Gateway OT/Crate and Freight/DeliveXy

Size Matters In trucking and ground transportation, shipping costs have pretty much always been calculated by gross weight, either in pounds (U.S) or kilograms (everyone else). It’s easy to understand why when you look at how the trucking industry has been regulated throughout the years, with each state and the federal government making maximum weight capacity requirements for trucking loads allowed on our roads and highways. An effort to keep the public safe from fatal accidents and to help keep our roads from stress and deteriorating quickly. Recently there has been a push by trucking companies to change the way shippers are charged for moving their goods and in many ways it makes more sense than basing charges on just weight. This new movement towards truckers billing charges based on dimensional weight is not a new concept, but is new to full scale implementation amongst all the major LTL trucking companies. Historically, air carriers have always charged based on t...

I just finished a great business course called Rapid Start up School 101 offered by The Arizona State University Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group in conjunction with the city of Mesa's Launch point Accelerator program. I recommend any future offerings of this course to fellow entrepreneurs looking to start up or expand their business. The coursework covered everything from basic resources for small business, how to legally setup your business, sales and marketing tools as well as business funding options. These classes also offer an opportunity to network with other small businesses. I got some good insight from fellow business owners in regards to how well certain products are working for them like feedback about using Google Ad words or utilizing business networks like Linked In or Alignable. One observation I have to make here however is that the attendees of these classes were all part of the technology economy. Everyone seems to be making an app or a website, or an ...

REUSABLE CRATES PACKING AND SHIPPING When companies ask us to make a reusable crate, a lot of questions have to be answered for us to determine what the customer really means. Crate design all should relate to functionality, so normally our first question is what is going inside the crate? The crate construction for a one piece Kiosk like the item shown above is much different then one we would have designed had the customer been shipping 10 items in one crate. This computer kiosk is made of fragile electronic components which meant that some cushioning or shock absorption needed to be placed at the base. The odd size and shape of the item also required that the item be able to be placed in the crate sideways rather than from the front or the back. The second question that we have to ask is how is the crate is going to be used? Is it going to be used once a week? once every three months? Once a year? which means the crate is mainly used for storage. Knowing the primary meth...

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States and is just as easy to ship to as pretty much anywhere else in the Untied States. In fact all the major parcel companies and many of the major LTL companies service Puerto Rico as a truck shipment even though the shipment spends a few days on the water. However one thing that is often overlooked by shippers is the necessary US Census Bureaus reporting requirements. Although shipping to Puerto Rico is pretty easy, companies that do business in Puerto Rico or anyone making a sale to a resident of Puerto Rico and shipping the product there is required to report those items to the US Census Bureau because they record it as an export out of the United States. Gateway O.T is an AES Direct certified company. This allows us to file export data electronically with the US Census bureau on behalf of the U.S.P.P.I the U.S Principal Party in Interest. Companies or as in the case of a person selling an item on eBay to someone in Pue...

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...

The end of the year signifies a time to evaluate the year past and look for improved solutions to issues encountered. For some people its merely financial, we spent x amount on freight this year so lets get that number down to y next year and we will make more money. For others, its logistics solutions like- we experienced far too many claims or customer service complaints last year, lets improve our service standards next year. Each of these situations point to one thing: Change. Making a change is tough. Changing from a company that provided you with crates all year to a new one is a tough decision, but is sometimes what is needed to drive down cost or improve services for your customers. Gateway Crate and Freight takes our slow time at the end of the year to evaluate our performance. Admit it, you're thinking about egg nog, candy canes, presents, ham and turkey, not your shipping crates right now. So between now and the New Year we know you don't need us...but next ...

The holidays are just around the corner and I am excited about the yearly events that I have come to love over the years. The Nutcracker, Mannheim Steamroller and The annual Warren Miller ski film are events I attend yearly that only come around during the holidays.  But there are other things not as welcomed this time of year that come around whether you want them or not, like bad winter weather, traffic and long lines everywhere. The "rush" of the holidays seem to bog things down not just with people but with freight as well. Tis the season to give gifts and when you live in Arizona but want to give a gift to your little nephew in New Jersey the gift has to get there somehow. The UPS Store, FedEx Office and the USPS neighborhood locations are inundated with people and boxes with gifts traveling all around the world. Long lines are standard during this time of year. These package service companies will see the majority of their damages and claims happen over the...