Change is so hard. We often need a big event to help usher in change – a wedding to quit smoking, New Year to lose weight, or saying you will exercise more if your team wins this game! We do this because we are not ready for change and according to Psychology Today- not being ready is one of the main reasons why transitioning is so hard. That confuses me much about e-commerce and small package shippers – they should be primed and ready for change.
The pandemic showed the weaknesses in much of our economy when we were shut down, not to mention starting back up. However, these unprecedented times reflected the tremendous opportunity that e-commerce provides around the globe. E-commerce is expected to be $1 Trillion this year alone. But this exponential growth in e-commerce has also caused supply issues, cascading into shipping delays, missed pick-ups, and contract cancellations by the established shipping players.
Fees are every shipper’s biggest complaint. Many negotiate fantastic rates for their shipping with established players like UPS, FedEx, and USPS – but we know that is not the real cost. Fees like fuel surcharges, weekend delivery, and so many others balloon your price per package and drive shipping costs higher and higher. Moreover, we have heard of the established players raising prices and only giving five days’ notice – very difficult to manage with a partner that may not be that great for your bottom line.
It seems the Vice Presidents and Directors responsible for logistics should be ready for change. There are many reasons you should explore using alternatives to established players. That is the simplicity of our solution for e-commerce and small package shippers – we utilize existing assets to make 2-day delivery a reality across the country. Since we use the existing first and last-mile partners with a major US passenger airline with over 800 flights a day for the mid-mile, we do not need to keep “fee-ing” you to cover their capital expenses. While we are on change, we know sustainability is a factor for all of us. Since we utilize existing assets and use passenger airlines that will fly on their schedule whether the cargo bay is full or not, we help to lower our carbon footprint.
Again, it is not easy to change. Change is not often all at once – I said I would never switch from my Blackberry, and I am now on my 7th iPhone, all it took was the initial iPhone purchase. Start small to make the change lasting because we are coast-to-coast with our airline partner. You may want to start with a small part of your shipments, maybe Atlanta to Los Angeles, which we can do in 2-days, easy. All of you who deal with the establishment know you need some alternatives, so think of SmartKargo as your change agent and better yet, your New Year’s resolution.