In a perfect world, you’d ship all your goods in full truck loads, and you’d never have to worry about freight. However, everything doesn’t always work out that way, and from time to time you may need to ship partial loads to customers. This can be an expensive way to ship your goods and LTL transportation can present unique challenges to businesses today. Here are four tips to help simplify the process and make it easier on you.
1. Don’t Be Specific with Delivery Dates and Times
Customers love to get guaranteed delivery times, especially when they’re waiting on a partial load of materials to finish a customer order. However, when you contact a shipper, they may give you a time and day but make sure to tell your customer that this is an estimate. After all, you have little control over the load after it leaves your facility, but after the route is set and the tracking info is online, you can provide a more accurate delivery estimate.
2. Take Time to Palletize
Partial loads are not always easy to palletize, but pallets give you safer LTL transportation because a partial load can shift about a great deal. If you don’t secure your loads, you increase the chances of damage claims.
3. Double-Check Paperwork
With high-tech scanning methods, it’s easy to get items together for LTL transportation. However, people need to put the materials in the trailer and mistakes sometimes happen in the staging process. It takes a little longer to double-check your work, but you’ll avoid a lot of problems.
4. Consider Freight Management Companies
If you have problems with shipping, you can avoid many headaches when you use a trusted freight brokerage. They can make your life easier and save you a lot of money on less than truckload shipping. It’s one thing to be concerned about.
