Hiring freight lines to ship finished products

Shipping your finished products to where they can be purchased by the consumer is obviously an important step in the manufacturing process.After all, the reason why you are in business is to make money and if you cannot satisfy your customers by getting them their product in a timely manner, you lose that money.There are a wide range of methods to getting your finished products from one place to another.Some manufacturers have their own fleets, others hire pilots and own planes for international deliveries.But the vast majority of manufacturers, who do not have the resources to create their won fleet, will hire freight lines to ship finished products. Below you will find some examples of the advantages and disadvantage of hiring freight lines to ship your manufacturing plant's finished products:

Advantages

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• Hiring freight is among the least expensive of delivery methods - Other options for delivering your finished product might include chartering a plane, sending your product by mail, or having the customer pay for shipping.When these options are compared to the hiring of a freight line, the freight method combines the least expense with the greatest speed and convenience for the customer.
• - Speed is acceptable - Although freight is not the fastest delivery method possible, it is certainly faster that many other methods that may take weeks to complete a delivery.Fleet trucks are also able to get to their destination faster because there is no need to transfer the cargo from one transportation method to another in order to complete the delivery.
• - You can contract with a freight line to have a regular shipment agreement with your manufacturing plant - There are added conveniences to signing a contractual agreement with your freight transportation provider.These benefits include relatively worry free efficiency. There is no need for a middle man because the freight line will pick up from you and handle the entire transaction from that point on.Your customers also benefit from the lack of transitional steps in-between leaving your manufacturing plant and arriving at the location where they can purchase your finished product.Fewer moves also means less of a likelihood that products become damaged, stolen or lost.

Disadvantages

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• Variables make it harder to fill immediate/rush orders (weather, road construction, accidents) - There are variables with fleet travel that simply do not exist as strongly with other delivery and transportation methods.Winter months mean harsher weather especially at high elevations.Fleet drivers will also need to rest periodically.This down time means that it takes longer to get your products to their destinations.Human error is much more likely when the trust of your entire shipment is put into the hands of a single driver.
• - Your products may not be the priority contents of the shipment unless you opt for "less than truckload" services.Many freight lines have multiple contracts and therefore different deliveries that are transported in the same truck.When other products are being shipped along side yours there is a greater probability for there to be a mix up or for the delivery to take longer because other stops for other customer's products must be made along the way.
• - International shipment is not available - Obviously there are certain deliveries with freight lines that are simply not available.The most apparent delivery that freight lines would only be partially helpful with, at best, is with international deliveries.Freight lines are very popular within the continental U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Getting your finished product to your customers is important, you do not want to leave such deliveries to chance but you must also remain financially minded about the transportation methods that you choose.That is why so many manufacturers decide to hire freight lines to ship their finished products.