Every year, businesses ship billions of parcels across the country and worldwide to deliver their products to happy customers. In 2018 alone, approximately 13 billion parcels were shipped. To ensure that customers stay happy and get their parcels on time, businesses rely on carriers and shipping contracts to transport their products. However, because carriers also need to make money, it's not uncommon for shipping parcel contracts to try and take advantage.

To help you avoid wasting money on services that you don't need to pay for, here are a couple of the most common contract errors that your parcel contract is actually hindering rather than helping your business and what you can do to stop it.

This past May, U.S. parcel shippers were hit with major price hikes from FedEx and UPS when the delivery services implemented domestic surcharges at short notice. UPS increased their surcharges on May 31 with FedEx close behind, increasing surcharges on June 8 to keep up with the competition. With the COVID-19 pandemic increasing the number of e-commerce shipments made, it wouldn't come as a surprise to see these surcharges jump up again soon.

Oversize fees, delivery area surcharges, and accessorial charges are always prepared to increase. That being said, it's important to make sure your business isn't being taken advantage of during parcel contract negotiations. To help you avoid losing money, here are three items your business needs to negotiate with FedEx and UPS throughout the rest of this year.

​It's no secret that parcel contract optimization is necessary for both businesses and carriers what with over $2 billion in refunds and credits going unclaimed by U.S. businesses every year. In fact, according to the Washington Post, neither Amazon nor the Post Service knows for sure what the revenue from their parcel shipping contract is despite the fact that Amazon uses the Postal Service for up to 40% of its shipping.

​Parcel contract optimization ensures that both parties are acting in compliance with their shipping contract and that no party is being overcharged. Parcel contract auditors will analyze contracts for service errors and to determine if any refunds or discounts are in order.

However, the parcel contract optimization market has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis like many other markets have been, and the future of the market is expected to shift. That being said, what market changes can we expect to see and what trends should people be aware of? Here we'll dive into the parcel contract optimization market pre-and-post pandemic.

Pre-Pandemic: Carriers Shifting Gears

Prior to the pandemic, the parcel industry saw significant changes. FedEx chose not to renew not one but two contracts with Amazon, UPS signed a five-year labor contract, and the US nearly departed from the Universal Postal Union.

E-commerce deliveries were growing for multiple carriers. This was especially true for FedEx, which began delivering packages on Sundays via Ground. FedEx also started allowing FedEx Express to hand off some of its deliveries to Ground when they were in the last mile. The trends that were expected to come in 2020 included General Rate Increases from carriers, expectations from consumers for faster deliveries, and increases in carrier capacity.

Current Pandemic: What Is the Market Doing?

With so many Americans staying home and social distancing to combat COVID-19, the e-commerce market has climbed 49% and retail sales have dropped significantly. Additionally, mail volumes are falling and putting greater pressure on profit for the United States Postal Service. Parcel volumes are growing and helping profitability, but the USPS isn't able to profit through types of shipment.

What Trends Are Expected in the Future?

According to Barron's, the probability of change happening for the USPS and other carriers is higher because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Issues that may have seemed small prior to the pandemic are now highly visible, and some shippers specializing in consumer products may continue to see their volumes climb while overs will see declining demand.

Shippers who have seen their volumes decline ought to be wary of their carrier pricing and discount structure. With e-commerce shipments expected to continue to rise and the USPS looking to improve its profit margins, parcel contract auditing, negotiating, and optimizing will be more important than ever. That's where AFMS comes in.

AFMS has parcel pricing experts your business needs to analyze shipping contracts and to provide parcel contract negotiations. For more information on parcel shipping contract benchmarking and contract optimization, contact AFMS today.

​​Many businesses feel confident in their ability to review their own parcel shipping contract when the time comes to renew their contract with their carrier. However, parcel shipping contracts can be difficult to navigate when you're not entirely sure what you're looking at, and you might just end up paying more for shipping than you need to.

This is where the parcel contract pricing support of AFMS comes in. AFMS offers a wide array of services including parcel contract negotiation, parcel contract auditing, and parcel contract optimization to make sure you're getting the most bang for your buck. Here are some of the benefits you can expect to take advantage of when you get parcel contract pricing support.

Know what not to sign

When you choose to work with parcel contract pricing support, you can feel secure knowing that you won't be signing anything that could do your business financial harm. For instance, in many parcel contract negotiations, there's a carrier GSR waiver. Your business should never sign a carrier GSR waiver.

A carrier GSR waiver, or a money-back-guarantee waiver, can mean a loss of revenue between 3-5% for your business. With parcel contract pricing support, you could obtain better incentives and discounts by keeping the Service Guarantee Policy part of your agreement.

Catch possible overcharges

In 2018 alone, there are 87 billion parcels shipped worldwide. Depending on the number of parcels your company ships, it can be difficult to spot overcharges. The good news is that, with support from parcel contract auditors, you can determine whether or not your carrier is overcharging you for your shipments.

Parcel contract auditors can not only ensure that your carrier is acting in compliance with your contract but also that there are no refunds that are in order. AFMS can audit your contract to correct discounts, identify service errors, and more.

Identify changes in the contract

It's all too easy to overlook details and contract changes when you're conducting your own parcel contract negotiation. Unfortunately, even the smallest of contract changes can have a domino effect. An overlooked detail can impact transit times, discounts, and service errors. Professional support during your parcel contract negotiations reduces the risk of signing off on a change that could negatively affect your business.

Interest in working with parcel pricing experts? We've got you covered. For more information on parcel shipping contract benchmarking and contract optimization, contact AFMS today.

View Original Article On FedEx website by clicking here.

When planning your budget, it helps to know the estimated cost of shipping. Here are the details of our shipping rate changes for list rates, surcharges, fees and other factors that can affect your shipping rates. Plus, you can download shipping rates for FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight.

UPS continues to provide essential service amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak to support the needs of their customers. Their goal is to ensure businesses and customers are able to meet their shipping needs while demand has increased for shipping services.

Please see this document for details:

​Dive Brief:

• UPS' average domestic daily volume was up 8.5% year over year (YoY) in the first quarter, according to the company's Tuesday earnings call. But the shift in volume from commercial to consumer deliveries, brought on by the global pandemic, landed a blow to the carriers' profitability and generated questions from analysts about future price increases. The carrier withdrew its 2020 guidance.
• Stay-at-home orders became commonplace in the first quarter, shifting purchasing online and by late March, roughly 70% of the UPS' volume was residential deliveries. Automated sorting capacity and years of ramping up network speed were not enough to keep these shifts from affecting costs. "We were not able to fully offset the unprecedented and swift changes in market demand and mix," said outgoing CEO David Abney. Revenue per piece was down 1.8% globally YoY in the quarter ending March 31, and operating profit for the domestic package operation was down 45% YoY.
• UPS will continue to review pricing customer by customer as volume mix shifts, executives said. "Prices can be dynamic, just like everything else," Abney said.

​Dive Brief:

• UPS announced peak surcharges on certain domestic shipments in the U.S. beginning Sunday.
• The surcharges will apply to Ground Residential and SurePost packages if a shipper's volume the prior week was more than 25,000 packages greater than the shipper's average daily volume in February. The surcharge is $0.30 per package.
• UPS will also impose a large parcel surcharge of $31.45 per package. UPS will also impose a surcharge of $31.45 per package on large parcels.UPS defines large package as one with length plus girth exceeding 130 inches or with length more than 96 inches.

​With over 13 billion parcels being shipped across the country in a single year, it's all too easy to sign your shipping contract and let your carrier carry on even when there are rate increases. But it's vital to consider how changes in your shipping contract impact your business and to identify what you can do to combat increasing shipping expenditures.

When you review your carrier contracts, you put yourself in a good position for parcel contract negotiation and FedEx and UPS contract pricing optimization. That being said, there are a few things you need to keep in mind when conducting parcel contract negotiation.

Here are a few tips to help you navigate the complexities of carrier contracts:

Review your shipping data

It's impossible to identify where you can save money on your shipping contract without looking back on past shipping history and parcel expenses. However, it can be tricky to review your shipping data alone if you're not entirely sure what to look for. AFMS has the parcel pricing experts you need to review your shipping data and parcel expenses to find where you may be able to save money and strengthen operations.

Avoid the carrier GSR waiver

You never want to sign a GSR waiver when you're negotiating your shipping contract or renewing your contract. Also known as a Money-Back Guarantee waiver, a GSR waiver prevents a shipping client from recovering the costs to ship a package if the carrier delivers the package late. This removes any accountability from the carrier to deliver packages on time.

You never want to sign a contract that keeps your business from capturing refunds or gaining money back when those refunds are justified. Consider having your parcel contract auditing service take a look at the number of times your carrier has delivered packages late from your business to get a better idea of just how much a GSR waiver could hurt your company.

Remember that you're negotiating on your terms

It's crucial to remember when you're going through a parcel contract negotiation that you need to negotiate on your terms, not your carrier's terms. You can negotiate your contract whenever you want, not just when your contract is nearing its expiration date.

Re-negotiating when it works best for you is far more beneficial for your business than waiting until the last minute. It's also important to note that you never want to sign a contract that keeps you from re-negotiating or keeps you from exiting a contract early.

Need help with your parcel contract negotiation? AFMS has you covered. We offer professional parcel contract benchmarking and parcel contract optimization to ensure you're never being overcharged for your shipping. To learn more about parcel contract negotiation  and our other services, contact AFMS today.