Margin Magic: Four Steps to Building Greater Profit

4. Manage inbound freight costs. Inbound freight becomes a part of your overall COGS and, therefore, it affects your margin dollars. Reducing freight expense can be fairly simple if this hasn’t been an area of attention for your company.

First, don’t allow vendors to prepay and add freight. Pay for in-bound freight separately, and negotiate freight rates with specific carriers or with a freight-management company such as Donnelley Logistics, DM Transportation Management or C.H. Robinson.