Three Tips for Managing Your Peak Shipping Season

Increased shipping volumes can often lead to stresses in your supply chain and headaches as a logistics manager. At OD, we know navigating your peak shipping season is a critical time of year for your business. Here are three quick tips on how to manage through those busy times.

1. Carrier Communication. You shouldn’t have to spend time continually calling your carrier for updates. Carriers are leaning on technological innovations more than ever to ensure they offer customers real-time tracking and visibility. And receiving shipment updates in real-time can make a significant financial impact on your business at the end of the year. But, if you need personalized assistance, carriers like OD have a customer service team standing by to help. You can reach us by calling your local service center or our corporate office at (800) 235-5569.
2. Joint Planning Meetings with Your Carrier. Like any strong relationship, trust and proactive communication are keys to success. If you are forecasting an increase in shipments, or need extra capacity, meet with your carrier to go over your needs. Find out if your carrier can provide you with the service your customer expects. Planning ahead will allow you and your carrier to come up with a plan to handle your increase in shipments during those busy times,
3. Choose a carrier that you can depend on. Dependability is the most important attribute you can ask for when you absolutely need to deliver. With supply chains still in a fragile state, there’s no room for error. Seasoned shippers know that lost time, damaged freight, and missed deliveries add to your total transportation cost and damage your reputation. Dependability removes uncertainty and cost from your supply chain.

With increasing pressure to deliver, there are no mulligans when choosing a carrier. As you are looking ahead to your busier time of year, partner with a carrier that has done their research, asks the right questions, gives you the whole picture, and keeps you up to date on the changing shipping landscape.