I have been surfing for almost 20 years now and its truly one of my favorite hobbies. I have also run a logistics management and warehousing company for the last 10 years. The obvious choice if you want to enjoy your career and business long term? You focus your business around helping companies that design and make all the stuff you love!
That is why my firm works with a nice chunk of the top surfboard and stand up paddle companies. Earning my humble logistical dude discounts on all my favorite toys while crafting unique , automated, and economical solutions. To help one of my favorite industry further streamline, automate, and economize freight shipping, parcel shipping, and regional warehousing and fulfillment services for the surf industries.
Currently RAD companies we work with include:
- Naish https://www.naishsurfing.com/
- Global Surf industries https://www.surfindustries.com/
- Boards and More https://www.boards-and-more.com/
- Pau Hana https://www.pauhanasurfco.com/
- SUPATX https://www.supatx.com/
- Bote SUP https://www.boteboard.com/
- Stretch Surfboards http://www.stretchboards.com/
- Bubblegum Surf Wax https://bubblegumsurfwax.com/
- and more……
Here is a list of our best new ideas to help you further economize, automate, simplify, or plain outsource more of your logistical pain points for Surf and Stand-up Paddle companies. If you would like our help with any of these services, we would be happy to set up a short meeting to help you strategize. This is my company, we are looking to grow, and we would be honored to help you with more of your logistical pain points this fall!
16 Tips
to help you Crush your Surf and Stand-up Paddle Logistical Pain Points!
- API
automation for Freight Shipping and Parcel shipping to inject your rates
into your Website, ERP business software, and even quick books in some cases.
This can fully automate web sales and allow your client to pay for shipping at
the same time saving tons of time and effort. - Use
a better more automated Transportation Management Software or TMS for both
parcel and freight. Most TMS systems
can even import your carrier direct tariffs and allow you shop our bulk rates
we have with our carriers, side by side. They can also allow you to import
freight classes, nmfc, and general product shipping specs to greatly simplify
booking and drastically reduce shipping errors. - TMS
that shops parcel rates side by side with freight rates: This can save you
a lot of time and headaches and you will always know which mode of shipping is
the best for all loads in real time! We
have few options in mind. - Use
a regional warehouse and fulfillment centers to cut ship times and overall
cost down. This can also drastically
reduce transit related damages and provide you flexibility to cross pack and
ship to consumer direct as well as retailers faster. Amazon is coming for us all but we can get
set up to compete. - Try
and consolidate shipments into larger truckload or partial truckload
shipments if possible. The more you ship
at one time, the less it costs per unit generally. Intermodal / Rail, Truckload, Partial
truckload, LTL, and Ground is generally the order of Modes least expensive to
most expensive per unit shipped. - Package your items better to reduce transit
related damages. Heavy duty boxes, bubbled wrapping, palletized, shrink
wrapped, corner protect everything, if your products lend themselves to
it. To further protect everything and
reduce claim headaches and time and money. - Buy
a digital weight scale, that will print a receipt label you can attach to
your pallet, bol, or packing slip to further reduce shipping price adjustments.
https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/packaging/scales/pallet-truck/global-industrial-pallet-scale-48-x-48-5000-lb-capacity - Get
a Dimensioner that can also act as a scale.
Obviously, some of these solutions can be expensive but we believe the
cost is coming down quickly. And how many
dreaded rebills does it take avoiding to pay for the system and then it’s
earning you money! http://www.freightsnap.com/ - Get
access to Class IT so that you make sure your freight class and nmfc codes
are correct all the time to further reduce freight adjustments/ rebills. https://classit.nmfta.org/all/Welcome.aspx - Look
at getting a customer specific pricing tariff with certain carriers. This can help with getting class reductions,
further rate reductions, and accessorial exemptions like liftgates, residential
deliveries, overlength fees etc waived.
Magic number seems to be around $15,000 in freight spend per month to
begin this process in most cases. - For
fedex, ups, dhl and parcel shipping services reduce your overall cost. Focusing not solely on the discount level,
but dimensional divisors, and accessorial exemptions like over-size surcharges,
handling, and over-length fees, etc which can really bring down your overall
cost. - Stock
Through Put Insurance to further insulate your goods from overall supply
chain and shipping related damages both on international and domestics
shipments. Especially if you have a high
cost, highly damageable product that some carrier’s normal insurance will not
cover. - Create
a written streamlined load booking Standard Operating Procedure. This will save time, confusion, and further
eliminate shipping errors that can lead to rebills/adjustments. It can also
help if you have to re-train new shipping department team members. - Learn
and know how to use new tracking features for freight and parcel TMS software. Most freight TMS or FMS systems now offer
email tracking pings for multiple email addresses at various points of the
shipment life cycle. Greatly reducing
tracking communication and hassles with clients, sales teams, and logistical
teams. - Consider
setting up a direct to consumer final mile/white glove delivery service to sell
direct. The costs of these programs
can be higher but your margin and profitability in most cases will more than
offset those costs. These programs can include inside delivery, setup/install,
debris removal etc. - Hire
a low-cost Virtual Freight Assistant to do day to day load booking and
other repetitive computer/phone-based tasks. - Look
at a Fully Managed Transportation Offering.
Generally, you need to be spending $1-2 million a year in shipping and
freight. However, companies will
literally build a whole professional team around your logistical needs, so you
can focus on your core growth tasks and get ahead faster!