Parcel - October 2008 - (Page 37)

• Centrally manage all carrier costs in one location A lot of shipping is initiated outside the mail center using waybills, a variety of carriers systems and other methods based on the preference of the sender. Carrier bills without valid cost center accounts associated with charges present organizations with a difﬁcult decision — spend more to try to determine where the charges should be allocated or just accept a large unallocated expense. However, multi-carrier desktop shipping solutions can help ensure that each shipment that originates at an organization includes a valid cost center account and provides visibility to whoever sent it, where they sent it and how they sent it. Organizations can monitor spending on carriers by service, department and employees and use this information in their carrier negotiations to obtain better discounts. • Increase compliance with business rules Some multi-carrier desktop solutions provide organizations with the ﬂexibility to make their shipping portals strict or liberal according to the business rules that they set up. This allows organizations to determine what shipping services employees may use by package type or class of employee. It can also help provide a consistent process to make sure negotiated rates with contracted carriers are used throughout the organization and that the lowest cost option meeting the business need is selected. • Provide visibility into surcharges up front Some multicarrier desktop solutions also enable organizations to see surcharges or special fees up front before transactions are exe- cuted. Examples of surcharges include: fuel charges; commercial delivery area surcharges; address correction fees; Saturday delivery charges; and dimensional rating charges. Multi-carrier desktop solutions that include address veriﬁcation software can equip a company’s employees with tools to help eliminate costs of undeliverable packages by checking to make sure the recipient’s address is correct and whether an address is commercial or residential. This can help increase delivery reliability. • Obtain ﬂexibility to change carriers Using a multi-carrier desktop shipping solution instead of a single carrier system allows an organization to change or add carriers without changing its shipping technology or disrupting your operations. The opportunities that multi-carrier desktop shipping solutions present far outweigh the upfront costs of investing in a system. By incorporating a multi-carrier desktop shipping solution into a company’s overall strategy, an organization can take advantage of opportunities to gain greater visibility into spending, boost productivity and increase compliance with the business rules that it sets up. The net-net is improved management and control of a company’s total shipping costs and increased operational efﬁciency. Vincent J. DeAngelis is Director of Product Management, Pitney Bowes Inc. For more information on Pitney Bowes, please visit www.pb.com. www.PARCELindustry.com October 2008 37 http://www.pb.com http://www.datatrac.com http://www.datatrac.com http://www.PARCELindustry.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Parcel - October 2008

Parcel - October 2008 Contents Editor's Note What Would Augello Say? Best Practices Survey Results Going with the Flow Is Your Parcel Network Optimized? Last (Mile), but Not Least Moving From Manual to Automated Fulfillment A Race for Excellence Making Ends Meet Is Your Job Killing You? Software Selection Demystified Controlling Costs On the Mark Product Profile New Products & Services Advertiser Index Wrap Up

Parcel - October 2008

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