ADSI News
Easy ROI Tip #2: Add USPS Online Postage to Your Carrier Portfolio
Online Postage is a Cost-Saver for USPS Shipping, APO Shipping and FPO Shipping
Chances are that you already use the U.S. Postal Service in some areas of your shipping operations. But is it integrated into your shipping system? If you added USPS shipping rates to your multi-carrier shipping system, you could eliminate many time-consuming, manual processes and reduce your costs related to labor and your freight rates.
The USPS is proving to be a cost-effective carrier for online retailers, manufacturers and distributors shipping to businesses and residential addresses. Adding the U.S. Postal Service or Internet postage to your multi-carrier shipping system also gives you further opportunities to reduce freight costs by comparing services between all your small parcel carriers. As many shippers are finding out, the U.S. Postal Service’s postal shipping service also meets their small parcel delivery requirements – often at a lower overall price.
The U.S. Postal Service® offers powerful cost-cutting benefits for small parcel shippers:
Flat-rate products simplify shipping – Priority Mail Flat Rate service is a simple, time-saving alternative to traditional shipping. If it fits, it ships®* anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. Designed for shipments up to 70 lbs., there’s no weighing, no looking up zones, and no calculating postage. Four box sizes are available to accommodate a wide range of shipments. The USPS also offers international flat-rate options.
No fuel surcharges – Have you really checked your shipping invoices to see what your carrier is charging in added fuel costs? With fuel costs still elevated, business shippers have a strong interest in this USPS® advantage. The USPS does not add on fuel surcharges.
Saturday and residential delivery at no extra charge†.
Currently the USPS delivers packages on Saturday at no additional cost giving you up to 52 extra surcharge-free delivery days a year that you won’t get from competitors.
The USPS doesn’t charge extra for residential delivery – Compared to other carriers, who charge $2.50 or more per delivery, the savings can really add up.
Largest delivery network in the U.S. – The USPS has the largest delivery network in the U.S. and is the only shipper that delivers to PO Box™ and APO/FPO military addresses.
Comprehensive delivery tracking 
- The USPS has significantly enhanced its delivery tracking capabilities for postal shipping. Shipments are now scanned an average of 6 to 7 times to track package movement, providing a high level of visibility to the shipper and their customer.
Customer service is a USPS priority – According to USPS Business Alliances Manager Marcia Sapien, in a recent shipper’s survey, the USPS was the only major shipper to improve in every category, including customer service, on-time performance, delivery performance, claims processing, refunds for late delivery, and pricing.
How real are the savings?
There are a number of ways to put USPS rates to work for you. Ship-IT allows you to compare carriers based on rates, delivery requirements and choose the best option for the order.
Find out more
ADSI is a long-standing partner with the USPS. For Ship-IT customers, adding the USPS rate server and automatic label printing is very simple. Once installed, your staff follows the same shipping routine and simply sees the USPS as an additional carrier option in the rating screen.
CASE STUDY: Find out how one ADSI customer, Other World Computing, has reduced costs and improved its services to its customers.
To find out more about the benefits of adding the USPS and online postage to your carrier portfolio, contact ADSI. Our shipping specialists will be happy to assist you, contact us for more information.
ADSI announces its exclusive sponsorship of the 29th Annual CSCMP Roundtable Event
Schaumburg, IL (PR Web) April 5, 2012 – Advanced Distribution Solutions, Inc. (ADSI), a leading provider of flexible logistics management solutions that streamline supply chain operations, today announced that it is the exclusive sponsor for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) 29th Annual Chicago Roundtable event on April 12, 2012.
This year’s all-day event, scheduled to take place at McDonald’s Hamburger University in Oak Brook, IL, brings together supply chain management and executive management professionals from Aon, Arrowstream, Boise Cascade, CHRobinson, Goodrich, US Foods and many others at this year’s spring seminar to learn strategies and best practices for a day of outstanding education and business networking.
“We’re very pleased to be an exclusive sponsor of this premiere networking event for supply chain professionals,” said Robert Fischer, ADSI’s president and CEO, “ADSI is a longstanding provider of multi-carrier solutions to many companies around the world, and we look forward to seeing our customers and partners and discussing today’s leading edge supply chain management trends.”
Don Kirchenberg a volunteer board member on the executive board of the CSCMP Chicago Roundtable states: “The CSCMP Chicago Roundtable is lucky to have the support of quality companies like ADSI. We are very flattered to have them take their time and pay for an exclusive sponsorship. Their support helps us reach our goals of supporting supply chain management education with scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students across the Chicago area.”
Event Details
The 29th Annual Chicago Roundtable will take place on April 12, 2012, from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM, on the McDonald’s corporate campus at Hamburger University, 2715 Jorie Boulevard, Oak Brook, IL 60523. For more information about the event, please visit: http://www.cscmpchicago.org/29th-annual-spring-seminar/
About Advanced Distribution Solutions, Inc.
Advanced Distribution Solutions, Inc. (ADSI) is an industry-leading provider of flexible logistics management solutions for manufacturers, distributors, corporate campuses, online retailers and others. Founded in 1997, ADSI’s customers include 1500+ installed sites located in the U.S., Canada and internationally. ADSI’s solutions include Ship-IT™, a multi-carrier transportation management solution for domestic and export shipping, as well as optional configurable modules to streamline order picking and packing, delivery tracking and more. ADSI is also a Motorola Mobile Computing Solutions Channel Partner and a Zebra Premier Partner. For more information, please go to www.adsionline.com or call (877) 755-2374.
Easy Shipping ROI Tip: Address Verification Software Eliminates Hidden Costs
Are Incorrect Shipping Addresses Adding Costs to Your Freight Bill? Use Address Correction Software
When is the last time you checked your freight bill to analyze up-charges related to problems with incorrect shipping addresses? Address 
inaccuracies represent an area of hidden cost that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Left unattended, the dollars can quickly add up.
One expert, Satish Jindel, founder and president of Pittsburgh-based SJ Consulting Group, estimates that parcel shipping errors add 5-7% in unnecessary costs to a shipper’s annual tab. Given that companies collectively spend some $55 billion a year on domestic parcel services, those mistakes translate into serious money.[1] How significant are costs related to incorrect delivery addresses? They can be huge and accumulate in several ways.
Automatic Shipping Address Correction is Crucial to Cost Control
Say, for example, that a customer accidentally types in an incorrect street address for its ship-to address. Generally, the carrier will fix the issue with the delivery address but you’ll pay for that service. We’ve seen charges that range from $11.00 per package, up to $77.00 in charges for all packages in the incorrectly addressed shipment.
Residential Deliveries Erroneously Classified as Commercial
Another common and costly error occurs when residential deliveries are erroneously classified as commercial deliveries. Again, the carrier may fix it, but at a cost of $2.50 per package. If your company pays for the freight and adds it to the customer invoice, you’ve just lost the opportunity to pass the additional cost to the customer.
Incorrect Shipping Addresses Result in Increased Customer Service Costs
Besides carrier charges, you as the shipper bear additional internal labor costs every time your customer service and shipping department employees have to interrupt their daily routine to resolve the problems that result of inaccurate addresses.
Unhappy Customers and Cancelled Orders
Delivery address problems also lead to frustrated customers, order cancellations, even the loss of a customer. As a company, you want to eliminate any risk that can result in delivery problems. An interruption or delay makes it too easy for that impulse shopper to decide that they don’t really need the product after all. It makes it too easy to lose the business.
Certainly, no company necessarily required to pre-verify shipping addresses, but given the examples above, it makes great sense to build this automated address verfication into any supply chain execution workflow.
Pre-empt the Problem with Automatic Address Verification Software
The easiest way to prevent the risk of additional charges and lost customers due to incorrect shipping addresses is to add automated address verification to your shipping system. Address verification can occur at multiple points in the supply chain execution process, from order creation through shipment processing. Address verification tools are installed on the company’s ERP system or added to your shipping system.
Address Verification Options
Numerous tools are available these days to pre-empt this problem before the carrier arrives to pick up the shipment. ADSI’s postal specialists can help you decipher your options and decide which tools best fit your needs. Considerations:
- Does your current shipping system allow you to designate shipments as residential or commercial?
- Does it validate addresses at the street level, city, zip code level?
- Does your shipping software detect multiple or near duplicate address matches?
- Does it allow the user to view and/or choose address details?
- What is the address validation source used by your shipping system? For example, ADSI’s address verification solution is CASS CertifiedTM by the USPS®. CASS supplies information verifying the submitted address is written correctly and falls within a USPS-approved address range.
- Does your multi-carrier shipping system require Delivery Point Validation (DPV)? DPV enables you to verify that an address actually exists.
The bottom line? Make sure your shipping software offers an automatic address verification tool. If you suspect that you may be absorbing extra shipping costs due to incorrect addresses on shipments, we can help you identify areas of risk. Contact us today.
[1] Six Steps To Cutting Your Parcel Shipping
ADSI Expands U.S. Sales Network for its Shipping Software and Supply Chain Visibility Solutions
Schaumburg, IL (PRWEB) March 08, 2012 – Advanced Distribution Solutions, Inc. (ADSI), a leading provider of flexible logistics management solutions that streamline supply chain operations, today announced the expansion of its sales organization to accommodate sales growth in its southern and western U.S. territories.
“We’re extremely excited to expand our sales & service network as the demand for our multi-carrier shipping systems and supply chain visibility solutions continues to grow,” said Robert Fischer, ADSI’s president and CEO, “ADSI’s end-to-end suite of flexible shipping software and mobile computing solutions delivers operational efficiency, cost savings and supply chain visibility for a wide range of manufacturing, distribution, online retail and corporate office environments. As a result, we’re seeing a steady adoption of our solutions by companies of all sizes.”
ADSI recently added senior sales executive Wayne Thompson, based in Houston, TX to handle sales in Texas and the surrounding states. Wayne brings extensive experience selling radio frequency identification (RFID) and data acquisition systems for ERP, WIP, asset and inventory management solutions to the ADSI organization. Prior to joining ADSI, he sold business automation solutions for Datalogic Automation, one of the major worldwide producers of automatic identification, detection and marking solutions for industrial automation. He has also successfully sold enterprise solutions for Data Storage and IBM.
ADSI has also engaged Chris Garcia, an accomplished sales executive with over 13 years of experience in the mailing and shipping industry, to handle sales in California and the surrounding western states. Garcia, based in Los Angeles, CA, most recently was an area sales manager for EMS Inc. a Neopost/Hasler dealership, a provider of mailroom solutions including mailing systems, postage meters, folder inserters, addressing systems, and shipping and receiving solutions. Prior to joining EMS Inc. he held a branch manager position for field sales and service at Neopost Inc. (direct) overseeing the Los Angeles and tri-counties area.
“Beyond ‘traditional’ shipping systems, our clients rely on us for Web-based or SaaS shipping software, international shipping tools, mobile computing and industrial RFID transportation solutions to improve real-time visibility into their customer service and delivery levels,” said Fischer, “We’re committed to providing a first-class sales and support organization for our clients’ evolving operational and technical needs.”
About ADSI
Advanced Distribution Solutions, Inc. (ADSI) is an industry-leading provider of flexible logistics management solutions for manufacturers, distributors, corporate campuses, online retailers and others. Founded in 1997, ADSI’s customers include 1500+ installed sites located in the U.S., Canada and internationally. ADSI’s solutions include Ship-IT™, a multi-carrier transportation management solution for domestic and export shipping, as well as optional configurable modules to streamline order picking and packing, delivery tracking and more. ADSI is also a Motorola Mobile Computing Solutions Channel Partner and a Zebra Premier Partner. For more information, please go to http://www.adsionline.com or call (877) 755-2374.
Attention Small Parcel Shippers: Is the U.S. Postal Service in Your Carrier Portfolio? It Should Be….
We learn from our customers all the time, and we’re here to pass on some valuable advice:
If you’re shipping small parcel shipments in the U.S., Canada or abroad, you should definitely consider adding the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to your carrier portfolio. Why? Because adding the USPS to the mix can reduce your shipping costs. Find out how one company has already saved $25,000 by adding ADSI’s postal solution! We can help you add USPS rating to your Ship-IT system and automate the entire process, complete with compliant shipping labels and documents. ADSI’s shipping specialists can help you calculate your ROI by adding USPS shipping as an option. Contact us today.
