It’s no secret that carriers typically update their rates and contracts every year. However, many businesses don’t engage in parcel contract negotiation despite these changes. While you need a carrier to handle your essential shipments, it’s crucial to have clarity on what influences your carrier’s shipping efforts.

To help you avoid losing money and other potential problems with your own parcel contract, consider the four most common mistakes businesses make during their parcel contract negotiations.

Going in without the benchmarking details.

Parcel contract benchmarking provides a lot of value during contract negotiation. Benchmarking refers to providing data points from other carriers and companies for comparative purposes. With over 13 billion parcels shipped in the U.S. in 2018 alone, you can be sure to have enough data available to you to compare rates. When you have comparable rates, transit times, and surcharge details on hand, you can be more prepared to negotiate a fair contract.

Not auditing your parcel contract.

Parcel contract auditing is recommended to ensure you’re not being overcharged for your shipping. An auditor can ensure contract compliance, determine if refunds are in order, correct discounts, identify service errors, address correction errors, and more.

Not evaluating factors influenced by changes.

When your carrier’s contract changes, the words on the page aren’t the only things that are changing. Contract changes can have a domino effect that influences anything from cost calculations to transit times to external business partners. Make sure to keep these influencing factors in mind when you’re negotiating your parcel shipping contract. This will help you avoid unexpected frustrations and errors later on.

Not consulting parcel contract negotiation professionals.

When you’re negotiating your own parcel shipping contract, it can be easy to overlook benchmarking details and contract changes. Professional negotiators can help you identify the information you need to go into your contract negotiation with confidence. What’s more, professionals can help you get a higher return than you might otherwise while negotiating by yourself.

It can be challenging to negotiate your parcel contract on your own. By using the right parcel pricing experts for parcel contract auditing and negotiation, you can feel confident knowing you have parcel shipping contract negotiations support. For more information on parcel contract auditing and parcel contract optimization, contact AFMS today.