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Shan Ijaz Bus 340, Sec 01 21 November 2007
Problem: Use the internet to analyze shipping cost and determine which company is the best shipper.
Required Business Skills: Internet Analysis and Spreadsheets
Required Software Skills: Microsoft Excel
Project Name: Analyze Shipping Cost
Proper use and complete understanding of the internet is extremely critical to any business today. As a shipping clerk of a small business, it is vital to have reliable, cheap, and dependable shippers connected to the company. Review of the following websites helped determine which of these companies would be beneficial to the company: www.UPS.com, www.USPS.gov, and www.fedex.com. There are many things to consider in determining which shipper to contend to including issues such as delivery speed, pickup schedules, and drop off locations, tracking ability, and ease of use of the web site. The question considered and answered is:
1. Which service to select and why? Solution: There are many issues to consider when choosing a shipper for a company. Above all you want to ensure quality and dependability to your customers and that begins with your shippers, thus leaving a huge responsibility in picking the appropriate one. Other issues to consider involve costs, delivery speed, pickup schedules, drop-off locations, tracking ability, and ease of use of the website. Between UPS, the U.S. Post Office, and Fed Ex, there are many different options available to ensure that you pick the most appropriate shipper for your business. In the attached excel spreadsheet each of these companies options are briefly highlighted and the cost associated with them on a daily basis. UPS offers a variety of options to ensure product delivery is available when absolutely necessary. Including next day early, which assures product is delivered the next day by 8:30 am; UPS next day, which assures product are delivered by end of the next day; and finally UPS ground, which guarantees products arrive between 1-5 business days. All of the costs associated with prices in the excel sheet come off the option of paying shipping charges and shipping the packages at a retail location because it is the most cost effective. However, other options include dropping off prepaid packages, schedule a pickup via UPS.com, and giving packages to a UPS driver. Tracking for this webpage is extremely easy and efficient; you simply click under the tap tracking and enter your tracking number. Also, the layout of the webpage is simple and easy to navigate through. The U.S, Post Office does not offer as many options for domestic shipping as UPS or Fed Ex. The options highlighted in the excel sheet include express mail, priority mail, and parcel post. Express mail guarantees packages are shipped overnight and delivered the next day, priority mail offers delivery in 2-3 days, and parcel post offers delivery in 2-9 days. The U.S. Post office offers a free carrier pickup option and a $14.94 pick up on demand service. In carrier pickup your carrier will pick up your package when your regular mail is delivered and with the pick up on demand service packages are picked up in a specified timeframe. Tracking is made extremely easy as you can enter in your tracking number directly from the home page. The webpage is relatively easy to navigate and provides easy to follow links for whatever your purpose is. The homepage of Fed Ex offers the same basic layout as UPS and the Post Office’s websites making it also easy to follow and manage. Tracking is also offered directly from the homepage, which is extremely convenient. However, Fed Ex requires you to log in to get familiar with many of its services. This is extremely hurtful when companies are researching different shippers and are not willing to provide such information if they are not sure this is the shipper they want to go with. Fed Ex also offers a variety of shipping options; however, the three included in the excel sheet are priority overnight, standard overnight, and 2nd day. Another downfall associated with the Fed Ex website is having to search to find the difference between the shipping options as oppose to it being a link like on UPS.com. Priority overnight offers delivery next day by 10:30 am, standard overnight offers next day delivery by 3 pm, and 2nd day offers delivery by 4:30 pm in 2 business days. There are also different options associated with pick up including schedule a pickup and use an already scheduled pick up and different options associated with drop off including Fed Ex staffed location, self service location and Fed Ex authorized ship center. Costs are provided in the excel sheet and were done with the option schedule a pick up for cost efficient reasons. Among these three shippers I would choose UPS as my shipper because of quality, consistency, and reliability reasons. They offer a superior website that is the easiest to navigate and understand. All the information you need is provided without having to log in first. And although it may not be as cost efficient as the U.S. Post Office it seems to be much more reliable for a business. The option next day early from UPS costs about $4,051.88 for option A and $4,994.56 for option B, compared to the costs priority overnight from Fed Ex of $3,356.59 for option A and $3,335.44 for option B. However, with UPS this costs guarantees delivery next day by 8:30 am which would be essential for the business in which the books are being shipped to in order to allow their business day to start off appropriately. Even if books were not needed the next day, UPS ground guarantees books delivered between 1-5 business days compared to the U.S. Post office parcel post, which guarantees delivery between 2-9 business days. And although the cost associated with shipping both products A and B with UPS ground is slightly higher, $1,280.56, than the U.S Post Office, $1,219.04, the delivery is faster and thus worth the difference. Although there are many different options associated with shippers, it is up to the business to decide which offers the best option for their company. For the books shipping company I believe that UPS offers a superior website with better options and better costs associated with these options, thus I would recommend them to the company.
Formula Sheet:
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