How to reduce your shipping costs

With the economy taking a hit due to COVID-19, business are finding themselves shipping more things than ever and having to tighten their belts a little bit in order to do it. Saving money isn’t just something that’s nice these days – it’s a necessity.

So to help you guys out a little bit, this week’s post is going to be all about that. Here are some ways you can save money shipping your packages. Let’s jump right in!

Re-use old boxes 

When you pay to ship something – you have the payment for shipping itself and then also the cost of the box to go with it. We recommend that you handle your boxes carefully so that you can reuse them in the future. Re-using packages will not only save you a ton of money shipping things to and fro, it’s also pretty great for the environment.

Does it really need to be a box? 

In the most brutal pun in the history of blogs, you will save a lot of money by… thinking outside the box. Sorry. We had to.

But seriously, not everything needs to go in a box. Not everything needs to go in a big box, too. There are plenty of ways to get things from here to there – from bubble padded mailers to custom envelopes. People mis-ship things all the time and spend a lot more money than they need to simply because they get lazy about the kind of packaging they use. Consider what you’re shipping before you ship it.

Don’t pay for packing materials unless you need to 

There’s no reason to buy lots of bubble wrap and the like. You have newspaper, excess wrapping paper – heck, save bubble wrap that people send to you – all at your disposal. Don’t waste needless dollars on newer packing materials unless you absolutely have to. Especially if you’re in a position where every cent counts – don’t go wasting it on packing materials.

Consider regional carriers and couriers 

There are a lot of regional companies like ours that might not have the national network of the post office or UPS, but can deliver your package quicker and safely for a lot less than the major carriers. To boot, you’ll be able to find a better price as these companies will work with you to both get and keep your business. And from a small businesses’ perspective – a little service can go a long ways towards building and keeping a long-term customer.

Ask about association discounts

Every profession and service has some sort of professional association and those associations have partnerships with various carriers, couriers and the like. If you find yourself needing to save a few bucks, this could be an outstanding resource – one that could even extend beyond helping you just save on shipping costs as these groups partner with all sorts of businesses who have services that can make yours better..

Hopefully, these tips will help it make it a little less expensive to get things from here to there. Good luck!