Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/92325
Freight Quick Bits By Kevin Br ink, Newgistics Director of Account Development kbr ink@newgisticsfr eightser vices.com within the foodservice industry a lot more complex. In years past, many LTL carriers overlooked the performance of and the billing of many accessorial fees, including inside delivery, liftgate and residential/non-commercial deliveries (all functions that result in an extended delivery time). In fact, if a shipper pressed hard enough to dispute the charges that were billed, sometimes the carrier would remove the charges— even if the service was actually per- formed or required. Today's freight cli- mate is far different. LTL carriers are focusing on making sure that they col- lect for services performed and the responsibility for payment of these serv- ices falls squarely on the party respon- sible for the freight charges (FEDA mem- bers). The most common problem that with Information & NFS Technology ices so they end up performing the service anyway. After all, they must do what is necessary to deliver the freight and avoid taking it back to the terminal with them, which would invoke much higher re-delivery fees and could jeop- ardize the original sale of merchandise. The most powerful solution to com- Solving Common Billing Obstacles S hippers beware: A shift in the LTL industry's focus has made shipping bat this problem is research. Many FEDA members have set up a database that keeps track of customers with billing inconsistencies. So if they ship to them again, they know to automatically include the extra fees into their pricing package. For many, this proactive step has dramatically helped to reduce addi- tional fees. Here's another precaution that all FEDA members should be taking: If you're shipping or drop shipping to a customer that is knowingly a restaurant or a consumer, it is safe to assume that at least two of the three most common accessorial fees will apply. Knowing when to expect—and apply—these charges will cut down on the unex- pected occurrence of accessorial serv- ices. many FEDA members face surfaces when the freight bill is received and they discover the invoice is higher than the expected charges because a liftgate, inside delivery and/or residential/non- commercial delivery charge has been added due to a customer request or delivery requirement. Unexpected fees eat away at profit margins and it is extremely difficult to pass along these charges to customers after the fact. Many FEDA members have tried to rem- edy the problem by putting information on the Bill of Lading that states, "All Additional Accessorial Fees Must be Approved by… . " Unfortunately, no driv- er is set up to make phone calls to get approval for required or requested serv- 50 FEDA News & Views site, or custom-branded vendor routing web portals to help its dealer customers take control of their inbound and drop shipments. Free to FEDA members, and even enhanced with input from FEDA dealers, vendor routing sites help dis- Monitor Your Shipping with Vendor Routing N ewgistics Freight Services recently rolled out its vendor routing web- tributors more effectively communicate shipping instructions to its vendors, while at the same time guarding against unexpected accessorial fees on inbound and drop shipments. Here's how it works. Vendors are instructed to log into the Newgistics VR continued on page 52 either a carrier shipping device or an in-house sys- tem be properly placed on your packages. Labels should be placed at least a half-inch from the edge of the package on the package's longest side. It is also important that the label not be placed on a crease so that scanning equipment can accurately read the barcodes. If the carrier cannot get a prop- er scan, the package will be rerouted and manually scanned. This can cause service delays and could result in a lost package. Label with Care It is important that thermal labels generated from