In today’s marketplace, online shopping is the norm. This means businesses like yours can receive orders from customers not only in other states but worldwide. As a result of the rise of ecommerce, shipping and transportation are more important than ever, both for incoming inventory from suppliers and outgoing order fulfillment to customers.
If you’re trying to stay competitive while meeting growing customer demands, it’s vital you consider the average cost of freight shipping. After all, these shipping costs affect your company’s profitability and should be incorporated into the prices of your products.
So what exactly goes into the average cost of freight shipping? Multiple factors contribute to these costs, and by understanding each, you can proactively look for ways to keep these costs down when shipping freight to maximize profits.
What Goes into the Average Cost of Freight Shipping
Packaging
If your items use unique packaging in order to be shipped properly, this can increase the average cost of your freight shipping. Delicate or heavier items may require additional packing materials for support in order to prevent transit damage. Custom boxes can cause more difficult shipments as they may need extra storage space, impacting their stowability on standard pallets. All of these packaging details can influence shipping costs.
Fragility
Typically, fragile items like liquids or glass will require an additional premium, increasing the average cost of freight shipping. This is due to the fact that these items must have special handling throughout the logistics process to keep them from breaking. And fragile items usually need strong, unique packaging, adding to the costs.
Transportation Required
The mode of transportation utilized affects your shipping costs, too. If you need to ship products overseas, sending your shipments on container ships across the ocean is often cheaper than air transportation, yet it takes much longer (at least a month). Ground shipping methods like small parcel, less-than-truckload (LTL), and full truckload can make a difference on the average cost of freight shipping as well.
Measurements
The measurements of your packaged item perhaps make the biggest impact on your average cost of freight shipping. These measurements usually include dimensions, weight, and density.
Shippers will calculate the density of your item in pounds per cubic foot to get the best idea of your shipment size and determine the cost from there. Often, items with bigger dimensions will be more expensive to ship as they take up extra space when transported. For this reason, some larger items will be shipped in pieces to reduce costs.
Timing
If you’re trying to meet a quick shipment deadline, your average cost of freight shipping will increase. Usually, time-sensitive shipments are transported via air, which costs more than ground or ocean freight. To keep costs down, use smart demand forecasting strategies and schedule your shipments further in advance if possible to use more affordable transportation methods.
Liability
Carriers also consider the potential liability of the packaged items when determining shipping costs. If you’re shipping valuable or hazardous items, liability can play an important role in your average cost of freight shipping. When evaluating liability, your shipping provider will factor in the potential of your item damaging other freight during transit, your item's value, its risk of being damaged, and its risk of being stolen.
Ways to Reduce the Average Cost of Freight Shipping
As you think about all that goes into determining the average cost of freight shipping, there are a few strategies you can take to make your freight costs more affordable:
- Give Bulk Discounts - incentivizing your customers to buy in bulk means cheaper costs because you’re shipping larger quantities at one time
- Ship on Low-Traffic Days - shipping your products on days that aren’t in demand will give you lower shipping rates, and often result in more reliable deliveries
- Choose the Right Packaging - consider packaging that stows well when transported and look for ways to reduce the required packing materials you need
- Get Insurance Coverage - especially when shipping valuable or fragile items, cargo insurance coverage will protect you from financial loss if items are lost or broken
Save Money on Shipping Costs with Smart Warehousing
Perhaps the most beneficial way to reduce the average cost of freight shipping is to partner with a 3PL for your transportation needs. At Smart Warehousing, we offer a wide range of transportation services from port-side to door-side—all with two-day nationwide shipping. Not only do you save valuable time by outsourcing your logistics and transportation to us, you can also save money with vital transportation discounts thanks to our strong relationships with national carriers. Request a quote today to learn more about saving money with our transportation services.