7 Situations When You Should Use Expedited Shipping
What if you ruined a business partnership by clicking the wrong button?
When you are ordering supplies for various business needs, it’s important to receive your items on time. However, shipping estimates vary and make it hard to pinpoint an exact date when something will arrive.
Using expedited shipping can solve this problem. Nonetheless, many people don’t know when it is worth it to use expedited shipping (and when it’s not).
Want to learn when you should use expedited shipping? Keep reading to discover the answers!
What Is Expedited Shipping?
We’ve put together a thorough guide for when you should expedite shipping. First, though, we need to establish what expedited shipping actually is.
Standard shipping times may vary because of how they are shipped and handled. For example, a company may want to wait until they have enough freight before driving or flying everything where it needs to go.
When you expedite shipping, you are paying a premium for faster delivery. Instead of waiting, your products move directly from pickup to delivery.
Because of the added costs, it’s usually not feasible to expedite every order. Keep reading to discover the best scenarios for expediting the shipping of goods.
1. Guaranteed Delivery
Whether it’s clients or business partners, some of the people you work with need guarantees. That’s where expedited shipping comes in.
Unlike standard shipping times, expedited shipping typically comes with a guarantee. For example, a company can guarantee that your shipment will arrive within two business days.
This is good for any time-critical deliveries and a particularly good option for new businesses. Fast and reliable shipping helps to cement you and your business as equally reliable!
2. Inventory Management
Inventory management is more of an art than a science. And it’s very difficult to maintain a high level of management.
For example, goods arriving too early can be bad for business. They must expend labor to move and store these items before they are actually needed.
This is why many businesses employ a “just in time” inventory management system. As the name implies, this system relies on the business getting exactly what they need and exactly when they need it.
Obviously, standard shipping cannot always accommodate inventory management needs. But expedited shipping ensures that everything is available “just in time.”
3. The Custom Touch
Modern customers are something of a paradox. For example, they enjoy the benefits of an atomized world but still like their own business to have a personal touch.
This is what led to the rise of “bespoke” and “artisanal” products: the public desire to feel like they were receiving something unique and special.
Expedited shipping is one of the ways you can offer this to your customers. They understand that you didn’t cut corners to save costs. Rather, you took the option that meant their order received special care and attention for every step of the way.
This is a great way to generate positive word of mouth advertisement while also setting you apart from your competition.
4. Strict Delivery Windows
Sometimes, delivering a product on time is about more than company pride. Sometimes, you’ve actually got money on the line!
For example, many businesses operate within strict delivery windows. The rules are simple: if a shipment falls outside of that window, then you might have to pay 3% (or more) of the total purchase price to the business.
And “outside of the delivery window” works both ways. This means you can be financially liable for delivering the product too early as well as delivering it too late.
With expedited shipping, you know exactly when something is going to arrive. And the extra cost of expedited shipping may be far less than the amount of money you stand to lose if something is delivered too early or too late.
5. Delicate Cargo
Customers understand that ordering a product involves an element of risk. It may be damaged during shipment, and this risk is especially bad if the product is really delicate.
The longer it takes for a shipment to arrive, the likelier it is for the product to be damaged. This is because it passes through more hands, it’s tossed into more trucks, and so on.
This is why we prefer to expedite shipping for delicate cargo. There are fewer people handling the merchandise and fewer stops along the way.
Ultimately, expedited shipping is about more than speedy delivery. It’s about peace of mind, and it’s tough to put a price tag on that.
6. Save the Shipment
Many customers think that delivery delays happen when their product is still far away. However, most delays occur while a product is being processed very close to its delivery destination.
Local delays or things like service diversions can slow things down. That’s when expedited shipping really shines.
You can still expedite deliveries after they leave your own warehouse. And this allows the full load to be transferred and expedited so it can arrive in a timelier manner.
Take it from us: timely shipping is the cornerstone of building customer loyalty!
7. Large Distances
Once upon a time, all business were local businesses. Those days, though, are long behind us!
Now, most businesses are global businesses. And to succeed on a global stage, you need to be able to handle global deliveries with ease and grace.
When you work with expedited couriers, you gain the benefit of their experience. These are the people that know all the secrets concerning shipments via planes and boats.
Using such couriers allows you to get the best of both worlds. Your loads will be kept safe and secure and will arrive exactly when you need them to arrive!
The Bottom Line
Now you know more about when to use expedited shipping. But do you know which couriers to use for all your needs?
At Need It Now!, we specialize in getting anything you have to anywhere it needs to go. And we’re ready to put our money where our mouth it!
To see how we can start helping your business, come get an instant quote today!