Shipping heavy items such as bikes, machinery, auto parts, and heavy furniture is a complex process. Several challenges come with large and heavy-weight shipments.
You need to figure out the best solution for your shipping requirement to ease the pain. Let us look at the key tips, five golden rules that you can use to carry out the process seamlessly as part of your logistics operation.
1) Dimensional weight: Also called volumetric weight, it is different from the actual weight of the product. Shipping companies were making losses on such consignments where the product was large in size but much lighter in weight. Based on how much volumetric space the packet occupies, shipping companies would calculate how much it would weigh if they apply for their density number and apply a charge on whichever is higher, that is, between actual weight and volumetric weight.
2) Choosing the right box for packaging: Now that we know from point number one, how shipping companies levy charges, hence we would want to optimize your packaging so that it does not occupy space more than what is required and reduce volumetric space. For this, you need to select the right-sized box that you are going to pack your product.
3) Select the right carrier: There are few big shippers, and they can manage heavy-weight and bulky shipping items. While each one of them offers different costs, the real task is to find out which one is cheaper. It is important to compare pricing from shippers like DHL, FedEx, Aramex, USPS, etc.
4) Chose a delivery company: While one option is to approach shipping companies directly, the chances are that you may end up paying more. In such a scenario, and for international shipments on a regular basis, it is better to hire a professional service provider who can help you in price negotiations and other regularities.
These experts/professionals work with shipping companies and negotiate the lowest price for you, and find out which shipping mode (transfer via ship, road, or air) to follow to get the cheapest way to ship heavy items or any other items you wish to send to another country.
An important question is who will protect your money? After all, you are dealing with a business partner who is sitting somewhere else in the world. Pick and choose a reliable and trusted escrow service provider, like Tazapay, to ensure that your money is safe.
5) Consolidated shipping: A seller can also opt for consolidated shipping if the shipment is small in volume to require a full container to ship; this is also referred to as LCL (Less than Container Load). In such cases, the consolidator combines individual LCL from different suppliers/sellers into one full container shipment, also referred to as FCL (Full Container Load).
Consolidation helps in combining multiple LCLs that are heading in the same location.
Now that we know the five golden rules, heavy-weight and oversized packets should not deter you from reaching your customers in time and scaling the business to other markets. You will not need to break your bank account if you follow these five rules.
