BENCHMARKING & TENDERING




 
 

Benchmarking existing courier rates

Benchmarking of your rates against both similar and dissimilar businesses may be a wise choice before your company commits to going through the bid process. Many companies this year have had ended up coming out of the bid process worst off than they started in - 8 to 10% increases instead of the flat or decrease that had been anticipated.  Bidding isn't always the best route - many couriers will "buy their way out of a bid process".  Blackadar will identify current rates in the courier market and let you know exactly where you stand.  By sharing our proprietary knowledge and intellectual property, you can learn where the leading edge of the market is, where your contract leverage points are and the minimum savings possible by utilizing our services

 
 

Tendering

Get it right and the bid process can reinforce your carrier partnerships and get cost reductions initiatives executed you won’t have thought of.  The real opportunities typically aren’t where you are looking  - eliminating paper; inbound not outbound; returns; consolidation; weight thresholds; splits; upstream integration; etc.  Most companies seem convinced that you can bid with half-baked documents and with total disregard to the carriers needs, and get savings by playing one carrier off against another.  No offence, but “them days is gone”.  Blackadar will work with you at developing a methodology for achieving the greatest results in the shortest amount of time.  By defining  your needs, recognizing your internal culture and understanding your current courier relationships, Blackadar not only creates a set of demands but a set of guiding principles

Even if you do manage to get competitive bids from different carriers, how can you compare prices?  Couriers, for instance, have drastically different zoning and pricing structure – it is like comparing “apples to water buffaloes”.  The answer is to force all carriers to compete on a standard pricing format – right?  Wrong.  If you compare major contracts within the same industry sector, the “one zone for all”; “per package”; “per lb” etc schemes all have resulted in additional cost.  Blackadar provides leadership in each step of contract negotiation so that you can achieve the best possible deal.  We know what to ask, when to ask it, and when and how to escalate the negotiation.

Link to Benchmarking and Tendering Mailer

Benchmarking Newsletter