Shipping Solutions

[jeremy8810]

Hey all,

I haven't been on here in a while. I've been busy starting a coffee roastery... woohoo. Anyway, everything is in place. The roaster is hooked up, bags, beans, labels, sealer, grinder, the whole nine yards. The last thing I am trying to figure out before I do a massive launch is the best shipping method for orders from my website. I foresee doing about 50% or more of my sales through the website, so I'd like the most efficient shipping method. My question is for anyone who runs their business through the internet (specifically roasters, but any other business is good too). What shipping methods do you use? I am looking into just about everything right now... stamps.com, endicia, ups, fedex, etc. I will probably be sending in the ballpark of 300-500 packages in the near future and hopefully a lot more later on. Any suggestions would be great. The cheapest option is great, but not a must. I'd like an option that is pretty streamlined and very efficient. If it saves me a few hours a week, then I'll shell out some more cash. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

 

[topher]

I am currently using UPS. I would meet with UPS and FedEx and have them fight it out over pricing. Last company I was at we sold direct to consumer. UPS would drop a trailer at our warehouse and would pick it up at the end of the day and replace it with an empty one. What roaster did you go with? Did you buy a band sealer or a hand one? I didn't see a bagger..do you plan on bagging by hand? Well good luck and keep us posted. Where are you located?

 

[jeremy8810]

Yeah, I checked with FedEx. Their starting price was really high, and they couldn't give me any good detail as to what discount I could get down the road. The person at UPS was no help at all, they wouldn't even quote me a price. I'll have to go back and check with them both. I may just have to start out with USPS first to get an idea of how much volume I'm doing then switch over. I'll see.

I have a 10 Kilo Ambex roaster. Luckily Amer had one left at the time I wanted to go ahead and purchase one. He does a really good job! Probably going to be bagging by hand for a little while at least. I am in Memphis, TN.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Yeah, I checked with FedEx. Their starting price was really high, and they couldn't give me any good detail as to what discount I could get down the road. The person at UPS was no help at all, they wouldn't even quote me a price. I'll have to go back and check with them both. I may just have to start out with USPS first to get an idea of how much volume I'm doing then switch over. I'll see.

I have a 10 Kilo Ambex roaster. Luckily Amer had one left at the time I wanted to go ahead and purchase one. He does a really good job! Probably going to be bagging by hand for a little while at least. I am in Memphis, TN.

Jeremy,

Check with your local post office and see if they can come and pick your package up daily or 2-3 times a week.
They can arrange that with you.
If you use their priority box, that will definitely save you tons on shipping cost.
Once you get to the volume where it is way too much to handle by USPS, then I would price quote from UPS or FedEx. They hardly ever give prices on "if you have this much" type of quote.
If you say I have 25 of 5 pounds bag going out daily, they will give you price based on that. I would think FedEx guys might be little cheaper at the end....

Good Luck

 

[topher]

When you say you will be sending out 300 to 500 packages a day. How much does each box weigh? The online company I worked for usually sent out 2 lbs per box. I would call back UPS and FedEx and question why they do not want your business...I would actually contact them and ask for a supervisor. I am sure that would get the ball rolling. Amer is a great dude. Does your 10 kilo have an internal chaff collector or is it stand alone. If it is internal keep it clean. I mean constantly clean out the chaff.

 

[jeremy8810]

When I say 300-500 I mean per month. If it was per day... that would be fantastic. Maybe one day. I think for now I'm just going to use USPS until I can get an estimate on my shipping amounts, then try to get a discount from UPS or Fedex.

The roaster I have has an external chaff collector, thankfully!

 

[topher]

So do you have an idea of how much weight in each box? I just sent out 30 boxes...but it was 35+ each. If you want pm me and I can go back and see what it ran me. Give me a day though...I am "off" tomorrow.

 

[expat]

I did lots of different shipping when I was in the U.S. Things may have changed but at the time USPS was good for low volume, low weight shipping. As others have said, once you get a track record then you've got negotiating power with UPS, FedEx etc.

 

[jeremy8810]

A little update.... I just sent out all my first orders with flat rate boxes with the USPS. It was pretty convenient. I think I'll stick with them for a while like I originally thought. FedEx is a local company and they love to help out local businesses, so maybe down the road when the volume kicks up, I'll be able to get something going with them. Thanks for all the help and input on this!