An Inside Look at the Deferred Vs. Expedited Delivery
The latest trend in the low-ball offers from many web sites is
the use of the deferred delivery. Some call it Economy
Shipping, Standard Shipping or Threshold Delivery. If a web site does not disclose its shipping method, chances are it
uses this deferred delivery.
The motivation to use the deferred shipping method is primarily
driven by the low cost. However, it is well documented
that many of these dubious web sites will use this shipping method as an excuse to
hold your order indefinitely unless a consumer agrees to pay for the upgrade
which would instantly balloon the final sale figure to a point where it
is vastly uncompetitive.
Freight handling during terminal transfers (off one and onto another truck) accounts for the majority of shipping damage. This is where
all the TV and appliance boxes suffer the banging of
forklifts. Any insiders working in the shipping industry will tell
you that. Consequently, more terminal transfers mean more handlings, which in
turn, translate to higher damage ratios. There are 4-7
terminal transfers in a typical deferred shipping method. The in-and-out handlings are twice as many. No
wonder why the deferred shipping is directly linked to the high shipping damage
ratio!
Most of these deferred shipping is provided by
relatively small non-asset based forwarders.
They are the middlemen of the shipping industry flipping a vast amount of
freight whichever possible to make a buck. Because many of these forwarders do
not have the assets such as terminals and trucks (don't be fooled by the logos
on the trucks of their contractors. They don't cost more
than a paint job), it is simply impossible for them to have any control over the
damage. Some of the more frequently used non-asset forwarders are as
follows: AIT Worldwide Logistics, Associated Global, Manna Distribution Services and NVC Logistics.
In sharp contrast, our Expedited delivery is only provided by
the first class asset-based LTL (Less than truck load) carriers. In most cases,
there are less than 3 terminal transfers. This greatly reduces the damage in
transit. Many carriers keep a record of less than 0.1%
damage ratio. Some of the household names used in our Expedited
delivery include Fedex Freight®, DHL Air Freight and
UPS Expedite®. All these carriers will allow you to inspect the
content of the box before you sign for the delivery, unlike some of the contractors
hired by forwarders who try to trick you to sign the delivery paper before you
have a chance to inspect the freight.
Our White Glove delivery is still an effective solution to the
residential delivery for concealed damage. An agent will bring the merchandise
into the room of your choice with no extra charge for up to two flights of
stairs. Then the agent will open the box and remove the debris before you sign
for the delivery. However, with the selling price of HDTVs coming down
rapidly, the White Glove delivery is getting much more expensive due to its high
labor cost. It can cost from 10% to 30% of the selling price of a
TV. Furthermore, the White Glove's interstate transportation is still provided
by a deferred LTL carrier. Therefore, its damage ratio is no better than a
deferred delivery. The White Glove delivery has never reduced and will
never reduce the damage in transit, it simply exposes the damage at the final
delivery.
