Let's pretend that Mr. Abernathy is the owner of a major chain of craft stores. Let's also pretend that Ms. Eliza is the owner of a small, but impressive scrapbook supply manufacturing company. And let's go one step further and pretend that the two of them happened to end up in the same small gift ship at the same time. Ms. Eliza introduced herself and subtly pointed out her products in the central display of the store.
Mr. Abernathy then responded positively and even suggested she send a sample in so it could be considered in their buying meeting for their upcoming spring inventory. Ms. Eliza is ecstatic, but she shakes his hand like a normal person and continues to browse.
Mr. Abernathy isn't astounded. He's already moved on. He expects to receive samples from "that lady's" company so he can present them at the meeting, but he might not even remember exactly what the company name is until he sees the package arrive. Ms. Eliza is ecstatic. She rushes back to her warehouse and prepares the package immediately. She makes sure everything is included and Mr. Abernathy's buying team is going to be absolutely impressed. She packages it and arranges for shipment pickup personally and then waits to hear back from him.
Then she never heard back. And she continued to never hear back for over 2 weeks. This was very strange considering that the buying meeting had been the same week of the delivery. When the package was returned "undeliverable" the next day she realized that she'd missed her chance. Somehow the shipping company didn't recognize the address and instead of returning it immediately or calling for further details the package was set aside and overlooked in the shipping warehouse for over a week.
Ms. Eliza had gone with an unknown shipping company in order to get shipping cost savings early on when she was building up her company. And it worked, too. It really helped keep them in the black for the first few years. But the absolute failure to deliver Mr. Abernathy's package negates all previous shipping cost savings. The potential sales from Mr. Abernathy's chain of craft stores would have made an astronomical change for her company. And the opportunity is lost.
If I had been there I absolutely would have told Ms. Eliza to use a major carrier. You can't give up quality service for shipping cost savings. It's never worth it in the long run. I would have suggested she achieve shipping cost savings by working with Parcel Savings. They monitor their clients shipments and handle all refund requests so that you never pay for anything you don't actually receive. This lowers shipping costs without decreasing shipping quality.
And if the package had gone out to Mr. Abernathy through a major carrier Ms. Eliza probably could have avoided the massive fiasco of failing to present her samples to Mr. Abernathy after the once in a lifetime accidental meeting. Never switch to an unknown shipping company in order to access shipping cost savings; instead just get a professional parcel management service. You'll save money without lowering your shipping standards.
Ben Jamison is a consultant working with businesses looking to streamline their shipping processes and decrease their shipping costs. The first thing he suggests for most clients is Parcel Savings. Parcel Savings handles parcel refunds and discounts for their clients. Many first time users are surprised to see themselves receiving $1,000's in refunds per week.
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