Are you wondering how to negotiate better shipping rates? Movers in Bahrain are here to help you! When you’re shipping your items, especially if you’re doing it often – you can benefit greatly from negotiating your shipping rates. This means that any cost trim that you can manage will build up over time and save you a significant amount of money. Whether you’re looking to ship items only once, or you plan on doing it often – learning how to negotiate shipping rates is a must. To dive deeper into the topic, keep on reading!
Where to begin when you negotiate shipping rates
What are the items that you should negotiate, that show up in your contract? There are several things that you can approach that might lower your rate.
- Base rates – This is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of shipping rates. One of the ways to negotiate the rate is to find out the rate of multiple shippers. If the rate your shipper is proposing is higher, you can argue that you could find better rates at different companies. See if you can get the price to drop.
- Additional charges – Take a careful look at all the points in your contract. Make sure that there are no hidden fees, and if there are – you can use them to negotiate lower prices. If a company is willing to hide the fees and make you pay more, then when you discover their intentions you can use it to lower the base rates and get rid of those additional charges.
Rethink your insurance
You can compare their insurance rates and try to get the insurance at another place. There’s a chance that the other insurance company may charge you less, or that you can use the prices of those companies to drive the price of your rate down. You can also use insurance from a third party. The insurance costs much more when you get it from the shipping company. Third-party insurance is much cheaper and it pays off a lot in the long run.
Use the statistics of that company
If you have used the services of a certain company for a longer time, take into consideration their services. Consider all of the services they provided. If they haven’t been satisfying, some of the items have been damaged from time to time or if the shipments have been late – use the facts to negotiate your shipping rate. Some of the companies’ fees can also be lowered when you’re starting a new business. Use the statistics and predictions of your success to lower the rates! Take a look at all of the results of your previous shippings and come up with a plan.
More tips on how to negotiate shipping rates and lower them
- Negotiate with multiple companies – To find out the best solution to shipping costs, you should negotiate shipping rates with various companies. When you try to ship a lot of packages and compare the prices, it can often result in some of your shipping companies lowering their rates.
- Use their own packages – When you use their materials, you can avoid other fees. There are many additional charges that you can pile up accidentally, so make sure that you take the time to read all about them.
- Don’t forget about the online shipping – Online shipping can be a great way to lessen your moving costs. If you’re using express mail often, then this is definitely the option that you will benefit from. When you use the U.S. Postal Service, you can lower your costs by more than 50% when it comes to express mail.
See if you can get a discount on your price because you use the shipping services frequently. Oftentimes, when you use someone’s product or service often, you get discounts. Ask your shipping company whether they have any similar types of actions. You can also look for association discounts. If you become their member, then you can easily become eligible for many different kinds of discounts. While becoming a member costs, it pays off a lot -especially if you’re shipping frequently.
What to do if you don’t manage to negotiate your rates?
If you don’t manage to lower your shipping rates, there are more ways to lower your expenses. The practical one is to keep the items in the storage units closer to the place where you ship. To try this, consider renting a short term storage unit in Bahrain. Moreover, there are numerous shipping platforms that you can turn to. Shipping platforms offer competitive rates and numbers of different shipping solutions.
Before giving up negotiating shipping rates, ask yourself whether you’d discussed all of the following:
- Insurance
- Your shipping volume – The more items you ship, the more likely the shippers are to offer you a discount. Don’t get discouraged even if you don’t have a big shipping volume – some business is always better than no business, and shipping companies know it. If they don’t do it, someone else will.
- Different modes of shipping – Different shipping modes may turn out to be more beneficial. Make sure that you’ve considered all the options.
Have facts ready before you negotiate shipping rates
Whenever you’re negotiating, have all of your facts ready. When the moment is right, present them. This means that you have to be willing to do the work – sit down, do your research and analysis, consult with the accountant, and develop your strategy. While it may seem time-consuming, to successfully negotiate shipping rates, you have to do it. In the long run, it will seem like a small amount of job for the savings that you made. Make sure that you don’t settle on the first offer that the shipping company gives you.
Hire a reliable shipping company
If your shipping company isn’t good enough for your needs, consider hiring another one. If you need a company that will ship your goods in the perfect state, without a delay, and with reasonable prices, you might benefit from getting in touch with Bahrain shipping. Give us a call and see for yourself why we should be the ones to handle your shipments!