Errors in shipping invoices can add up quickly, especially for logistics professionals running on thin margins. A specialized parcel audit software program can comb through the fine print of each invoice more quickly and efficiently than an in-house team.
A well-run small parcel audit can help you spot and reclaim overcharges from your carrier, lowering your shipping costs. Plus, it shows your carriers that you’re a careful partner attentive to your agreements, opening the door to renegotiate terms or advocate for better conditions. Scroll down to explore more about Small Parcel Audit.
Address correction fees are a major thorn in the side of most shippers. These extra charges occur when a carrier corrects an address for any reason and even the most minimal changes can result in hefty fees. For example, a “Drive” may be changed to “DR” or the second recipient line is sometimes abbreviated to “STE”. If this happens, a small parcel shipping audit can help you identify these errors and request refunds from your carriers.
Using a small parcel invoice audit can also help you catch other carrier billing mistakes such as dimensional weight pricing errors (when the billed package weight is too high) and missed discounts. These errors can result in significant overcharges and a loss of profitability. A small parcel audit service can keep you informed of these mistakes and save you money.
If you choose to use an in-house manual method of parcel billing auditing, it can be a time-consuming and expensive task. It can require a team of employees to check every single charge, and even then, errors can occur. This is why many businesses opt for a third party provider of small parcel audit services.
A professional service uses a dedicated database to monitor all of your shipment data, including tracking numbers, addresses and rates. It can also spot the smallest errors that would be impossible for in-house teams to find, such as an extra fee for a residential address that should not have been charged or a mistake in calculating the dimensional weight of your package.
In addition, a good third party can save you the time and hassle of trying to negotiate with your carriers for refunds. The right vendor can efficiently compare your shipping invoices with the performance guarantees and rates agreed upon in your shipping contracts. It can then identify and automatically request refunds for any overcharges or incorrect fees that have been applied to your shipments.
One of the best ways to make your small parcel shipping operations more profitable is to eliminate the fees and surcharges imposed by your major parcel carriers. To do this, you need to have an accurate and detailed view of your shipments and all charges. Parcel auditing software, like Sifted’s Logistics Intelligence platform, can help you get this insight and recover revenue that you might be missing out on.
Discounts
As the e-commerce industry continues to boom, so does competition. This has led to a business world where it is increasingly difficult to keep track of profits and expenses, particularly for small businesses. Keeping costs low and minimizing shipping errors is essential for many companies, as it allows them to offer competitive prices that bring in repeat customers and increase their bottom lines.
One of the most common errors that are found in the shipping process is the application of incorrect discounts by parcel carriers. This can include address correction fees that are not applicable or dimensional weight charges that do not belong in a shipment. These fees can add up quickly, and it is important to identify them as soon as possible so that they can be corrected by the carrier.
This can be done through a manual audit or using software programs. However, it is often extremely time consuming and requires a substantial amount of knowledge about the parcel carrier pricing structure and rules to find these issues. As a result, most shippers are better off outsourcing their parcel auditing to a professional firm that has the expertise and software necessary to streamline the process.
Aside from identifying correcting these incorrect charges, parcel audit services can also help businesses optimize their shipping operations and reduce overall shipping costs. This can be achieved by highlighting opportunities to reduce unused shipping services, for example by identifying packages that would benefit from air transport rather than ground. This could save thousands of dollars in a single year.
In addition, parcel auditing can verify that a company is receiving all of the shipping discounts and applications outlined in their contract agreement with the carrier. This includes rates, accessorial fees, fuel surcharges and more. These services can save companies up to 15% of their total shipping expenditures annually.
The most important thing to remember about parcel auditing is that it can be a costly process if not done correctly. It is important to choose a professional service provider that has the experience and expertise to accurately analyze your data and ensure that you are getting the best discounts available.
Dimensional Weight Pricing
Small parcel audits save businesses money by ensuring that their shipping couriers don’t take undue advantage. These audits examine shipping invoices and carrier transactions in detail, catching errors like extra fees that don’t belong (like address correction charges that aren’t valid) and overcharges on dimension weight charges that shouldn’t exist. While these issues may seem minor, they add up over time. For this reason, many companies choose to partner with a parcel audit company that can help them manage their carrier bills and receive refunds for incorrect charges.
The cost of shipping goods has skyrocketed as the internet boom has expanded e-commerce opportunities. While more options and higher customer demand can boost sales, they also create a complicated supply chain environment that requires tight controls and continuous monitoring. For shippers to remain profitable, they must be able to minimize shipping expenses, and that is where parcel audits come in.
Using automated parcel auditing software, shippers can identify and reclaim overcharges on their carrier invoices. These mistakes often include extra fees, like residential delivery surcharges, address correction fees, and remote area charges, as well as overcharges on dimensional weight. To avoid these extra costs, it’s important to make sure that your packaging is sized correctly. You can do this by weighing your package on a scale and then dividing its actual weight by its cubic size in inches.
Another way to avoid overpaying for dimensional weight is by leveraging discounted rates. While these discounts don’t eliminate your shipping costs entirely, they can significantly reduce them. To find out if you qualify for reduced dimensional weight pricing, you can use an online calculator or contact your shipping carrier directly.
In addition to saving shippers money, regular parcel auditing helps them stay financially healthy in the face of market instability and volatility. This allows them to better weather economic challenges and remain competitive in a rapidly evolving business environment. With the help of a reliable and affordable parcel audit service, shippers can save up to 15% of their total shipping costs. If you’re interested in learning more about how small parcel auditing can save your business money, contact Betachon today.
Service Failures
A small parcel audit compares rates negotiated with carriers against invoices for each shipment to detect errors like duplicate charges and misapplied discounts. This process also reveals opportunities for refunds from shipping carriers based on service failures such as late deliveries or incorrect dimensional weight measurements.
Shipping carrier invoices are more than just bills, they’re treasure troves of data. Each one contains multiple data points on everything from the package size to the delivery date and address. This makes identifying and correcting errors difficult without the help of dedicated software. That’s why so many businesses rely on small parcel audit recovery services to ensure they aren’t paying for extra fees or overcharges.
When these services are used effectively, they can drastically cut shipping costs by requesting refunds from shipping carriers for mistakes made in their billing processes. This can include addresses correction fees that don’t belong, dimensional weight pricing errors, and other inaccuracies that add up quickly. By leveraging technology that provides real-time data access, frequent rate audits, and strategic account management, these services can help shippers save thousands of dollars in shipping costs.
Even the largest shipping carriers are not immune to mistakes. Shipping carriers are highly skilled negotiators, and they often try to get away with charging shippers for services they didn’t provide or submitting invoices with erroneous charges. A good small parcel auditing company should be able to identify these mistakes and fight to get them corrected.
A good parcel auditing company should also be able to save you money by reducing the amount of accessorial charges your business pays. This includes things like fuel surcharges, residential delivery fees, and other fees that are not necessary to provide your business with the shipping services you need. By reducing these unnecessary charges, your business can save on shipping costs and keep more of your profit in your pockets. This is why it’s important to work with a provider that offers a comprehensive solution, including invoice processing, real-time shipping data analytics, visualization, and business intelligence. This will ensure you’re getting the most out of your shipping management system.
