The allure and ease of saving 15%, could cost you and your company a small fortune. The internet has made price shopping for freight services easy. Yet, in the logistics field we deal with real crisis situations every day. Choosing a low cost provider when the stakes are high, is pure gambling. A logistics partner that will not compromise service for cost savings, priceless.
Last week, a customer requested a same day shipment. As it delivered, they told us, ” they were 38 minutes from closing down a production line; at a cost of $ 750,000 ! “ In fact, we knew how critical is was ( only because we ask ) but, do you think the shipping guy understood what was at stake ? Were they aware of the consequences of failure ? All too frequently the answer is no.
Similarly, does a shipping department weigh the costs to the marketing department for attending a Trade Show ? Do they know that freight costs represent just 10% of the total show costs ? Or, does someone do a quick freight rate comparison and they take the low bid ?
It will be little consolation to save 15 % on freight and miss the show or shut down a factory. These savings will be meaningless when a failure occurs and yet this type of uninformed decision making happens all the time. Be sure it does not happen to you.
