How to become an office shipping professional.

The world of shipping has evolved. The three top carriers — the USPS, FedEx and UPS — are competing fiercely for your business. The result is an ever-shifting landscape of services, requirements and pricing. How can you ensure that you’ve got the most recent information from each carrier, then apply it to your organization’s specific requirements?

Making every office shipper a professional overnight

With the landscape in a continuous state of flux, how is it even possible to be confident you’re sending one package out correctly, much less become a multi-package whiz who helps to ensure precision and accuracy in the process? Breathe deeply, and start by asking some basic questions:

• Which carriers do you use?
• How often do you use them?
• Who are you shipping to?
• How do you select a service type?
• What types of packages do you ship?
• How much are you spending annually and do you review it annually?
• Have you implemented a multi-carrier software solution?

First, of course, you have to know the general landscape, starting with the three major carriers: the USPS, FedEx and UPS. Take time to proactively review your current processes, starting with how you choose your carrier and associated delivery services. The frequency, volume and sizes of your shipments may vary, but lock down a view of the typical workflow. Look at who you’re primarily delivering to: individual customers, large organizations, regional, international? Do you routinely ship packages of the same dimension and weight or do your package and envelope sizes vary wildly on a headache-inducing basis? Or do you only mail oversize envelopes, which can also vary in dimension, weight, and delivery times? Critically important, review your costs — where and how your company’s shipping budget is spent, and how it all adds up at the end of the budget cycle.

This proactive evaluation might take some time you don’t think you can afford, but it can help reduce the reactive responses to shipping needs that lead to costly errors, budget over-runs, and shipper nightmares.

Consider a multi-carrier solution

When you bring all your shipping options — including the USPS, FedEx, and UPS — onto one platform, it enables you to make your carrier choices based on previously established business decisions. Plus, for each package, you need to know what’s more important to your organization. Speed? Cost? Special services? All of the above? Or something else entirely?

John Kruzan, senior director of global business development for Pitney Bowes Distribution Solutions, has observed that shippers struggle to break out of their entrenched shipping habits and take a more strategic approach. “It’s like trying to move the Titanic,” he says. “They know what they need to do, but it’s hard for them to do it.” The observation applies to all shippers, whether an office mailroom or the single person office sender.

A multi-carrier solution helps to “unstick” you from this struggle, by making your shipping life easier all around. Easier said than done?

Managing shipping processes through a third party

Intent on providing its customers with a solution that helps to reduce the complexity of the shipping process, Pitney Bowes has developed SendPro®, an all-in-one, online shipping solution. SendPro simplifies and streamlines shipping through the USPS, FedEx and UPS, enabling you to use just one login, one shipping form and one address book for the multiple carriers. With SendPro, you can weigh packages, print multi-carrier shipping labels, access centralized tracking, and manage expenses.

The solution, which offers options to meet your organization’s needs, is scalable and can be used by single or multiple users from their desktops. A version is also available for mailrooms.

Because it was designed with continuous input and feedback from Pitney Bowes’ customers and our shipping partners, SendPro specifically addresses the issues real office shippers face on a daily basis. An easy-to-navigate landing screen quickly gets you started on your shipping journey, so you can confidently get your package(s) started on the delivery process.

Voila! You are an office shipping professional. How much easier can it get?