In these United States of Amazon there is a statement that has invaded our daily lives: “free shipping.” It’s everywhere – every online store, television ads (how can we forget the amazing Ship My Pants ad from a few years back), and now most retail outlets will even ship you an out of stock product for “free.” Sigh …..
What’s worse is that this invasion of ridiculousness has come into the corporate world as well. Almost daily I have a conversation with Paul Procurement person who tells me “we don’t pay for shipping” when they order 5,000 chairs from a boutique manufacturer in Italy. Or, almost as bad, “shipping is just a passthrough cost.” Heavy sigh …
So I’m going to try and tackle it today ladies and gentlemen: Shipping is never free!
“But Amazon’s So Cheap, and they don’t charge me shipping.”
Yes they do, they just hide it incredibly well. Take a look at this article, or this one – they report numbers that show Amazon, on average, cost 10.4% more than Walmart in store prices. Now, to be clear, I’m not saying it’s not worth ordering toilet paper from your couch instead of spending 20 minutes in a car, but once again – ITS NOT FREE.
Need more evidence?
There are several multi-billion dollar shipping companies, whose trucks you saw at some point this week, who, wait for it – are making money. They don’t deliver your package out of the kindness of their hearts.
“Ok, well yeah, I get it. I know shippings not really free, but why should I care if I’m ok with the price?”
Alright well, we’re making progress. And to be honest, if you’re shipping something small, then maybe you don’t care, but for large orders, for corporate shipments, and for the love of logistics for freight – you should never ever take someone seriously when they say shipping is free, especially if this is coming from someone on your team.
Give me more
At Boxton, on average we see a customer savings of 30%+ when we de-couple bulk freight from “free” shippers. Do we have great shipper relationships – yes of course, but a huge portion of the savings comes from the fact that shipping, when managed through a better process, can be drastically reduced.
So don’t be fool, and get some help next time you’re shipping something.
More About Boxton
At Boxton, we’re building the future of enterprise logistics but automating best in class processes through easy to use management software that keeps team’s moving forward, without overspending. We’ve built our platform and methodologies on the core belief that shipping should be easy, for everyone – and nothing on your invoice, should ever be a mystery.
