flexible like plastic tape and will break when during the handling process

My recommendation is to use plastic tape with a hand tape gun. Even the cheap tape at about $1.50 a roll is a lot better than paper tape and the tape guns are cheap also running about $15 or so. It is about as fast as a paper tape dispenser and just as cheap.

Every sale you make is important to you and equally important to your customer. If you take special care to use the right size box and pack your item properly make sure you use plastic tape to keep it sealed tight.

Note from Mark: Jay has moved to Minneapolis/St Paul. If anyone needs a real shipping expert in the logistics field, Jay is available. Here is his LinkedIn profile.

eBay Seller Explodes Sales with this Shipping Tip

Here is a tip from Jay Eichler, owner of The Ultimate Thomas Store, http://www.ultimatethomas.com, that he say “exploded his sales in the last year.”

“Up to last year, I was a seller on eBay (and via my own website) which shipped most of my orders (under 3 lbs) via USPS. I would use their website (usps.com) to generate the labels and ship via Priority Mail. The shipping labels I purchased especially to print in the dimensions required by Click-N-Ship (or PayPal shipping, for those that use it).

I decided late in 2009 to upgrade my entire shipping station and purchase a thermal printer (purchased reconditioned off of eBay for ¼ of it’s “new” price) to print my labels. In addition, I upgraded to a USPS-approved shipping service (in my case, Endicia), which then allowed me to offer First Class shipping of my items which could ship for under 13 ounces. Yes, this would mean that I would not be able to use the “free” shipping supplies offered by the USPS for Priority Mail shipping, but I soon realized that the boost in sales my items would get would far outweigh the benefit of the free supplies.

The result of this combination of changing shipping service methods, as well as the thermal printer (which you can get labels for free if you have and use a FedEx or UPS account) has resulted in a surge in sales due to the lower prices I can offer. While I am paying for the Endicia service ($15.95/month), my costs are still lower due to the free labels and since I use a thermal printer, no use of printer toner.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…this was the best thing I’ve ever implemented to help my business.”

To provide you an example of the savings, I looked up how much it would be to ship a 12 ounce package from New York to Beverly Hills. As you can see below, a First-Class Package is $3.09 compared to Priority Mail with the online discount of $5.44. The savings is 43% which is HUGE for an eBay seller. Thank you Jay!

Get Faster, Bigger Returns with Self-Billing

By Guest Blogger, Niko Michas, President & CEO, BridgeNet Solutions, Inc.

Auditing has proven to be an effective way to receive refunds for erroneous shipping charges and compensation for a variety of other billing errors, but there may be an even better solution: self-billing. Often, the biggest setback companies have when it comes to implementing self-billing is carrier resistance. One thing you can do to combat carrier resistance is automate your billing process.

By automating your billing process, you eliminate the guesswork normally associated with trying to determine the accuracy of your shipping charges. You can uncover the exact charges for all shipments, regardless of mode. Whether you go through SAP a third party partner that specializes in creating less costly and more tailored electronic system solutions, your automated system will need to be able to do two things:

1. Properly house the shipping data for each and every shipment in your supply chain, and

2. Successfully compare your actual shipping charges to those outlined in your carrier agreement and your carrier’s standard rates.

Below are three ways you can leverage the benefits of using an automated billing system to gain more support for self-billing from your carrier:

1. Explain to your carrier that your automated system will help them know exactly when and how much they will be paid because your invoices will be more accurate.
2. Show your carrier how you will be able to pay them in as little as seven days, rather than in 60, 90, or 120 days, as in a normal billing cycle.
3. Prove to your carrier you can lessen their financial burden by eliminating customer service and administrative fees normally associated with auditing.

Self-billing isn’t a new idea, but due to the still questionable state of the current U.S. economy and self-billing’s increasing popularity in Europe, more U.S.-based companies are looking to self-billing not just as an alternative to auditing, but as a way to get faster, bigger returns. Automating your billing system can help persuade your carriers to get on board with your self-billing initiative.

It “Fees” Like I’m Getting Screwed!

By Guest Blogger, Jim LeRose, http://www.agilenycmetro.com/

I did my due diligence by checking flights at Kayak.com. Then I booked with the least costly airline to Ft. Lauderdale, which also happened to be my preferred carrier, and at that time I thought I had paid for my flights in full. Little did I know…when I checked in months later, I would get hit with $212 in fees for the first checked bag per-passenger. That amount represented 15.4% of my total travel expense! It “fees” like I’m getting screwed!

Wall Street investors and airline executives are laughing all the way to the bank and at you while they snatch a lot more of your money then you expect. CNN reported the airlines are getting billions from these new fees and now the US government is being asked to step in.

I say, what’s the difference between what the airlines are doing vs. what UPS/FedEx are doing to their customers? Answer – not a thing. “Fees” like you’re getting screwed too? You don’t have to take it.

Here’s an example; Last week I met with one of my best customers who discovered from an audit report that I prepared, his company is paying around $2,000 per month just for address correction fees with UPS. This is a fee that penalizes a shipper for not providing the correct information on their shipping labels. Many of these fees were incorrect addresses for shipments sent to the same customers repeatedly while others are for incorrectly spelled street names. This prompted further investigation and more analytics. He quickly realized his undisclosed fees for items such as; dimensional, oversize, delivery surcharges, residential, Saturday delivery etc. totaled 13.7% of a 3m total transportation spend. That means they we’re paying $411,000 extra to the carrier without knowing. Within months we cut this number in half and saved over $200,000 per year in unrecoverable fees. This is not an isolated incident. What’s puzzling is why so many companies either don’t care enough to do anything about it or simply think there’s nothing they can do.

What can be done about big businesses tricking their customers into paying more?

When it comes to flying, from now on I recommend you travel wearing one layer of clothing for each day you will be away, i.e. seven layers of clothing for a one-week trip, and avoid checking bags. Simply remove one layer each day. I admit this solution may be a bit flawed, as it may be slightly difficult to move about the cabin, it can only be used during extremely cold winter travel but it may help the goal of reducing fees.

As you can probably tell I may not know much about reducing fees for air travel but when it comes to UPS/FedEx, there’s plenty I know and a lot you can do!

Here are five simple suggestions to lower or eliminate carrier fees…

1. Get a reputable auditing company auditing your UPS/FedEx invoices immediately! You will get reports every month. Analyze the monthly reports so you can identify the overcharges. Overall my customers report the value of the information in these reports far exceeds the money saved from the actual refunds the auditors get for your company. You have to realize you have a problem before you can fix it and there’s no better way to identify the areas of overpayment then by using a 3rd party auditor.
2. Get new shipping technology (Transportation Management System – TMS) deployed at your company that will disclose these fees prior to shipping and help you save money in other areas. The free stuff such as: UPS Worldship / CampusShip / FedEx Ship Manager etc. aren’t designed to help you spend less – that’s why they are free. Today’s TMS systems can save 15% or more on your annual UPS/FedEx spend.
3. Get started using the USPS for residential shipments and/or low weight items. Their service has vastly improved and you may not know this but FedEx airlifts freight for Priority service.
4. Get an accurate shipping cost exposed in your shopping cart. You must be able to expose the final cost of shipping in the cart so you don’t get whacked with unrecoverable charges later.
5. Get a professional to help you negotiate lower fees or have them completely removed from your contract. Beware carriers have just announced they will NOT cooperate with the 3rd party negotiator of your choice so you will have to work with one behind the scenes.

Check out these links to see the current list of fees charges by your carrier:

• FedEx requires an 11 page .pdf file to explain their fees, to find out more you can click at; http://fedex.com/us/services/pdf/Fees_Shipping_Information.pdf.
• UPS makes it considerably more difficult to see their fees but you can download their daily rates file – a 163-page .pdf file, and then find them listed as “Other Charges” on page 60. Click here: http://www.ups.com/media/en/daily_rates.pdf

I hope this information helps you Ship Better and Save Money.

Do You Know Shipping? Guest Blogs Welcome!

Have you done something to reduce shipping costs that made a difference? Would you like to share your success with thousands of people?

I want to publish ideas that have been proven to be effective in helping parcel shippers save on shipping. If you have any tips, suggestions, or guidelines that you can provide, and would like to contribute to my 2,000 + readers, please submit your blog entry to mark.taylor@myshippingcoach.com.

Here are my guidelines of how to write a tip that gets published:

• What is the single idea that has worked? If you have more than one idea, you may submit multiple entries, but  keep each post to a single idea.
• Explain your suggestion with steps on how to do it that follow in bullets or a numbered list.
• Provide a title for your idea.
• Then an introduction to it.
• Then tell us the idea.
• Give us the step on how to implement it—usually 3-5 steps.
• And then, summarize it.
• Please keep the number of words less than 300.
• Don’t use this solely for promoting your product or service. In the footer, you can put your name, company and website or blog, and I will link to it.

My intention is for this blog to contribute to all small parcel shippers to make a difference. Thank you in advance for your contribution.

Shipping Myth: More Money Does Not Necessarily Mean Faster Service

Many of us grew up with the expression, “You get what you pay for.” This was meant to be a lesson to not be cheap. If you buy inexpensive junk, you couldn’t expect it to last long or perform as well. While this may be true in some areas, it certainly is NOT true when it comes to shipping. I can’t tell you the amount of waste that I have seen from shippers, who pay more, sometimes 10 times more, with the false belief that it will get there faster!

I have a peculiar hobby. I love to look at invoices and ask provocative questions. I was reviewing a FedEx invoice of a client the other day and saw the following:

• A FedEx 3Day Freight shipment from San Francisco to Los Angeles for $745. I asked the logistics manager why he chose FedEx 3Day Freight for this shipment as was told, “We had to get it there in three days and did not want to take any chances. This customer would have been very angry if the shipment was late.” I checked and found that there were several Less Than Truckload (LTL) carriers that would have delivered the same shipment for $125 with a one day guarantee. He paid 6 times more because he thought that by paying more would be faster service.
• I was in another client’s office and watched this Corporate Headquarters mailroom processing UPS 2^nd Air packages. There were 100 packages in a pile on the floor, all being sent UPS 2^nd Day Air and I asked why these packages being sent this way. The answer was that they received a corporate discount on UPS 2^nd Day Air of 50% and that they wanted to be sure that all their sales people received this package by the weekend. Just for fun (and with permission from my client), I went through the stack and found 40 packages that were being sent in the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT). All 40 packages could have been shipped ground and were guaranteed to be there by the end of the next day. (They were shipping on Wednesday and they were guaranteed to be there by 5:00PM on Thursday). The cost for ground was $8.00 per package. Their cost for UPS 2^nd Day Air with their 50%, $11 with a guaranteed delivery of Friday—one day longer. So they paid 30% more and wasted over $320 with the false belief that because it was air, it would be faster.

The bottom line is that more money in shipping does not necessarily mean faster service! What can you do about it? Compare prices and delivery. Don’t assume.

Here is a Great Tip on How to Save Money on Shipping

My post last week about guaranteed service refunds triggered a number of responses. Steve Thomas, the warehouse manager at Polek and Polek, a leading distributor of copier parts, fax supplies, and printer products, told me how he gets his money back on packages that are not delivered as promised.

Steve sets up every package he ships with an email notification from UPS to inform him of any exceptions. Exception notifications indicate anything that may cause a delay in the delivery of the package. This way he gets an email when a package has been mis-routed or is going to be late. After he is notified, he calls the carrier and asks for a refund. (You can even set it up so that another person gets notified, so you can delegate this task to someone else such as an accounting clerk). UPS and FedEx both offer this service for no charge. Steve saved his company over $2,000 last year by simply doing this.

You can set up your shipping system to notify you of exceptions by selecting the box to be notified. See below for an example.

Steve, thank you so much for sharing your advice!

What are you doing to save money in your shipping department? Please let me know and I will post your suggestions for the benefit of all shippers. You can email me at mark.taylor@myshippingcoach.com.

Save 38% on USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes

The last several posts about Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes have stirred up some great observations by readers. The comments below are from Jay Eichler of The Ultimate Thomas Store. Jay is a big seller of licensed Thomas & Friends products on his website, eBay, and Amazon, so he is very knowledgeable about best practices for shipping. As you will read below, his suggestion can save you 38% on shipping USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes. Thank you Jay!

I invite any of you with best practices to share them with our community by emailing me at mark.taylor@myshippingcoach.com. Together, we can help one another save on shipping and boost our economy.

Here is Jay’s email:

USPS has spent a lot of advertising dollars on getting people to use the flat-rate boxes. In my opinion, for 90% of what is shipped in them (including many of the widgets they use in the commercial), it would be much more economical for the shipper to use the non-flat rate boxes to get a better deal. For example, this past week I won a Yankees thermal jacket on eBay. The seller lived about 100 miles from me, charged me $16.00 for shipping, and shipped in a USPS Medium Flat rate box which cost them $10.70. Had they shipped in a regular Priority Mail box (Box 1095), it would have only cost them $6.67 for the same package. For a seller on eBay, who should be especially conscious of shipping charges with their DSR ratings at stake, this is a huge waste of shipping dollars.

I don’t know if this is something you would want to publish in your blog, but with the latest change in USPS Priority Mail pricing, the Priority Mail Envelope is now cheaper than the Small Flat Rate Box. The one thing I don’t think USPS thought about is that you can fit the box inside of a Flat Rate Envelope. You could actually use two USPS shipping containers, place one inside the other and ship for the lower rate. Using this, why anyone would pay for a Small Flat Rate Box is insane!

Keep up the Good work!

Jay Eichler
The Ultimate Thomas Store

What is the Cheapest Way to Ship a Package?

What is the cheapest way to ship a package? It all depends.

I received the following email from one of my readers. Thank you, you have raised some very good questions. Read my response below in blue:

I invite any of you with questions to email me at mark.taylor@myshippingcoach.com. I may not be able to get back to you for a few days, but I read all my emails and respond.

I stumbled upon your blog and I’ve got to say, it is very helpful.  I am a new Ebay seller and am new to this whole shipping business.  I was wondering if you could answer a question for me.  I use USPS for my shipping; I’ve found it to be cheaper than FedEx and UPS. Priity Mail Flat Rate Options

 

 

	Price	Size
Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope	$4.90	12-1/2″ x 9-1/2″
Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box	$4.95	8-5/8″ x 5-3/8″ x 1-5/8″
Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box (FRB1)	$10.70	11″ x 8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″
Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box (FRB2)	$10.70	13-5/8″ x 11-7/8″ x 3-3/8″
Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box (Domestic Addresses)	$14.50	12″ x 12″ x 5-1/2″
Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box (APO/FPO Destinations)	$12.50	12″ x 12″ x 5-1/2″

Here is the priority mail flat rate prices.  What if I want to use my own packaging or some of their other boxes not on the list, such as their shoe box?  How will I know how much it is going to cost?  It is based on weight?  Basically, I just want to know how USPS determines shipping costs.   And, do you have any tips to get the lowest shipping price possible? I ship mostly clothing and shoes, not anything that would be too heavy.  I would like to get them shipped at the lowest possible price.  How can I do that with USPS? Thank you so much!!!

The cost to ship a package depends on the weight, zip code, and dimensions, among other factors. For USPS you can ship in your own box, or in a Priority Mail box that you can get for free. Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes can be the best way, but not necessarily. It all depends. Let’s look at a few examples:

• You have a 2-pound package that is shipping to a zone 2 (someplace close). If it fits into the Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box, you can ship it for $4.95. BUT, if you put it in another box, it would only be $4.90. If you used the bigger Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box, you could pay $14.50—way more money!
  
• If you have a 5-pound box, the rating becomes more complex. For a Zone 5, you would pay $11.76. It would be cheaper not to use the Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box. But the same package going to Zone 8 (cross country) would be $16.37, so it would be cheaper to the Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box. Now, I could ship that same box with FedEx Home Delivery for $10.59 and save $5.78 with the rates I get from FedEx (email me and I will tell you how).
  

The bottom line is this: no carrier is the cheapest carrier for every kind of package. The USPS does a great job and is the cheapest for package shipping to residences that weigh less than 2 pounds. My advice is to compare carriers and services.

If You Ship Items Worth Over $100; This Secret Can Save You Big!

Do you ship items worth over $100?

What happens if that item is not delivered and your customer complains?

If you are an Amazon seller, you are bound by Amazon.com’s A-to-Z Guarantee and the money is automatically refunded to the customer. Most likely, you will refund the customer or ship another item, but you lose your profit and bear the costs of your product and the shipping costs.

The US Post Office, UPS, FedEx, and DHL all offer various forms of insurance if your package is lost or damaged. With these carriers a shipment is automatically protected up to $100 for loss or damage, but if you require more protection than you need to declare a higher value for protection. FedEx and UPS call it “Declared Value”. DHL calls theirs “Shipment Value Protection. The US Post Office offers insurance as well.

The formula works pretty much the same even though the rates are different if you have a retail or commercial account.

For example, for customers with Retail Rates, UPS charges $0.90 for each $100.00 (or portion of $100.00) of the total value declared, with a minimum charge of $1.80. If you had a package that was worth $500, you would subtract the $100 that is included and have $400 or 4 units x $0.90 for a cost of $3.60.

If you shipped 10 packages a month of this value, you would be paying $36 just for insurance!

FedEx charges $.70 per $100 of value with a minimum charge of $2.10.

The USPS starts with the first dollar that you declare, has a minimum of $1.75. For $100 package, the cost is $2.25.

Now here is a secret that many eBay sellers and online merchants don’t know. There are third party insurance companies that will insure your packages for 50% less than the carriers charge.

Here are the rates from one third-party insurance provider: (Full Disclosure—I would receive a small referral fee if you use this service)

• UPS/FedEx Ground $.30 per $100
• USPS Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation $.50 per $100

This is a HUGE savings. For a $200 package with FedEx, the cost would be $.60 instead of $2.10—a savings of 71%!

For USPS, that $100 package is only $.50 instead of $2.25, a savings of 78%!