Nicolas Telesca

Most manufacturers with a UPS or FedEx contract believe they are getting a competitive rate. They negotiated a discount, their carrier rep checks in quarterly, and the invoices get paid. The problem is what happens between negotiations. Every year, carriers raise their base rates, expand surcharge categories, and adjust the billing rules that determine what you actually pay. By the time most operations teams look closely, their real costs are running 10 to 14 percent above what they budgeted,...

How much did your business actually pay for shipping last month? If you look at your carrier invoices and find yourself staring at a wall of confusing line items, hidden adjustments, and shifting surcharges, you are not alone. For most manufacturers and suppliers, logistics and shipping account for a significant share of total operating expenses. Yet, it remains one of the hardest categories to track accurately. Major carriers have turned billing into a complex science; one that heavily...

Shipping costs are influenced by far more than carrier rates alone. Packaging decisions, address quality, service selection, warehouse processes, and carrier contracts all play a role in determining what ultimately appears on your invoice. When those processes operate efficiently, businesses gain greater control over shipping spend. When they don't, unnecessary costs accumulate through surcharges, dimensional weight charges, address corrections, inefficient routing, and other avoidable...