- Auditel Consultant:
- Mark Stevens
Deciphering Courier charges: not for the faint hearted
21 Feb 2012 | Filed under: Cost & Purchase Management
According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills there were 293,000 people employed in the UK road freight industry in 2009 (the latest year for which records are available). They are critical to the success of every businesses importing, exporting or distributing goods around the UK.
I wonder how many of them work on the eye-wateringly complex tariffs that seem to be standard practice, but subtly different between courier suppliers? Dimensional charges, fuel surcharges, security surcharges, geographical zone charges etc, in addition to the various service, transportation and delivery timescale permutations, make comparing telecommunications tariffs a simple exercise by comparison.
Given this complexity it becomes a difficult task for businesses to ensure that the costs they pay are fair and reflect market conditions. All companies using courier services really need to satisfy themselves that their Total Cost of Purchase is at an efficient level while continuing to receive their chosen level of service. Some of the questions you might ask yourself are:
- am I using the correct tariff for my business?
- am I being charged the correct amount for each consignment?
- do surcharges reflect a fair additional cost and are they changing in line with costs?
Feel free to contact me on 01932 345460 or at mark.stevens@auditel.co.uk to arrange an Auditel Business Health Check and we can help answer the questions for you, with a view to reducing your Total Cost of Purchase.
