Regardless of what field you work in, it’s absolutely essential that you understand the ins and outs of every part of the business. This applies to choosing the best freight carrier for your company, too. But before you hire just any transportation company, there are a few questions you need to ask them in order to make the best choice possible.
What are your exact rates for all types of shipments?
The worst thing that you could do is to try and guess how much extra you would need to pay for rush jobs. According to an article by Jason Fell on Entrepreneur, quite a number of business owners actually operated at a loss by not confirming with their shipping company what the exact freight rates were.
Do you have any experience at all shipping cargo similar to mine?
You’re putting your products in the hands of another person or company, so you have to make sure that they can do the job properly. Indicate exactly what type of item you want to ship, especially if they are particularly fragile or many contain potentially hazardous chemicals. Make sure to ask them everything you can about how they would handle those products. Otherwise, look for a different company.
Where do your services begin and end?
Some companies do not take care of the final leg of the journey, so it pays to ensure that you won’t have to deal with additional costs just to get your items to their destination.
There are many more questions you can ask your freight carrier, but these will give you a good place to start. Remember: transparency is key to the success of any business. This applies not just to you and your clients or customers, but to you and the freight carrier as well.
