{"id":12075,"date":"2021-05-10T09:33:09","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T16:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/?p=12075"},"modified":"2021-05-10T09:33:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T16:33:09","slug":"common-ltl-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/3pl\/common-ltl-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Shouldn&#8217;t Quit Your 3PL Over These LTL Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s common that sellers want on-time shipping service 100% of the time. Who wouldn\u2019t?! Unfortunately there are some aspects of shipping that are out of everyone\u2019s control. When your products get to customers late due to weather delays or surge volumes it can cause a lot of headaches. But it may not always be worth leaving your carrier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI see sellers quit a carrier entirely if there\u2019s a lost shipment or missed deadline. While it\u2019s understandable that 1% of the time this happens, there\u2019s often a logical reason that\u2019s often out of the carrier\u2019s control. I just hate to see sellers leave a perfectly great service provider when they really shouldn\u2019t.\u201d \u2014Jason Pronos, LTL expert at DCL Logistics\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay updated on service delays, by referencing these carrier alert pages:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/about.usps.com\/newsroom\/service-alerts\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">USPS Service Alerts<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedex.com\/en-us\/service-alerts.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FedEX Service Delays and Regulatory Updates<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ups.com\/us\/en\/service-alerts.page\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UPS Service Alerts<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The Three Biggest Reasons for Shipping Delays<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most common reasons for LTL shipping issues within the US are weather, surges in volume, and cultural events. Here\u2019s a quick list of how to think strategically about these common issues and how to get ahead of them (if and when possible).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Weather.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It seems obvious, but it\u2019s not always so intuitive, your carrier can\u2019t control delays due to weather. Because the US has such disparate climates, sometimes it\u2019s hard to fathom why there might be slower delivery times due to weather when you\u2019re experiencing blue skies. So that weather delays don\u2019t surprise you:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Look at national forecasts often to see what the rest of the country might be facing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get to know the regions where you sell the most. Knowing the regional weather patterns will help you anticipate big storms.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sign up for carrier updates (often they send out weather delay updates via email) so that you can easily stay tuned in when there may be issues.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Volume Surges.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The winter holidays are the best example of surges. It happens every year in December, everyone is rushing to get packages to doorsteps on or before Christmas. It\u2019s inevitable that all of the carriers will get backed up. There are also surges that aren\u2019t so predictable. For example the first month of the COVID pandemic lockdown was an incredible time for ecommerce, but it all happened so fast that no one had time to prepare.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help get in front of any delays due to surges here are a few things you can do:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do your Q4 inventory planning months in advance. Summertime isn\u2019t too early to start planning for the holidays.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get close with your shipping and fulfillment partners. By communicating often, you\u2019re more likely to get a response from them in the middle of a surge. If you\u2019re not on their short list to call when issues arise you may have to wait your turn to get their attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cultural Events.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are always anomalies, like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/how-protests-are-impacting-deliveries-packages-food-2020-6\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">large-scale cultural events<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-goods\/2021\/4\/2\/22364278\/suez-canal-ship-effects-ever-given-supply-chain\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">container ship getting stuck in the world\u2019s most famous canal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. No one can predict these. Sometimes they happen often, sometimes they are sustained and last months, and sometimes they are gone in a flash. So how can you mitigate delays during these times? It\u2019s next to impossible. What you can do is watch the news with a logistics mindset. If you think there might be a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/supply-chain\/supply-chain-bottlenecks\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">supply chain bottleneck<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> brewing, start crafting a message to your customers in case you need to post it. The key is always to communicate before anyone needs to ask, so being prepared is key here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How to Manage Shipping Delays<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While these issues can\u2019t be prevented, sellers can take a few actions that can help keep your customers happy, despite the issues. Ultimately, as a seller you want to ensure customers are well informed and taken care of.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Communicate the Delays With Your Customers<\/span><\/i><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you see any of these issues arise\u2014whether or not you\u2019ve started to experience shipping delays or not\u2014you can always communicate with your customers. If you tell them there may be shipping delays upfront, it\u2019s likely they will feel more satisfied than if the delays happen with no communication. Plus, if their items arrive early, that\u2019s way better than too late without any communication. You always want to get ahead of any issues by letting your customers know about them before they happen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have a Backup Solution<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At DCL Logistics we often work with private shipping partners around the holiday peak seasons since we know there will be surges. We don\u2019t alway use our secondary option, but it\u2019s a great failsafe in case we need to circumvent any shipping routes affected by weather, or experiencing backups. It\u2019s advisable in most aspects of the supply chain to have a secondary option that you can coordinate quickly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How to Know When it Might be Time to Change Providers<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The transit issues listed above cannot be resolved by you, your shipping partners, or 3PL provider. If delivery delays happen because of any of these issues there\u2019s largely nothing anyone can do about them. Experiencing these types of issues once or twice isn\u2019t reason to leave your partners. However, if your carrier or provider is dropping shipments, losing items, sending the wrong units, or causing other issues, then it\u2019s definitely time to think about switching.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When looking for great fulfillment and shipping partners, you want to ensure you\u2019re aligned. Look for shipping partners who serve the area where your customers live. Seek out a fulfillment partner with experience in the services you require the most. Always ask what the growth opportunities are when interviewing a potential partner, you want support that can grow with you and also help you scale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DCL Logistics has a great track record of helping companies find the perfect shipping solutions for their brand. If you\u2019re looking for a highly communicative 3PL to help you optimize your shipping strategy, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/company\/get-started\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">drop us a line<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. We\u2019d love to hear from you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s common that sellers want on-time shipping service 100% of the time. Who wouldn\u2019t?! Unfortunately there are some aspects of shipping that are out of everyone\u2019s control. When your products get to customers late due to weather delays or surge volumes it can cause a lot of headaches. But it may not always be worth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-12075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3pl","tag-ltl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why You Shouldn&#039;t Quit Your 3PL Over These LTL Issues - DCL Logistics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The top three service delays for LTL carriers might be frustrating to deal with, but they aren&#039;t reasons you should consider leaving your carrier over.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why You Shouldn&#039;t Quit Your 3PL Over These LTL Issues - 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