John Lindberg - Practical Ecommerce

How to Reduce Parcel DIM Weights

John Lindberg — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 10:53:30 +0000

Dimensional weight is a pricing method used by shipping carriers. It's a way to charge for the space your package takes up in their trucks and planes regardless of its actual weight.

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Notable Views: Fulfillment Outsourcing, Pros and Cons

John Lindberg — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:37:02 +0000

Editor’s Note:”Notable Views” is a series where we ask leading experts to address critical, ecommerce-related topics. For this installment, we corresponded with John Lindberg, president of eFulfillment Service, a Michigan-based ...

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Shipping and Fulfillment: How to Get the Best Bang for Your Buck

John Lindberg — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 01:50:47 +0000

UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service all do a good job of getting orders to your customers, but there are some simple things you can do to lower the costs involved.

Understand How Delivery Costs Are Calculated

When you start shipping in volume it is vital to understand how each carr...

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Ten Ways To Reduce Your Shipping Costs

John Lindberg — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:09:18 +0000

Online merchants are often caught between the increasing demand for free delivery and rising shipping and fulfillment costs. Thankfully, there are some simple ways to reduce the cost of shipping and order fulfillment. Here are ten of them.

1. Rate Shop

Rate shop your parcels among al...

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How To Buy Shipping Supplies

John Lindberg — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:15:10 +0000

Shipping supplies, such as corrugated cartons and bubble wrap, are the third highest overhead cost (after labor and facilities expense) in most order fulfillment operations. No matter if you outsource your order fulfillment or do it in-house, keeping shipping supplies affordable is a t...

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How To Rate-Shop International Shipping

John Lindberg — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:45:37 +0000

U.S. export sales are increasing, which makes international rate shopping more important than ever. For example, here are published rates for a typical 10-pound parcel sent from my fulfillment company located in Traverse City, Mich. to a client’s customer located in London, England.

U...

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Order Fulfillment: ‘Kitting’ Can Dramatically Slash Your Costs

John Lindberg — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:16:52 +0000

The term “kitting” is order fulfillment jargon for preassembly of individual items into ready-to-ship kits instead of picking and packing those individual items as orders are received. If you ship similar orders in quantity, the savings potential of fulfillment kitting can be huge.

A ...

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Truck-freight Shipping: How to Lower Your Costs

John Lindberg — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:38:11 +0000

If you use truck freight to receive merchandise from your suppliers or to ship to your customers, and you suspect you are paying too much, this how-to guide is for you.

There Are Some Basics You Need To Know

Truck-freight pricing is based on negotiation, and the starting point is prov...

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Free Shipping: The How-to Economic Model

John Lindberg — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:10:19 +0000

Free shipping is a growing trend in the ecommerce industry.

As the owner of an ecommerce fulfillment company, I work with hundreds of successful webstore merchants and am in a unique position to see both the threats and opportunities posed by free shipping strategies.

Different Type...

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Fulfillment: Guidelines for Outsourcing

John Lindberg — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:57:35 +0000

As the owner of a fulfillment company, I’ve gathered a number of tips and discovered an assortment of traps over the years. If you’re thinking about outsourcing your warehousing, shipping, and returns processing, let me suggest that you follow these guidelines. They will help you find a...

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Shipping Rates: Flat Rate Boxes Usually Save Money

John Lindberg — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:43:58 +0000

U.S. Postal Service flat rate envelopes and boxes can be a big money saver under the right circumstances. But you have to be careful. That's because there are now seven domestic USPS flat rate size and rate combinations, and potential cost savings depend on a fairly complicated comparis...

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Shipping: Dimensional Weight Errors Can Cost Big Bucks

John Lindberg — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:47:02 +0000

There are mistakes that can cost you when calculating shipping and handling fees. A big one is missing a UPS, FedEx or U.S. Postal Service DIM (dimensional) or oversize rule for large or lightweight packages.

The term “DIM” refers to package shipping density, meaning the weight of th...

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Shipping Rates: Comparison Shopping Saves Money

John Lindberg — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:33:56 +0000

Miscalculating your shipping rates can cost you some big bucks. No matter your shipping volume, it is a good idea to comparison shop between package carriers and the various carrier-shipping options.

For example, a package weighing less than one pound shipped via U.S. Postal Service P...

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