It’s no secret that your company needs to be strategic when it comes to parcel shipping. After all, the U.S. is the biggest market in terms of parcel spending. Choosing the right carriers is essential to making sure you’re not overpaying for parcel shipping costs.

However, your bottom line isn’t the only thing you need to worry about when it comes to carriers. You also need to be concerned with brand reputation. Customers who receive late packages or don’t receive their packages at all won’t be shopping with your business again. That angry customers will be sure to leave a trail of bad reviews so other customers know not to shop with your business, either.

Regional Carriers Can Make Shipping Easier

Adding regional carriers to your shipping strategy is a great way to help make sure your shipments arrive when they should and your customers are happy. If you’re not sold just yet, here are some advantages of adding regional carriers to your shipping mix:

1. You can save with lower transportation costs: National carriers are great when you need to ship your parcels to a general area, but you can save on transportation costs by using regional carriers once those parcels arrive. This is because regional carriers typically have greater flexibility in their delivery services and can deliver your parcels faster and more affordably.
2. You can better compete with Amazon: Competing with Amazon is challenging for a lot of businesses, especially when it comes to Amazon’s two-day shipping. Using regional carriers as a part of your shipping strategy can help to cut down on shipping times so you can get your parcels to your customers within a competitive time frame. For instance, many national carriers like FedEx and UPS will offer two-day transit windows for parcel shipping by ground. However, regional carriers will offer overnight services.
3. You can save on accessorial fees: Accessorial fees can be extensive when you’re using only national carriers for your parcel shipping. For regional carriers, DAS and residential surcharges aren’t as high and may actually be nonexistent in some areas. The result is massive cost savings.

Whether you’re using national or regional carriers or a mix of both, it’s important to make sure you’re keeping an eye on your parcel shipping contract. AFMS offers parcel contract auditing, parcel contract optimization, and parcel contract negotiation to ensure you’re getting the best bang for your buck. For more information about our services, contact AFMS today.