Back in August I wrote in this blog about U Ship - The Ship anything, anytime, anywhere online web portal whose main marketing tool is the A&E TV show "Shipping Wars".
As a U Ship transportation service provider I am a big supporter of the online tool that links shippers with shipping providers as well as a fan of the show. In fact, the people posting things on U Ship, over sized, odd shaped, fragile and valuable are exactly the kind of customers we are looking for. Its a great tool for a company like us.
Gateway Crate and Freight currently has a 5 star rating (Out of 5) for the shipments we have done so far on U Ship. The items have ranged from an entire 1 bedroom apartment to an expensive piece of Artwork. Most of the customers have been appreciative of our packing and shipping services.
In my old blog I listed some of the frustrating issues in dealing with customers and brokers on the site. The biggest issue is communication. U Ship policy dictates that quotes be given door to door for the service. As a packing and shipping company, we professionally package our items but all quotes for these services really come down to your threshold of risk.
With the vast offering of services we can provide to U Ship Shippers there is no "one size fits all" offering, although that is what U Ship demands. If it were easier for shippers and Service providers to communicate and bid based on service provided a lot more shipments would take place.
A few months ago there was a spa bed listed on U Ship that was a pickup at a residence and deliver to a residence. After we won the bid on this item we were able to talk to the customer who was so delighted that we could ship and deliver the spa bed for less!
Seems like the customer was having the spa bed delivered to their house and then her husband was going to drive it out to their business location. Did you know that delivering to a residence instead of a business would cost you about $40 to $50 more than if it was delivering directly to your office? The customer had no clue. We saved them time and money!
The opposite occurs as well. We had a washer and dryer and the people were looking for "The cheapest way" to ship these. We picked them up, packed them and shipped them and had them delivered to the garage. The customer called a few days later and wanted to know when we were going to have someone come out and put the washer and dryer in the wash room and hook up the water and air dryer hoses? Not once during bid acceptance or pickup was this service requested.
Every time we perform a U Ship shipment. Educating the shipper as to how the Logistics and the cost of logistics works is as much a part of the job as the job itself. Most people are very happy with our services because we take the time to educate them and give them options they didn't know existed.
Our biggest challenge in providing our U Ship customers the right quote and service is the communication of the vast amount of packing and shipping solutions available to match their exact need prior to a bid being accepted. The tool doesn't allow us to communicate and provide the options and the costs of each service to get exactly what the customer wants and needs.
For U Ship to evolve into a tool better suited for our customer base there needs to be better quote options that would allow for a clearly defined services offering, prior to the bid being accepted. Such a design would benefit the shippers, shipping providers like Gateway Crate and Freight and U Ship.
As a U Ship transportation service provider I am a big supporter of the online tool that links shippers with shipping providers as well as a fan of the show. In fact, the people posting things on U Ship, over sized, odd shaped, fragile and valuable are exactly the kind of customers we are looking for. Its a great tool for a company like us.
Gateway Crate and Freight currently has a 5 star rating (Out of 5) for the shipments we have done so far on U Ship. The items have ranged from an entire 1 bedroom apartment to an expensive piece of Artwork. Most of the customers have been appreciative of our packing and shipping services.
In my old blog I listed some of the frustrating issues in dealing with customers and brokers on the site. The biggest issue is communication. U Ship policy dictates that quotes be given door to door for the service. As a packing and shipping company, we professionally package our items but all quotes for these services really come down to your threshold of risk.
With the vast offering of services we can provide to U Ship Shippers there is no "one size fits all" offering, although that is what U Ship demands. If it were easier for shippers and Service providers to communicate and bid based on service provided a lot more shipments would take place.
A few months ago there was a spa bed listed on U Ship that was a pickup at a residence and deliver to a residence. After we won the bid on this item we were able to talk to the customer who was so delighted that we could ship and deliver the spa bed for less!
Seems like the customer was having the spa bed delivered to their house and then her husband was going to drive it out to their business location. Did you know that delivering to a residence instead of a business would cost you about $40 to $50 more than if it was delivering directly to your office? The customer had no clue. We saved them time and money!
The opposite occurs as well. We had a washer and dryer and the people were looking for "The cheapest way" to ship these. We picked them up, packed them and shipped them and had them delivered to the garage. The customer called a few days later and wanted to know when we were going to have someone come out and put the washer and dryer in the wash room and hook up the water and air dryer hoses? Not once during bid acceptance or pickup was this service requested.
Every time we perform a U Ship shipment. Educating the shipper as to how the Logistics and the cost of logistics works is as much a part of the job as the job itself. Most people are very happy with our services because we take the time to educate them and give them options they didn't know existed.
Our biggest challenge in providing our U Ship customers the right quote and service is the communication of the vast amount of packing and shipping solutions available to match their exact need prior to a bid being accepted. The tool doesn't allow us to communicate and provide the options and the costs of each service to get exactly what the customer wants and needs.
For U Ship to evolve into a tool better suited for our customer base there needs to be better quote options that would allow for a clearly defined services offering, prior to the bid being accepted. Such a design would benefit the shippers, shipping providers like Gateway Crate and Freight and U Ship.
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