I think that I could write a monthly column about all the challenges of shipping products online! It’s always something every month. Address corrections, left off suite numbers, incorrect dimensions, etc….
We ship all sorts of items. We have some items that weigh just a few grams… all the way to items that weigh hundreds or even thousands of pounds.
In order to ship that wide range of items it takes multiple types of carriers. We use everything from USPS to UPS and FedEx to LTL carriers like Old Dominion, T-Force, and XPO Logistics just to name a few.
Your Shipping Invoice
If you do any shipping yourself then you probably understand that feeling when you get your shipping invoice at the end of the month from the carrier and you start noticing all the additional charges. Of course if you’re getting a paper invoice then you’re probably paying a fee just for that reason alone (they want you to receive emailed pdf invoices!) These fees are sometimes called a billing adjustment or processing adjustments. Sometimes, they are a result of shipments being entered or measured wrong. Other times, they are simply increased fuel cost.
Most everyday shipping can be fairly easy but all it takes is a little mistake here or there and then you have trouble. Mistakes are going to happen. However, you and I need to do as much as we can to help out. The easiest way to do that is by slowing down and accurately entering our shipping address information correctly.
On this website we process a lot of shipments every day. In fact, we have been for almost twenty years! You would be amazed at how many customers get in a hurry and enter the wrong things in the wrong boxes during checkout. Lots of folks enter the wrong zip code. A decent number of folks enter the wrong street number. We have folks who accidentally flip the bill to and ship to addresses. Some of these mistakes we can catch before they are placed on the shipping scale. However, if you don’t catch it (or we don’t) the carriers are either going to ship to the wrong location and/or they are going to bill us a fine for having the wrong information.
Shipping Fees
At the current time, UPS charges around $21 for an address correction. I have to admit this frustrates me too. I’ve had them charge me $21 for simply leaving a suite number off the shipping address, even when the location is obviously marked with the company name. I’ve even gone back and looked at the location (thanks google earth) to confirm. And, they still charge the $21!
The point is the freight carriers are not going to cut charges. They are going to get as much money for each shipment as they can. That’s part of the motivation behind the Dim Weight shipping that they are currently using. That’s why we now have to weigh AND measure virtually every box that we ship out. We’ve talked about ways to cut your shipping costs before obviously. So please do what you can to enter your shipping information correctly. We don’t want to have to pass the extra costs on to you but we have to unless it was obviously our fault.
I saw this Why Was I Charged a Shipping “Billing Adjustment”? article on the shipstation website and I thought it was a good overview of what I’m saying as well. Be sure you check it out as well. Sorry if this entry wasn’t as helpful. We do appreciate everyone’s business and we actually do sell some really good shipping scales including the Mettler Toledo BC60 which can interface right into your computer. That’s good because the weight can automatically be displayed in your software and nobody has to type in the information and possibly make an error.