5 Tips to Creating an Effective Routing Guide for Your Transportation Services

For the majority of businesses, the cost of transportation can often be just as much - if not more than - the total cost of warehousing inventory, processing orders, and customer support. As such a tremendous expense, it's important to have the right vendors and carriers on your team as a business owner in order to keep your bottom line from disappearing. You don't want to be drowning in expenses, but at the same time, certain services are crucial to running your business, and transportation is one of them.

Every cent that's allotted to transporting your goods needs to be accounted for, and must be incredibly efficient. When it comes to managing your transportation, you've got to maintain a certain degree of control. Without having to micro-manage, there are ways to make the most of your transportation services and system to make sure that it's a well-oiled machine.

Among the most important means of retaining control is to communicate assignment rules openly and frequently to vendors and customers. This will help provide a solution for all your shipping situations, both typical and unique. Rules that are well though-out, clearly documented and clearly communicated are important to establish the way that partners contribute.

Here are 5 tips that will help you create an effective routing guide with your vendors and carriers.

1. Organize Shipments By Their Origin and Destination

Make sure that your customer files are organized according to origin and destination for the total distribution network. This doesn't have to be overly-complicated - it can simply involve a state-to-state grid if you want to keep things simplified.

2. Determine the Capabilities and Limitations of Each of Your Transportation Suppliers

You'd be wise to find out early on what the strengths and weaknesses of your transportations vendors are. For instance, while one carrier may be superior at delivering perishable very quickly with high-quality refrigerated cargo, but they may only deliver to local destinations. Others, on the other hand, might travel to all states and cities, but don't necessarily offer top-notch outbound services. Know who to access for each of your needs at the right time.

3. Look For opportunities to Consolidate Shipments That Stay in Line With Your Budget and Needs

Many times shipments are organized in such a way that they come in from order processes or sales. But a rule of thumb in the transportation industry is the fact that more volume typically comes with increased discounts from carriers. If you are able to have more shipments combined, you'll most likely be offered better rates. Check out the rates that your carrier offers, and see if they offer better prices for such consolidated shipments.

4. Come Up With a Simple Matrix

All the decision-making responsibilities should lie with you, the business owner. If you give flexibility to vendors to choose a carrier on your behalf, they may not necessarily select the one that meets all of your criteria. For this reason, you should devise a simple matrix that can be given to all vendors so that your needs are clearly communicated. This will make it easier for vendors to stick to your requirements when choosing a specific carrier for a certain job. A lack of control in this area can cause non-compliance, documentation errors, and freight rate exceptions.

5. Create Rules for Handling Exceptions That Fit Your Business Procedure

Giving all the information possible to vendors is ideal. However, there will be situations for which you cannot account. Under these circumstances, it would be helpful to give your routing assignments and rules out to deal with unique circumstances and shipments. Come up with a shipment authorization or contact form for your vendors so that they can easily provide you with all the info needed to book a carrier that can meet all criteria specified.

About the Author: Joseph Logan is a produce importer who depends on the use of transportation carriers to get his goods to all of his customers. He's come to rely on the logistics of Landstar Transportation Services for all incoming freight to keep his business running smoothly and profitably. To learn about transportation services provided by Landstar Transportation, visit InboundLogistics.com today!

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