7 Ways To Cut Parcel Shipping Expenses Right Now - Page 8 of 13

By Jeff Kline

4. Don’t forget inbound pricing. Outbound shipping drives most catalog parcel negotiations, but make sure your parcel carrier pricing applies to inbound shipping from vendors, too.

Take charge of your vendors. Establish weight and size limits for vendor parcel shipments. Require vendors to ship parcels using your account number so you avoid losing discounts and excessive freight markups. Don’t allow vendors to ship “prepay and add”; they can charge up to 25 percent more and pocket the discounts themselves.