Entrepreneurship & Small Business

How much volumn needed get cheap shipping rates from couriers?

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  • Jul 5th, 2006 12:59 pm
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Deal Addict
Feb 9, 2005
2986 posts
3 upvotes
Vancouver

How much volumn needed get cheap shipping rates from couriers?

Anyone work at couriers? I'm debating between being a bulk/container destributor or start doing smaller shipments of goods to individuals and companies. A company I worked for years ago gets huge discounts from fedex (I used them to ship some stuff home after the job and it was $45 for 12 big boxes from calgary to vancouver overnight).

So I'm wondering if anyone dealt with couriers before, I'll probably have over 50 shipments/month and each will be between 25-50lb/shipment to north america. What kind of discounts do you think is possible? Which courier is most open to negociations and best for cross border shipping?

Any information appreciated. TY
20 replies
Deal Addict
Apr 2, 2003
1392 posts
51 upvotes
Richmond Hill
If you're a member of an association or trade group, you can get discounts. I'm a member of the Canadian Professional Sales Association (CPSA) and I get a decent rate from FedEx. I have a UPS account as well but the discount structure is based on how much volume I do per week. The max discount I can get is 35% - higher for Express rates.

If you're doing a lot of ground shipments that aren't time sensitive, FedEX ground is the way to go. If you need same day pickup and faster delivery, then UPS is an option. FedEx does not really negotiate but they have good ground rates. UPS will negotate if you get into higher quantities (I've personally seen up to 75-80% off published rates but they tell me that was in the days when they were buying market share). I have only had UPS cross-border experience - they're good at this but make sure you don't get them to do the customs clearing - they charge through the nose and other orifices!

Courier rates are based on "zones" which are postal code/zip code driven. You can probably download the rates from FedEx, UPS, Purolator, DHL etc to compare or give each of them a hypothetical breakdown of your shipments and see what they offer. They now seem to be added a fuel surcharge so ask about that when determining who to go with.
Newbie
User avatar
Aug 8, 2005
92 posts
2 upvotes
Richmond Hill
hi,
i just got a quote to ship to Malaysia and it was $69 something (via fedex).

i went to Canadapost and it cost me $48 via Xpresspost.

I think they are good only in North America.
Deal Addict
Mar 15, 2003
1407 posts
21 upvotes
Try canpar if you're shipping heavier items. They specialize in a few industries and have very good rates. I used them for years, they were the cheapest I could find, service was good as well.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Apr 4, 2003
4758 posts
130 upvotes
Oakville
Fedex, UPS. Canpar and Purolator don't service Iles des Madeline so I was stuck with Canada Post.
Jr. Member
User avatar
Mar 7, 2006
114 posts
21 upvotes
Winnipeg
FedEx uses various discount programs

Here's some info:

1. Earned Discounts
Weekly Revenue / % Discount
0.00 - 120.99 USD / 0.0 %
121.00 - 240.99 USD / 10.0 %
241.00 - 360.99 USD / 20.0 %
361.00 + USD / 25.0 %


2. Bonus Discounts
There are 5 types of Bonus Discounts:

- Incentive for shipping with specific automation types.
- Incentive for using a regular stop or dropping off packages.
- Incentive for shipping to a specific international zone (defined by origin country and destination zone or zones).
- Incentive for shipping between specific origin/destination pairs (Zip to [rfdlink=/forums/autolink/redirectpage.php?linkid=218]ZIP[/rfdlink]) - applies to domestic shipments.
- Incentive for shipping on specific day(s) of the week.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 4, 2004
7534 posts
792 upvotes
Toronto
Canada Post has a PowerSeller discount which I've been using for a while now, but rumours have surfaced that this will be discontinued.

I use FedEx Ground to the USA so I might switch to them for domestic.


eShipper is interesting. Can you generate some domestic ground rate quotes so we can compare to counter prices/etc?
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Mar 20, 2001
5573 posts
907 upvotes
Toronto
Drew_W wrote:Canada Post has a PowerSeller discount which I've been using for a while now, but rumours have surfaced that this will be discontinued.

I use FedEx Ground to the USA so I might switch to them for domestic.


eShipper is interesting. Can you generate some domestic ground rate quotes so we can compare to counter prices/etc?
It's free to sign up so I would just suggest you sign up and generate your own rates if you have a genuine intention to use it if it's cheap anyways.
Member
Jul 1, 2005
323 posts
31 upvotes
I set up an account with UPS, and they offered me 50% off the posted rates for 1 year, and gave me a free thermal scanner - just FYI.

I was shipping lower value / lower weight items however.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 4, 2004
7534 posts
792 upvotes
Toronto
Sybersport wrote:I set up an account with UPS, and they offered me 50% off the posted rates for 1 year, and gave me a free thermal scanner - just FYI.

I was shipping lower value / lower weight items however.
How much volume did you promise them to give you that fixed discount?

Usually they use a sliding scale depending on how much volume you give them over a set period of time.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 4, 2004
7534 posts
792 upvotes
Toronto
Here's the deal with e-shipper.

Express rates look great, so if you're looking to ship stuff fast across Canada (i.e. overnight), this is great.

The downside is that Purolator Ground rates are quite high, higher than Canada Post counter rates, and much higher than my existing Canada Post contract.

So indeed it loosk like e-shipper is good only for Express. You can ship Ground cheaper with Canada Post over the counter, via Click-n-Ship, or via PayPal's new shipping module.
Sr. Member
Jun 27, 2006
599 posts
285 upvotes
North Vancouver, BC
I ship with UPS and get 56% off at the top. I ship only boxes weighing more than 10Kg, so that helps.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 4, 2004
7534 posts
792 upvotes
Toronto
CanAm wrote:I ship with UPS and get 56% off at the top. I ship only boxes weighing more than 10Kg, so that helps.
Again, not telling us the VOLUME you promised UPS or actually do is rather useless. Telling us a discount percentage without what it takes to get it seems a little...je ne sais quoi.
Sr. Member
Jun 27, 2006
599 posts
285 upvotes
North Vancouver, BC
Drew_W wrote:Again, not telling us the VOLUME you promised UPS or actually do is rather useless. Telling us a discount percentage without what it takes to get it seems a little...je ne sais quoi.
Sorry, to get the top tier I must spend $300 per week.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 4, 2004
7534 posts
792 upvotes
Toronto
CanAm wrote:Sorry, to get the top tier I must spend $300 per week.
Can you post what the tiers are? UPS is great, just their regular prices are extremely high so you need a much larger discount than with FedEx.
Sr. Member
Jun 27, 2006
599 posts
285 upvotes
North Vancouver, BC
Drew_W wrote:Can you post what the tiers are? UPS is great, just their regular prices are extremely high so you need a much larger discount than with FedEx.
I negotiated a contract with UPS. My rates are for boxes over 10Kg and I believe the lowest tier 1$ per week is about 40%. Under 10Kg and I pay full book.
Deal Addict
Apr 2, 2003
1392 posts
51 upvotes
Richmond Hill
Drew_W wrote:...Express rates look great...Purolator Ground rates are quite high...higher than Canada Post counter rates, and much higher than my existing Canada Post contract....
Please define great, quite high, higher than Canada Post counter rates and what your existing Canada Post contract is. Otherwise, this is "useless" as you have so aptly highlight in your posts ;)

UPS - I've got nine revenue bands ranging from 0% - 35% for Domestic Standard; 0% - 30% for Express

example:

Gross Weekly Revenue Band
$0-$48 - Domestic Standard 0%
$48.01 -$96.00 - Domestic Standard 8%; Express 8%
$96.01 - $192.00 - Domestic Standard 15%; Express 10%
$769.01 and above - Domestic Standard 35%; Express 30%

Waivers: weekly service charge and freight collect/3rd party surcharge
Member
Jul 1, 2005
323 posts
31 upvotes
Drew_W wrote:How much volume did you promise them to give you that fixed discount?

Usually they use a sliding scale depending on how much volume you give them over a set period of time.
I didn't promise them a set volume - they gave me that discount, and promised it would stay the same for 1 year, at which time they would revisit my discounts based on my volumes.

However, they said that even if my volumes went down, my discount would go to 40% - and that wouldn't have hurt me very much.

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