Following the rules of less than truckload freight shipping is the most important thing you can do to make sure you maintain a positive relationship between shipper and carrier. The tips below will help to ensure you continue to improve your relationship with your LTL carriers while helping yourself reduce costs and improve the shipping efficiency of your company.
Don’t Falsify Freight Weight: When it comes to creating a relationship with an LTL carrier one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to falsify the weight of your shipments. It is important to accurately report all of the cargo’s correct weight. This information is critical to less than truck load freight carriers as incorrect reporting of weight increases the expenses on their end. Note that LTL shippers re-weigh eighty percent of their freight as this is the key element to keeping down their expenses and improving their efficiency.
Accurate Bill of Lading: Decrease the errors in your transportation mananagment system by automating the intergration of your address and commodities books. Accurate bill of ladings are important for carriers. LTL carriers are becoming increasing aware of inaccuracies and are working to prevent them. You can imporve your reputation with your frieght carrier by providign an accurate bill of lading each and everytime you ship a less than truckload shipment.
Lessen or Avoid Accessorial Charges: Accessorial charges are the fees charged for extras such as residential services, lift gates, set appointment deliveries and more. In parcel shipping there is a great deal of accessorial charges whereas in LTL shipping there are around fifteen. When the load capacity is tight many shippers will choose the shipments with less accessorial charges as these are the things that slow the pickup and delivery of shipments.
Properly Packing Your LTL Shipments: It is important that your shipments are packaged correctly to travel via the mode of transportation chosen by you and the LTL carrier. If a shipment is not packaged correctly the shipper will have to repack it to prevent damage. This takes away from the carrier’s efficiency. If a shipment is packed improperly it can drop off the forklifts when being transferred damaging the contents thus creating more work for both you and the carrier. This can all be avoided with proper packaging.
By abiding by these simple tips when shipping freight with a LTL carrier you can greatly improve the relationship between you and the carrier. Following these basic tips will allow you both to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Jefferson Diversified Group, LLC is a Global Logistics expert offering LTL shipping and more. Check out available rates today at http://www.detroitltl.com.