LTL Shipping for NetSuite
You’ve invested in your business by implementing NetSuite. You’ve learned how to speak the language of NetSuite so that you can refine your business processes. Further, you’ve invested in understanding the needs of your customers. You’ve learned to speak their language so that you can offer them exciting, compelling products.
And yet, to deliver your products to your customers efficiently, you are confronted by the complex, ever-changing world of freight shipping. Shipping is a crucial part of your business, but it’s an industry with its own complicated processes, perspectives, and jargon. Terms like LTL, FTL, drayage, etc now have to become part of your ‘language’.
NetSuite and ShipHawk
Just as you need to speak the language of your customers to offer great solutions, you also need to speak the language of shipping to understand how to best deliver those solutions. Fortunately, you can partner with ShipHawk and integrate your NetSuite implementation to offer a seamless, optimized, and cost-effective delivery experience.
Understanding LTL Shipping Using NetSuite
From a shipping company’s perspective, a key distinction is whether your shipments require an entire semi-truck trailer, just part of that truckload space or can be shipped through parcel carriers (i.e. UPS or FedEx) – or some combination of all three.
A shipment that requires an entire semi-truck trailer is called Full Truckload (FTL), but a shipment that can share the trailer space with other shipments is called Less-Than-Truckload (LTL).
Why Use LTL Shipping?
With LTL shipping, you can pay less for shipping compared to FTL shipping because you are sharing the truckload. It is worth keeping in mind that LTL might take slightly longer because the driver will have to make various deliveries to different destinations, and there’s a slightly increased risk of damage during that process. For shipments between 150 pounds and 15,000 pounds, LTL shipping is typically the most cost-effective and reliable shipping method.
What About Parcel Shipping?
If you need to ship packages that weigh less than 150 pounds, then Parcel shipping rather than LTL shipping is typically the best method. With Parcel shipping, you are delivering smaller, lighter items in boxes or poly bags. However, keep in mind that unusually shaped items might require LTL rather than Parcel even though they might weigh less than 150 pounds.
When to Use LTL Shipping?
In your fulfillment operations, you might have a mix of products where some should be shipped by LTL and some by Parcel.
Deciding how and whether to ship LTL or Parcel can include many factors, including:
- Weight and shape – typically use LTL for shipments between 150 and 15,000 pounds, and Parcel for less than 150 pounds, unless there are special shape considerations
- Delivery time – unlike LTL, with Parcel you can have more delivery time options, such as same-day delivery, next-day delivery, or two-day delivery
- Tracking – with LTL, there are typically less tracking checkpoints than with Parcel
- Risk of damage – with LTL, the risk of damage is typically lower than with Parcel
- Cost – although Parcel typically costs less than LTL, there can be additional costs depending on the service and delivery time
Keep in mind that while 150 pounds is the typical limit for deciding whether shipments should be LTL or Parcel, there could be situations where using Parcel rather than LTL for shipments over 150 pounds makes sense in terms of cost, transit time, availability of carriers, and so on. Should you ship 30 items totaling 300 pounds in 10 different boxes with a parcel carrier, or have them all on one pallet with an LTL carrier?
Multi-Carrier Shipping
Taking into account all these factors, you also need to identify which shipping carrier and service is the best choice for a given shipment. You need software integrated with your NetSuite implementation that can optimize and automate multi-carrier selection for LTL and parcel shipments, at the same time.
Your NetSuite LTL Shipping Solution
With so many factors to consider, the addition of ShipHawk with your NetSuite implementation will help you efficiently get your products to your customers by both LTL and Parcel.
ShipHawk’s Transportation Management System (TMS) integrates directly with NetSuite, providing a unique and powerful shipping solution.
ShipHawk’s shipping software integration for NetSuite manages LTL and Parcel shipping together in one solution and includes:
- Smart Packing™ – select the optimal packaging for a shipment based on weight, size, and shape. It can also advise how best to load a pallet, even if breaking apart into cartons is the best move
- Smart Rating – identify which shipping carrier provides the best rates for the shipment. ShipHawk can also dynamically decide whether a shipment is best suited for LTL or Parcel based on cost, transit time, carrier availability, and other factors
- Dynamic Rules Engine – configure custom shipping and rating rules for your unique business requirements. The Dynamic Rules Engine can pack a shipment for LTL or Parcel for specific transit days based on your business or service level agreement (SLA) requirements
- Reporting & Analytics – guide your decision-making with shipping data and analytics
Partner with ShipHawk
ShipHawk can speak the language of freight shipping for you, seamlessly connecting your NetSuite implementation to the best NetSuite LTL and Parcel shipping solution available.
To learn more about how you can optimize your NetSuite shipping experience, contact us at ShipHawk!