2015 Carrier Price Increases and what it means for the industry

Beginning earlier this month both FedEx an UPS have made the announcement that they will increase their rates by an average of 4.9%. This mirrors a similar announcement and accompanying price increase that took place at the beginning of 2014.

http://www.fedex.com/us/2015rates/rate-changes.html

This increase is in response to recent trends across the entire shipping industry. The market for small parcel freight has continued to grow and carriers continually invest in infrastructure and technological advancements to accommodate the increased demand.

While price increases can greatly affect businesses bottom lines as many companies large and small depend on these two giants for their shipping needs, this is further confirmation of the continued growth of the small parcel market. As large carrier battle for market share in local markets they must keep their eyes on the horizon looking for their next logical market in which to establish a foothold. Investing in these new opportunities in order to sustain their growth is the reason for these recent price increases, and it will be interesting to see how long this trend continues.

On the flip side, both companies are making business decisions that very closely mirror the actions of the other. In a commodity business this makes sense, however it will be interesting to see over the next few years how these companies continue to invest, what added value they bring to their customers, and which will be the first to blink and reverse the trend in favor of a decrease in price. For now, this seems a long ways away.

NAEP Regional Meeting

At the recent upstate New York NAEP regional meeting, FDSI Logistics again made the rounds trying to shine the light on the concept of inbound freight management and its many merits to educational institutions.

NAEP meetings offer a great opportunity to not only spread awareness of our programs, but also to hear from the client’s point of view. It is always important to hear what clients and potential clients focus on, worry about, and value in a particular marketplace, and FDSI continues to make strides to get the most important perspective, the customer’s.

FDSI New Features Update

FDSI Logistics recently released a new enhancement to our outbound label generator, giving the ability to integrate and print from Zebra (www.zebra.com) label printers. With this enhancement FDSI’s clients now have  the ability to use a Zebra printer to not only create your shipping labels, but print them on label paper that can be immediately attached to your package.

This might not sound like a big change, but it you regularly print shipping labels and have a Zebra label printer handy, or ever plan to get one,  this enhancement is very helpful. Printing shipping labels is great and often convenient, but the problem has always been attaching, or in most cases taping the label to your package. Zebra printers and our ability to integrate with them allows for a much simple process. Create. Print. Attach. So much easier!

The Future of Logisitcs

 

I’ve been reading a lot about Google’s self navigating cars, and similar technologies, for some time now. Working at FDSI logistics I’ve often wondered when the very same technology would impact the world of logistics. It seems the year 2025 is that time. 

In a recent post on Yahoo.com Daimler recently tested a driverless big rig on the Autobahn. While that seems like a good deal of time away, the question becomes, how will Logistics providers large and small be affected by this technology, and which firms will best position themselves to take full advantage of it? While its too far out to project the long and short term cost effects, its amazing to think of how quickly the world around us changes because of technology. Innovation is always moving forward, and its very interesting to see a change that will have a big impact on logistics worldwide.

 

Big Savings Opportunity for Educational Institutions

FDSI Logistics has provided managed inbound and outbound shipping programs to healthcare institutions, heavy machinery producers, the hospitality industry, and entertainment industry, just to name a few, since 1985. Higher education is just now catching on to the idea of managing inbound and outbound shipments, along with the savings and cost transparency such programs provides. Here are just a few examples:

A private research University with 14,000 + students with a product spend north of $3 million per year can expect to save about 550K per year by implementing FDSI’s program. We already have relationships with most higher education product suppliers, and on average 60-70% of the companies a University is already buying from work with us.

A separate Public Research University with a product spend of $1.5 Million can expect to see average annual savings of over 250K.

On top of those savings numbers FDSI will provide cost transparency, detailed saviors reports, and cost allocation. This is a BIG opportunity for higher education, and if breakaway sessions focused on managing inbound shipments at the most recent NAEP annual meeting are any indication, programs like this are going from a “great idea” to established best practices.

If you’d like to learn more, visit us at http://www.fdsi.com.

FDSI Logistics Attends NAEP Annual Meeting

FDSI logistics continues to educate higher learning institutions about the great savings and optimization opportunity that comes with a managed inbound program. At this weeks NAEP Annual Meeting in Louisville Kentucky, FDSI set up shop and met with numerous NAEP members regarding our program.

Attendees of the show were eager to learn more about FDSI and the benefits of managed inbound freight. After educational sessions to learn more about the higher education market, best practices, and addressable pain points we were able to meet with over 100 colleges and Universities from all over the United States. We look forward to further spreading the word about the benefits of our unique savings program! 

FDSI Logistics Presented with 2013 MedAssets Platinum Supplier Award

 

At the 2014 MedAssets Healthcare Business Summit FDSI Logistics was presented a 2013 MedAssets Platinum Supplier Award.

This award showcases FDSI’s continued commitment to our MedAssets and Healthcare clients, while reinforcing the great value our managed freight programs have brought to the healthcare industry. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with MedAssets and bringing even greater value and savings to our clients in the future!

 

MedAssets 2014 Healthcare Business Summit

FDSI Logistics took part in the 2014 MedAssets Healthcare Business Summit. An accredited three day industry event that is open to all MedAssets clients and suppliers, FDSI was there to show how beneficial our managed program is to our healthcare clients.

Our dedicated sales and customer service team worked hard yet again to build new business relationships and strengthen old ones.

The 5 Reasons You Need a Managed Freight Program in Place

1) Freight Cost Visibility – Without visibility, you don’t have control, and without control, how can you save? The answer, of course, is that you can’t. FDSI will provide you with true freight cost visibility, which gives us the ability to help you start saving.

2) Proven Savings – FDSI has proven our success over and over again. We have saved our Healthcare clients MILLIONS, and have already begun rolling out our program to several University clients. Let us prove how much your hospital system or University could be saving.

3) It wont cost you anything – Sounds too good to be true, but its not. We succeed only when our clients save money, and that’s the bottom line.

4) Its easy to implement – All we need is some data from you followed by a few hours of your team for some phone calls, and FDSI wil do the rest of the work. You’ll be realizing big savings sooner than you think.

5) Data Analysis and Reporting Tools – So we’ve already saved you money at not cost, what more could we have to offer? A lot more! FDSI Logistics provides you business analytics and reporting tools that allow you to track and view all of your savings from the second you start shipping and also allow you to make effective business decisions based on actionable data. Again, all at not cost!

 

New Invoice Retrieval Tool

FDSI is pleased to announce a new feature, the Invoice Retrieval Tool. This feature is now available and provides the ability to quickly retrieve billed invoices manually.

The Invoice Retrieval Tool can be accessed upon log in to the Virtual Coordinator at www.FDSI.com.

If you do not have a VC login, please contact your client care specialist and ask to be set up.