If you run your own online small craft business, you might be trying to figure out an inexpensive way to ship your goods. As a one-person show, you don't have a loss-prevention department, and you might not even be making enough money yet to break even. It's important that your items are shipped right the first time so you don't lose money or customers. Here are some tips for properly mailing your goods on a tight budget.
Get a Scale
This is especially important when you are mailing new items and you aren't sure what the cost is going to be. Even if you know the cost to ship each of your items individually, you don't know the exact cost of people's orders when they begin ordering multiple items from you in one purchase. A scale will take the guesswork out of your shipping. You don't want to charge too much for shipping and feel like you're cheating your customers, and you don't want to charge too little and end up covering the cost of it. Make sure you weigh everything you sell and calculate the shipping properly. There are online companies that you can get discount packaging supplies from and a free scale for signing up for their services.
Reuse as Much as possible
You probably do your fair share of online ordering. Make sure you save everything you can reuse when you mail out your own items. People aren't going to know or even care if you reuse packing peanuts and bubble wrap that came with something you ordered from another company. You can put the packing peanuts in large boxes or even trash bags to store them until you need them. This will save you a lot of money on packing materials, and you can consider your business environmentally friendly for reusing them.
Send Heavy Boxes Flat Rate
If you are using a service that has flat-rate boxes, make sure you use them for heavier items. Store as many flat-rate boxes at home as you can so you have as many on hand as possible. First, weigh your large orders and calculate the shipping cost. If the shipping cost is higher than the cost of shipping the flat-rate box that the items will fit in, you can ship it flat rate instead. This will also keep customers happy because you can provide shipping discounts when they purchase multiple items.
Ask about Discounts
Before you choose a delivery service to ship your packages, inquire about discount services. You might find that delivery courier companies in your area offer discounted shipping if you ship a certain amount of packages. They might also offer discounts for all businesses or for certain people. For example, if you're a veteran, you can ask if they have shipping discounts for veteran and active duty military. Make sure you find out every discount you qualify for with each company before you make a decision.
Schedule Pickups
Your time and the amount of gas you use to go to the post office is all worth money. If you skip the trips, you can wind up saving a lot of money by the time the year is done. Some of the companies that you have to choose from will do free home pickups. You can weigh your item or you a flat-rate box, pay online through the company's website and print off the shipping labels. This is extremely convenient since you never have to leave the home, and you can mail out items much faster. If you don't have time to run to the post office for a few days, you don't need to worry about your package taking too long to get to the customer.
Shipping items can get expensive, but there are many things you can do to cut the costs. Find discounts, ship from home, and reuse any packaging materials you receive in the mail. Contact a company like Morningside Courier Systems to learn more about your options.
Share19 April 2016
When I started going through our books to see where we were losing money, I was astonished to see how much we were losing on shipping. We were spending a boatload on shipping, and I knew that it needed to stop. I met with our shipping department, and they talked about some of the issues they had been facing, including trying to find small enough boxes and using packing tape that just didn't work well. We started trying to figure out how to lower these costs, and we figured things out pretty quickly. This blog is all about eliminating waste and speeding up your shipping procedures.
