Many third-party negotiators (3PN) claim that their expertise rests in special analytical tools. At Refund Retriever, those same tools and reports are provided for you free of charge. Therefore, let’s discuss a few UPS & FedEx contract negotiation tools.

In the previous blog post, we stressed how important it is to know your shipping data. Do not go into contract negotiation talks with a carrier representative who knows your company’s shipping data better than you do. Preparation is vital, and the information you need is at your fingertips with RR analytical tools. Our shipping analysis reports can give you easy access to information such as zone/service and zone/weight summaries, cost per pound for all packages per each service, and services and discount summaries – just to name a few.

Carrier Reliability Reporting

Let’s talk specifics of carrier reliability. You should review your carrier’s performance as you would an employee’s performance. After all, you are paying them to provide a service. RR provides you with a comprehensive carrier reliability report. This shows the number and percentage of address corrections, duplicate charges, late package deliveries, residential deliveries, and how many delivery charges were voided due to non-shipment. Think of this as your carrier’s report card.

The lower the number here, the more confidence you have in your current shipping carrier. However, you may notice areas of concern that need to be discussed with your carrier rep. Conversely, have the logistics within your company changed, which resulted in delivery problems? Or, are you seeing repeated statistics indicating the service you are receiving is not up to par?

Service and Discount Summary

The next UPS & FedEx contract negotiation tool to highlight is the Services and Discount Summary report. In short, this report shows basic discounts for each service used (you can specify accounts and date ranges). Here, you can see the total dollar amount discounted along with the discount percentage by carrier and service. Now here is where RR really stands above the crowd. You may be feeling pretty good about your rates at this point (or, maybe you’re feeling extremely frustrated!). Seeing your information in reports is one thing, but how do you compare to other companies shipping at the same volume? Wouldn’t you like to know your savings relative to others?

Discount Benchmarking

Discount benchmarking is our most exciting tool. The benchmark report displays data on a per-service basis allowing you to compare your savings to our other customers with similar shipping volumes. You may notice that you have a higher-than-average discount on some services. Conversely, your company could be receiving a lower discount on the most highly used service level.

Dimensional Weight Reports

These are just a few reports that Refund Retriever provides to help you make smarter decisions about your shipping needs. UPS & FedEx contract negotiation tools will prepare you for contract talks with the carrier representative.

However, if the whole FedEx and UPS contract negotiation process is too cumbersome, reach out to the experts at Refund Retriever. The cost of transportation impacts your bottom line, let us help. In summary, give Refund Retriever a call at 800-441-8085 or email Brian@refundretriever.com.