As a business owner, it’s understandable if you’re always looking for the most affordable and efficient way to move your inventory. Freight consolidation is one way to save on freight costs and includes many other advantages for your shipments, such as better security, consistent shipping schedules, and better overall business performance.
In this article, we’ll discuss what freight consolidation is and why it’s a great choice for businesses of all sizes.
What is Consolidated Shipping?
Freight consolidation or consolidated shipping is a freight service that allows individual LTL shipments from various shippers to be grouped together in a single FTL shipment. By participating in this method, shippers can receive bulk rates and save much more money than sending their packages individually.
Consolidated shipping is ideal for businesses that:
- Send a few pallets of a product at a time
- Have a high frequency of smaller shipments
- Can plan in advance
Generally, freight in consolidated shipping comes from a single supplier. But other times, cargo can come from multiple shippers. The goal is to fill up an FTL container to keep costs down.
Consolidated Shipping Process
The cargo included in consolidated freight shipping is picked up and brought to a consolidation warehouse. The warehouse is centrally located to each shipment’s final destination.
Individual shipments are then organized in the warehouse and loaded into a single trailer for delivery.
Advantages of Consolidated Shipping
1. Save on Shipping Costs
The most significant benefit of consolidated shipping is reduced shipping costs! Especially if you’re a regular to LTL deliveries, you’ll be able to cut back on shipping fees and make your business more profitable.
Instead of paying for empty truck space, you’ll combine your packages with other companies to fill up the container. This means that you’ll only have to pay for your trailer space and nothing more!
By optimizing your LTL shipments with consolidated shipping, you can cut back on your product price. You guessed it––this equates to happier customers that are likely to make more purchases! Consolidated shipping from different suppliers encourages customers to make smaller yet more frequent purchases.
If you receive inbound and outbound inventory for your business, you’ll save more over managing your storage site, fleet, and inventory management facilities.
2. Improved Security
LTL freight consolidation reduces the amount of risk involved in shipping. Trusting professional freight carriers to handle your consolidated shipping ensures quality handling and reliability.
Consolidated shipments go through fewer hands and inspections, making it unlikely that you’ll get lost or damaged shipment. The product will only travel from the shipper to the consolidation center and, finally, the consignee or your customer.
3. Improved Quality Control
With consolidated shipping, you can manage your entire distribution chain on your own or through a logistics partner.
With consolidated shipment, you can implement quality control measures at a warehouse near the final destination. In this way, you can have more control over transit times and quality management.
4. Supply Chain Consistency
Once you’ve figured out your customers’ buying patterns, you can factor that into your consolidation plan. In this way, you can ensure that you have a ready inventory when a customer makes an order.
A consistent, consolidated shipping schedule will help you cut back on shipping costs, and it will also reduce the chances of a late shipment.
All in all, consolidated shipping can help you streamline your business for happy customers and higher earnings. Double whammy!
Consolidated Shipping: Get Started with GoShip.com
By getting in touch with freight shipping platforms like GoShip.com, businesses can easily find the most cost-effective and efficient approach to sending their consolidated shipments. GoShip.com will help you find a custom solution for your specific business needs.
Getting on board at GoShip.com is easy! Simply get a quote through the self-service platform, and you’ll be connected to a partner that suits your consolidated freight needs.
GoShip.com will help you cut back on costs and enhance customer satisfaction.