When we think of freight, we sometimes think of massive payloads traveling down the railroad. Freight is any goods transported by truck, rail, ship, or aircraft. Freight management is organizing inbound and outbound goods for transport and making sure those goods arrive when scheduled and at the expected price.

There’s a lot that goes into freight management, including negotiating rates with the carriers, managing compliance with government regulations, collecting and managing data, managing lost or damaged goods, maintaining relationships with carriers and vendors, accounting, and integrating all this information into various systems that enable the retailer to make good decisions. 

There are a variety of ways to save on the management of your freight. 

1. Assign a staff member to oversee freight management. There’s a lot that goes into managing freight. Don’t run your operations haphazardly. Assign a team member to become a subject-matter expert in freight and oversee your operations. They need support staff to assist, so make sure they have enough resources to manage effectively. 
2. Research, plan, and test your processes. It’s a good idea to map out your processes, documenting the steps along the way. This comes in handy if there’s an unexpected change in staff or an emergency. Periodically send a package to yourself or a trusted friend to learn how well it travels and its condition upon arrival. 
3. Inspect your billing from the carrier. Make sure you’re not getting charged for things you’d didn’t expect, such as an oversize fee because your new packaging is an inch wider than your old shipping materials. 
4. Outsource your fulfillment to a third party. When you outsource, your fulfillment provider will negotiate rates with the carriers. These rates are based on the entire fulfillment operations volume, so your business can enjoy savings on shipping.