Stack Them Up

Now that we all have quite a bit more time on our hands, the majority of people will spend that time cleaning and reorganizing their homes. Just in time for spring cleaning! What perfect timing. I look around my own home and realize there are just piles of things. I guess at some point I just kind of designated that side of the table a pile. The coffee table has another pile. My bookshelves house another pile. Don’t even get me started on my bedroom…

So, what should I do with all these piles? As I sort through all the things I realize all of these things are pretty nonessential, but I still want them around. My scarf and gloves probably aren’t going to be worn again until October, so they need a new home. My flower samples for my best friend’s wedding are something I need, but I don’t want to keep looking at them every day. 

At first I was unsure what to do with all of these extra things. Naturally, I visited a shipping supplies store to look at my options. Even though it says shipping supplies, their products are really great for storing things, too. I walked around and tried to find something to help my problem. A person working there mentioned they have an online store, too. I was definitely going to keep the online shop in mind, but I needed something a little more immediate. So I left the store with some wire shelving and I was good to go!

I spent the next several days organizing my piles into actual bins. I organized things by what season I would be needing them. I noticed most of the things I was collecting was because I didn’t need it for that season. Once I realized that, separating everything was a breeze! Through it all, I was even able to eliminate some things that I knew I wouldn’t need anymore. So I even had a box in my car for donations.

After all my bins were put together and labeled, I started stacking them on my wire shelf. I’m lucky enough to have an unfinished basement that we use for storage. But these shelves could work anywhere! A garage, an attic, a spare room, it really does not matter. I decided on how I wanted things organized and finally felt accomplished. I had all my belongings are boxed up and ready to go for whenever I would need it!

Keeping Shipping Costs under Control

Most of the small businesses ignore shipping cost factor and fail to realize that higher shipping costs actually cause decline in overall business profitability. Shipping costs do not only involve the cost of items that you ship but they also include the costs of items that are shipped at your address.

What most of the entrepreneurs tend to do is increasing the number of business prospects in order to enhance profitability, which is definitely understandable. However, they do not pay attention to the fact that businesses across the world spend 25% of their budget on shipping items. With that said, new businesses definitely need to work on reducing the shipping costs in order to save revenue for business growth.

Some tips that entrepreneurs can take into consideration for controlling shipping costs are worth mentioning in this article.

Make friends with shipping company representatives

There are many roles that a carrier company representative plays. He/she is responsible to do a sales representative job, provide customer support and offer negotiation to make shipping process easier for new businesses. If you are a new business and you are yet to finalize your carrier for shipping purposes, accessing the carrier representatives provides you with an opportunity to get permanent and cost effective solution to your company’s shipping needs.

Make good use of flat rate shipping facility by your carrier

Flat rate shipping option is the best solution if you are worried about variability in the payments you make to your carrier to get your shipping supplies shipped. Moreover, the major shipping companies such as UPS and FedEx provide free shipping boxes if you choose flat rate option. Not spending on the purchase of boxes is itself a big saving.

Try to negotiate over shipping costs

Shipping companies hate it the most when their customers quit their services in order to switch to better and comfortable option. These companies are also well aware of the fact that customers also don’t like switching the services because it can be a costly practice. These are the reasons that carriers try to facilitate the customers as much as they can. As a customer, you can leverage your membership and relationship with the company in order to negotiate over costs of shipping. There is a mighty chance that you will be able to get your shipping costs reduced, ultimately benefitting the profitability of your business.

Equipment provided by carrier

Another prospect that can help you save big in your business is to ask your carrier for the equipment like computers and printers for office use. It’s the policy of big companies to provide equipment to entrepreneurs based on the volume of shipment. There are two purposes for which a carrier company provides equipment; i.e. helping a new business to make growth, and retaining a customer. Based on how you negotiate with the company, you may be able to get equipment for free or at a subsidized cost.