Online freight booking could be thrilling and challenging as it involves the movement of goods around the globe. Often freight shipping helps deliver goods to happy clients at destinations thousands of miles away. However, it pays to remember that freight shipping can be incredibly complex. It implies you may encounter snags that may lead to loss of precious money and time, making the entire shipping experience disappointing. However, experts have identified and recommended effective ways of preventing online freight booking or freight booking blunders.
According to the experts at Forbes, there’s much more to shipping a consignment from one point to another specified point. Often companies are not aware of the parameters determining and influencing how fast, cost-effectively, and carefully their valuable freight moves from the warehouse to the client’s doorstep or the way these parameters affect customer satisfaction and quality of service. Even though shipping and logistics errors occur easily in small organizations, the best thing is that it is quite easy to identify the mistakes and rectify them.
Online Freight Booking Mistake: Not Packaging Your Consignment Correctly
Packing your prized possessions could be a stressful and challenging process. It could become your prime concern when you consider international shipping. You may have to do considerable bumping around your consignment for it to sustain as it moves from the factory to the starting port to the vessel to the destination port to the truck to finally the warehouse. You need to realize that incorrect packaging could cause damage to your cargo. It may culminate in headaches and additional costs.
Online Freight Booking Mistake: Not Booking With Adequate Lead Time
When doing your first online freight booking, you may expect the shipment to reach the destination almost within the same stipulated time while sending your stuff through FedEx or UPS. You are making a grave mistake. You need to realize that online freight booking is far more complicated and has multiple steps than courier shipping. It implies that the transit process is bound to be longer right from the beginning. Moreover, your freight shipping process may encounter more delays.
Online Freight Booking Mistake: Presenting an Incorrect BOL
Every freight shipment requires a BOL or Bill of Lading. It is a valuable and legally binding document containing all the detailed information and instructions for processing and invoicing the online freight booking with accuracy. Mistakes in the BOL can be very costly, and you may avoid such mistakes by filling out the list carefully and accurately. You may double-check the entries or get the BOL evaluated by somebody else to rule out undesirable errors.
Online Freight Booking Mistake: Not Having a Proper Insurance Cover
Shippers are in the habit of avoiding insurance to reduce their overall costs. Even though it can be relatively cheaper over the short term, things can go haywire, and this approach may prove to be very costly in the long run. Unfortunately, natural disasters, cargo thefts, accidents, and other issues may crop up and ruin the cargo. Airlines and ocean liners provide basic insurance. However, it is not enough to cover your consignment. The small price you need to pay for an insurance cover on your consignment saves you from encountering immense trouble and uncalled-for stress in case of an issue. An insurance cover is best for saving you from the financially-crippling expenses of replacing a costly shipment.
Conclusion
It pays to be vigilant and mindful to avoid the mistakes discussed above. Once you have identified the common freight shipping and booking errors, make it a point to avoid them.