Best Practices…..
Do you follow them, should you follow them? Why should you follow them?
Best practices can set you, your staff and your business apart from the crowd. They can be simple, or extremely complex. They can cost you no money, a little money or the lack can cost you a lot of money.
One of the processes I have encouraged with freight shippers it to be completely transparent with the customer and (possibly more important) be transparent with the consignee. We handle freight shipments almost daily, some days we have 2 or 3 or even more freight shipments being picked up and processed.
One rule is that the customer MUST be aware and participate in the arrangement of the delivery. Long gone are the days that we shipped and forgot about it. More and more we see deliveries that run into an issue that causes a delay, causes additional services (expensive services) being added to the shipment. As shipper we are protected very little to these additional fees. In most cases you are responsible for any fees incurred with the shipment and delivery.
When we quote a freight job we always inquire about the delivery, what restrictions are there, what limitations, you can’t just wait for the shipment to delivery or you can pay a hefty fee being added to the bill. When someone says it is commercial, I ALWAYS check on Google earth to verify that the address is commercial location. If a business, I ask for a contact name, a phone number and an email address.
We look to see if the building has a loading dock or if it appears that it does not. Failure to properly set up a delivery can be expensive both in time, and money. It can also be expensive is customer costs, if ONLY you had asked for the answer. Shipping freight to a business and assuming it has a dock or forklift can cause the shipment to be delayed. If the carrier attempts the delivery and discovers that the business has no loading dock and requires a lift gate they have no choice but return to the terminal. At this point the carrier has to make arrangements to add the lift gate plus add a re-delivery fee to the invoice. This is going to add at least $120.00 to $150.00 to your invoice. And now the freight is being delayed at least one business day.
We try to avoid all these (and other problems) by emailing our customer and the consignee in advance. We explain the services that have been arranged for, we ask for them to confirm any restrictions or limitations at delivery. We try to make sure that everyone is aware of the options, the costs and the repercussions. We try to force people to respond and confirm, that isn’t always successful. In our email we describe the service that has been paid for or arranged. Your shipment will be delivered by ABC Freight, the scheduled day of delivery is next Wed/Thursday. The will deliver with a standard tractor trailer, so if you know your area doesn’t allow them please let us know and tell the appointment clerk when they call. The carrier should contact you prior to deliver to set up a window for delivery. The carrier will deliver the pallet curbside. They will take it off the truck using a liftgate and place it curbside with their pallet jack, the do not have to take it further. They will not take it inside nor unpack it, you can make arrangement for this but we need to do so now to avoid delays and higher fees.
Once the freight is delivered please take a minute to inspect the shipment (attached is a photo of the pallet as it left here) please make note of any dings, dents, tears or missing wrap. We package to protect the items but accidents do happen, we want you to be aware of the guidelines in advance so we can avoid possible problems in the future. Inspecting the package helps protect your coverage (if purchased) and helps keep the carriers liability in effect.
There isn’t a one size fits all letter you can create, you can create a rough draft and edit based on each customer. I used to send customers overnight letters with these details, now we email them. Sending a photo of the pallet (several if you can, send a progression of the palletizing so they see the process) does several things, it shows them what to expect. It gives you a photo to use during promotions. It also helps in the event of claims, it can even help with reweigh or class disputes. It can’t hurt to have them.
Happy freighting
Jeff Ballantyne
AMBC Freight
PackFreight Network
#Freightguru
Jeff Ballantyne
Parcel Room
PackFreight Network
1465 Woodbury Ave
Portsmouth NH 03801
603-431-0718
Think like a customer work like a professional.
Source: AMBC Blog