Top Tips for Peak Season Parcel Shipping

While there's never really a slow shipping stretch on the calendar, there is definitely a peak season! The span from October through the early months of the new year is the busiest time for shippers and carriers. Holiday shipping, the inevitable rush of returns that follows and less-than-ideal weather conditions all fuse together into a hectic and high-intensity shipping surge.

Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) that are informed and prepared don't just survive peak shipping season — they thrive! Ensure your business is part of their ranks by following these holiday shipping tips for small packages.

Understanding peak season shipping challenges

Several critical factors all combine to give the peak season its unique challenges for both shippers and carriers, including:

Increased demand and volume

Simply put, more is just more. As demand goes up during peak season due to holiday shopping, so do shipping volumes. Trucks are fuller, costs can increase and service guarantees can be modified or suspended.

Carrier limitations, capacity issues and delays

This surge of packages understandably puts a strain on carriers and their networks. UPS and other carriers ramp up seasonal hiring and optimize their networks as much as possible in anticipation of peak season, but capacity issues and their resultant holiday shipping delays can still occur.

Managing customer expectations

Along with strained carrier capacities, the peak shipping season is often accompanied by inclement weather and holiday closures. You can get ahead of potential customer dissatisfaction and frustration by managing expectations before and during shipping. Clearly communicating fulfillment and shipping times, monitoring weather conditions constantly and providing updates, shipping packages as quickly as possible after ordering and offering proactive customer support will all go a long way toward pleasing your customers.

Planning ahead for success

Failing to plan is planning to fail. A cliché, yes, but a true and timely one. Putting together a smart schedule for peak season will minimize surprises and maximize your chances of shipping success during the busiest months. Map out the detailed steps to your shipping process and review the UPS^® holiday schedule. Other savvy steps in your planning should include:

Analyzing historical data

Past is prologue, and there are invaluable insights lurking in historical shipping data from past peak seasons. Important activities include making sure you have full visibility into your supply chain to identify weak links, reviewing your past shipping invoices to identify charges that could potentially be avoided in the future and revisiting factors like materials and package dimensions that can negatively impact your shipping costs.

Optimizing inventory management

Once you've looked closely at data from past peak seasons, apply those lessons to your inventory management. Adjust orders, warehouse space, staffing and other critical components up or down depending on the historical patterns you identify.

Choosing the right shipping partners

How and with whom you ship can be just as critical as what you ship. By leveraging a reputable third-party logistics (3PL) provider like 澳门威尼斯人直营网站, you can secure negotiated rates from carriers based on the aggregated buying power of their customers. In addition, the best 3PLs can offer benefits such as discounts for bulk shipping, personalized customer service and integration with e-commerce platforms. Finally, an experience 3PL partner will have helped thousands of SMBs just like yours navigate tricky peak shipping seasons and can provide invaluable and customized support.

Ship smartly with insurance

Unfortunately, damage, theft and other losses are higher during the holiday shipping season. Parcel shipping insurance eases your worries and protects your parcels by covering potential damage and losses during their journey.

Why you need small package insurance

Liability coverage (also called declared value) covers a carrier's responsibility for loss or damage to packages while they're in the carrier's possession. This coverage is limited to the carrier's liability, which is often calculated based on weight or declared value. There's a good chance liability coverage will not fully reimburse you for high-value items.

Small package shipping insurance protects against loss, damage and theft. Key insurance benefits include:

• Full value repayment. Goods are covered up to their full retail value, instead of just the carrier's limits of liability.
• Disaster and theft protection. Insurance covers every type of weather- and disaster-related losses (other than service guarantee failures) as well as spoilage of perishables due to delay and goods stolen from porches.
• Comprehensive, specialty coverage. Gift cards, event tickets, jewelry and other high-value goods are all covered by insurance.
• Faster claims processing. Carrier liability claims have no official deadline and can often take months. Insurance claims are usually processed much faster.

Making a small investment in insurance is the best way to protect your valuable shipments. For just pennies on your shipping dollar, insurance provides protection and priceless peace of mind for you and your customers.

Optimizing holiday shipping labels

Even if your operational processes are all dialed in, if you don't package and label your parcels correctly, you and your customers are not going to be happy.

Improving packaging processes

Cutting corners by using old boxes, insufficient tape or inadequate cushioning material might save you a few minutes, but it may cost you a lot more time and money in the long run. Use strong and new boxes that will support the shipment's weight, reinforce all seams with 2-inch packing tape and forgo string or twine that could catch on conveyor belts at sorting facilities.

Ensuring accurate and protected labels

Santa's not the only one who should check his list twice. Confirm all the details on the label before shipping, and consider including a duplicate label inside packages just in case. Protect the label from the elements with a label sleeve or covering it with clear packing tape.

Leveraging transportation management systems

If you're not taking advantage of the latest parcel shipping technology, your competitors are definitely reaping the rewards. Today's small package shipping tech and automation systems are more powerful and efficient than ever.

Using shipping software

Transportation management systems (TMS) should be at the beating heart of your shipping operations year round, and especially during the holiday rush. These platforms help SMBs plan, execute, track and optimize the movement of their goods. An intuitive TMS like my澳门威尼斯人直营网站™ features time-saving features like preloaded shipment details, a wide breadth of service selections and robust reporting options. By automating these processes, you can reduce costs, improve delivery times and enhance your efficiency during peak season.

Tracking and visibility solutions

Another indispensable feature in a modern TMS are powerful tracking capabilities. Advanced tracking systems provide real-time visibility into the status of each shipment, from the moment it leaves the warehouse until it reaches the customer's doorstep. This level of visibility not only helps you monitor and manage your shipments more effectively but also provides customers with up-to-the-minute information about their deliveries.

Integrating e-commerce platforms

If you're an e-commerce shipper, the ability to seamlessly integrate with many commonly used software platforms is of critical importance. Whether you're using an inventory management system, a customer relationship management (CRM), or an e-commerce platform like Shopify or WooCommerce, modern shipping solutions like my澳门威尼斯人直营网站 can synchronize with these tools easily. This integration ensures that your customers' order processing is smooth and error-free, making peak shipping season just a little less stressful for you and them.

Post-peak season shipping strategies

During peak season, it's easy to get caught up in just trying to get caught up! Once things calm down a bit, taking some time to breathe, analyze and improve where necessary is well worth it. You will be doing your future self a huge favor when peak season inevitably rolls around again.

Handling returns effectively

Take a close look at your return/repair policies and procedures. Poorly explained or implemented return policies can be a turnoff to prospective customers and can also cause higher rates of returned products. You should also evaluate your products' potential for a next-life stage (reuse, resell, recycle, etc.)  if they do end up being returned. Finally, collect data from your customers on the reasons they're making returns. More on the value of these insights in a minute.

Analyzing performance metrics

Data-driven decisions are usually the wisest decisions. After the dust settles from peak shipping season, delving into your shipping performance metrics will show you both areas of strength to refine and lean into, as well as opportunities to improve. A sophisticated TMS like my澳门威尼斯人直营网站 allows you to dive into your peak season metrics and make informed decisions that will make your next peak season even better.

Gathering and implementing customer feedback

Successful SMBs aren't just great communicators — they're great listeners, too. Soliciting and implementing customer feedback during and after the peak shipping season will open your eyes to blind spots that are costing you customer satisfaction and loyalty. Once you know why your customers are purchasing, not purchasing and/or returning products, you can make the necessary adjustments to your marketing, production, logistics, returns and other processes.

Lean on 澳门威尼斯人直营网站 for a merry holiday shipping season

By implementing the preceding tips into your shipping operations, you'll set yourself up for a joyful and triumphant holiday shipping season. And for even more shipping tools and resources to make the holiday season easier to navigate, this blog can help!

For a more in-depth resource, check out our Ultimate Parcel Guide that provides 9K+ words of tips to help you streamline your logistics operations. If you are ready to speak to an expert, reach out to 澳门威尼斯人直营网站 today for a free consultation.