What Is The Process Of Shipping A Package?

Efficiently transporting goods is a vital aspect of any business operations. From packaging the item to measuring dimensions, you have to take important things into consideration to ensure successful shipping and delivery. While domestic shipping is a process, international shipping involves hidden import taxes, value added tax or VAT, and other relevant fees. 

Failing in this step may result in customer frustration, which could drastically affect customer experience and relationships. If you don’t want this thing to happen, make sure you have an effective shipping workflow, which will be discussed below.

Step One: Detail Confirmation

Surely, you have packed the item carefully using bubble wrap, sticker paper, box, and other reliable packing materials to ensure safe shipping. But, before you ship the item, you also have to confirm important details to ensure a smooth shipping process. Skipping this step may result in negative consequences, such as a lost or missing package.

Check the following details to confirm before shipping a package: 

• Item Category: What is the category of the item?  Does it have batteries?  Is it an important document?  You might be surprised to know that product categories come in hundreds, which affect taxes, duties, and regulations. For this reason, categorizing your package content is very important.
• Delivery Time: Day-to-day business operations can be busy, so you have to determine the best delivery time for all the parcels and set a cut-off time for the orders for a smoother shipping workflow. You can use a shipping calculator tool to compare delivery times, which is usually free and available on your carrier’s website.
• Recipient Info: Double-check the recipient’s address, phone number, and email address for accuracy to avoid delivery issues associated with misspelled or lacking details.

Step Two: Research Shipping Destination’s Requirements And Regulations

While there are dos and don’ts of packing a parcel, there are also rules on shipping packages based on their shipping destinations. Special permits are required for certain product categories, like food and nutrition. Checking specific shipping regulations with your prospective carrier is a must to avoid returns.

Step Three: Compare Courier Services

You may already have a prospective courier in mind. But, it won’t hurt comparing different courier services in order to find the right one, tailor-fit to your business needs. Don’t risk your business reputation because of delivery issues. Choose a trusted courier to successfully ship packages to your customers.

Take a look at the important factors when comparing courier services:

• Shipping rates
• Quality of tracking
• Estimated delivery time

Note: Online tools don’t usually include hidden fees, such as taxes and duties, remote areas charge, and fuel surcharge. You have to decide who will pay for these extra charges to clearly indicate this shipping info in your listing or inform your customer as soon as you can before shipping the item to avoid surprises.

Step Four: Carefully Fill And Print Documents And Labels Required

The important shipping documents you have to carefully fill and print include the following:

• Air Waybill
• Customs declaration form
• Commercial invoice
• Material safety data sheet or MSDS document to declare dangerous goods (such as battery declaration)

Step Five: Item Packaging

Place the item in the right-sized envelope or container. Your courier will be comparing the item’s actual weight and its dimensional weight to calculate the final weight to determine the shipping cost.

Request to attach a ‘Fragile’ sticker when shipping a delicate item and use the letter H taping technique when using a packaging tape from top to bottom to avoid shipping damage. By doing so, you’re assured that the item will be received in the same condition when you shipped it.

 

Step Six: Ship And Track

Now, it’s time to ship your item by handing it over to your courier. Determine if the courier offers pick-up services. If not, determine their nearest drop-off location and opening hours. 

It’s best to choose a tracked shipping method so you can track the whereabouts of the item real-time. Also, it will save you a lot of hassle in case your customer reports that the item is lost. Once the package is shipped, you and the customer can track it online using the tracking ID, which is provided by your courier. 

Conclusion

As you can see, the shipping process includes a lot of important considerations. Following the steps above, you’ll soon be able to get used to it and successfully ship items stress-free. Just make sure to confirm the recipient’s details, carefully pack the item, take appropriate measurements, compare courier services, and know shipping regulations to avoid delivery issues. Also, it’s important to properly categorize the item and fill out the necessary shipping labels before shipment.