Are you paying your 3PL extra to waste your money and pollute the planet?

Are you incentivizing your fulfillment provider to waste your money and pollute the planet? 🤔 

Does your contract reward them for putting orders in boxes that are way too big, piss off your customers and cost you extra?😱

If your 3PL is billing you for shipping and packaging, then you are! 🤯 

Unless you have KPIs with financial penalties around max and average empty space per shipment, then you are rewarding them for polluting and billing you more!

Why?

Most fulfillment providers make the majority of their money from reselling transportation and packaging to you.

So if they put orders in bigger than required boxes, they win financially - and you’re none the wiser.

Why?

😨 They charge you more for the box. If they put an item in a 10x10x10 box versus an envelope or a 2x6x6 box.
😨 Most important, the dimensional/chargeable weight goes up, so they get billed more by the carrier and so do you.

In both those cases, they may show that they are saving you money versus you shipping it yourself based on their discounts on packaging and shipping, but you are paying more because they put the item in an oversized box.

So what can you do to prevent this?

Check to see whether your fulfillment provider is using rightsizing technology to minimize the amount of empty space in the packaging.

Track the average and max empty space per order and set financial penalties and rewards so that you have visibility and financial alignment regarding the issue.

Even if you can’t add the financial disincentives, you should be able to get package-space utilization reports that also show the original weight versus dimensional or charged weight.

If your shipments have significant amounts of empty space in them and are racking up dimensional charges, then you and the planet are losing while your 3PL is laughing all the way to the bank.

And that my friends is why sustainability and profitability in logistics go hand in hand, because sustainability in logistics is primarily about eliminating the wastes that drive costs and pollution in your supply chain, while delivering better experiences for your customers and employees!

If you are a shipper & want help with the analysis and picking a fulfillment partner that so that you can be a planetary and profitability winner, reach out and I'll be happy to help.

Or if you are a 3PL and want to become more sustainable, and market your ability to reduce their costs and pollution, I'm happy to help you as well!

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