Top 2020 parcel trends are creating smarter shippers and mitigating costs.
Trend #1: Rates Will Continue to Rise
At the end of every year, UPS and FedEx announce their general price increase for next year. On average, the increase is only around 4.9%.
What you don't see in that increase is the surcharges. This year surcharges are going to have a large impact on parcel shippers. Especially those with larger parcel shipments.
This year the threshold for the additional handling fee has changed from 70 pounds to 50 pounds. This is impacting a lot of shippers who are in that threshold range between 50 and 70 pounds. Now they have close to a $25 per occurrence fee.
There are also surcharge changes with the DAS fees. These are changes and increases to the number of zip codes that get hit with a delivery area surcharge fee. Those fees go up every year.
This trend is going to continue. But, we hope we can help our clients reduce that spending. This gets done by understanding the opportunities to avoid these fees. As well as mitigating the cost from the carrier. This pertains to your contractual pricing.
Trend #2: Customer Expectations
It's called the "Amazon Effect".
People want shipping that is:
- Fast
- Cheap
- Free
With more large shippers finding a way to deliver faster, this is a trend that is only going to continue. And these expectations have bled over into almost all e-commerce and industries. People want shipping fast. They want it for free. This trend makes it difficult for shippers to remain competitive.
That trend will continue and the demand will be higher. And fighting against that pull is a struggle that is only going to get tougher as time goes on.
Trend #3: Businesses & Shippers are Wiser About Their Carriers
Diversifying the carrier network that you work with is a key trend to mitigate costs.
We are expecting more people who use UPS or FedEx to use final mile delivery partners as well as USPS to find the cheapest method of shipping to their client. But, they still have to meet those strict delivery demands and deadlines that their clients expect. Having a diverse carrier network will allow you to meet those expectations. It will also mitigate the cost.
Trend #4: The Use of Analytics
This helps companies become smarter in the way that they ship. It helps understand how to optimize your shipping and which carriers you can use. That trend is increasing.
Year over year, we're seeing more of our clients who:
- Are diving deep into the data
- Aren't only using our service to find discrepancies in invoice billing
Turning their data into actionable information so they can make smart decisions. And, if you have a multi-carrier network know how to optimize that and get the best use out of it.
So, continuing to further use analytics, be smarter shippers and mitigate costs.