TransGuardian has just launched Trade Risk Coverage (TRC).
Insure your receivables against default, bankruptcy, absconding, legal judgments & slow-pay, up to $5 million per qualified buyer. Selectively cover buyers.
Here's how it works:
Search TransGuardian's Buyer Database to see if the Buyer you want to sell merchandise to is already approved for trade Risk Coverage.
If not, request Trade Risk Approval for your potential Buyer. (This is free and may take overnight to several days, depending on the data available for your potential Buyer.)
Once your Buyer is in the Database, submit the transaction amount you want to cover.
If your Buyer is approved for the desired amount, use the Commercial Insured Trade Agreement (CITA) in place of a commercial invoice or memo.
Type in the transaction value and delivery details and submit the CITA to TransGuardian. Trade Risk Coverage will be bound and confirmed online.
When the Buyer pays you (in full or in part), record the payments in the TRC History.
In case of default or slow payment, call TransGuardian to submit a claim. Claims typically are paid within 60 days.
The premium for TRC is $0.725 per $100, which includes not only receivables insurance, but transit insurance. This means that on $10,000 the premium would be $72.50 to insure both transit and the account receivable...compare the cost of $22-$50 simply to insure shipping with various shipping insurance providers.
TRC is available for terms of 120 days. If the Buyer is approved, you can buy a second and third term of 120 days each, at the same rate of premium.
To understand how this may be worthwhile, consider the following example:
1. You sell $100,000 to your Buyer and pay TRC/shipping insurance through TransGuardian of $725 (remember, you would pay $220 to $500 for shipping insurance alone through other service providers).
2. After 110 days, your Buyer has paid off $70,000. But you're not comfortable leaving the $30,000 balance uninsured. So you buy a second term of TRC for another 120 at a cost of $217.50.
3. After 230 days, your Buyer has paid off an additional $20,000, leaving a balance of $10,000. You feel he probably will pay, but it bothers you that he's taken all this time to pay off the whole balance, so to be safe, you secure a final term of TRC for another 120 at a cost of $72.50.
Before each term of TRC expires, you will receive multiple emails advising you that the term is about to expire and that you should consider filing a claim before the term is up.
TransGuardian can also assist with slow-pay, both for TRC transactions and for old outstanding receivables not covered by TRC.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Your Best Friend: The Other Carrier's Rep
Once a man died and, to his surprise, found that he had the choice of Heaven or Hell. An angel showed him Heaven, a place of peace, beauty, and dignified joy. Satan showed him Hell, an endless riot of wine, women and song. A little sheepishly, the man said that he’d take Hell. The next day, he found himself in a chasm of endless fire, gnawing worms, and haunting despair. He complained to Satan, “Where’s your truth in advertising?” Satan smiled and said, “Yesterday you were a prospect. Today you are a customer.”
That’s how it is with your current parcel carrier. Guess who gets all the latest savings and incentives? The company who’s shipping with another carrier!
Logistics is one of the greatest expenses in the gem and jewelry industry. Because many businesses in this trade are small operations, they don’t have the time to analyze various methods of shipping and choose the best. They tend to build a relationship with one carrier or one consolidator and stick with them. That relationship often becomes one of friendship and trust - or so you think...
The problem is that the worst friend you have in the world is the sales rep from your current consolidator or carrier.
The rep already calling on you is that last person to tell you that you are entitled to lower rates, increased incentives, and reduced accessorial charges. Remember, the carrier values the rep based on how much money he or she can charge you, not on how much you can save.
To make matters worse, the big carriers often treat their customers with threats and arrogance. They know shipping is your lifeline, so they badmouth the competition and create a sense of fear.
One customer told us, “My carrier threatened to raise my freight rates if I didn’t insure with them.” Of course, there’s no such provision in the carrier contract, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other customers using the exact same association discounts and using third-party insurance within a half-mile radius of this same business. But it shows how the sales rep treats an existing customer: like a hostage, not a valued source of business.
The smart way is to have relationships with the three major carries, UPS, FedEx, and DHL, as well as with the US Postal Service. And let each of them know you have a good rapport with the others.
Having a sole relationship with a freight consolidator is no solution, either, because consolidators have the same motivation as carrier reps – to charge you the most money they can for freight. So they steer you towards the carrier that gives them, not you, the best deal.
What makes you think you couldn’t get the same deal through the carrier directly? Probably nothing but the fact that you’ve never asked.
Listen, if you’re paying $10 per package through a consolidator for UPS or FedEx, guess what? The carrier is charging $9 to the consolidator. Don’t you think that UPS or FedEx would rather have your business for $10 if you worked directly with them? Better yet, if you’re using FedEx through a consolidator, see what you can get through UPS without the consolidator…then go back and ask FedEx to match it.
The truth is, no one carrier is best everywhere. You need the options that all four provide for different circumstances.
That’s why TransGuardian presents all four major carriers, UPS, FedEx, DHL and the USPS, to you through our carrier-neutral website. That’s why we bring you competitive Secure Transit Coverage, Trade Risk Coverage, and Virtual COD…as support services, without marking up freight.
Are rate-shopping and carrier comparison a lot of trouble to go to? Well, we’re trying to make it easy for you.
I was just visiting with a major customer in the Southeast. The purpose of my visit was to further integrate TransGuardan's services to his sales and inventory management software. But the CFO told me, "I want to talk to you about prices after you finish with my IT guys." Well, you know what he had in mind. He wasn't hoping I'd find a way to raise them!
But I had laid down some proposed guidelines for his programmers, choosing less expensive freight options for their various package profiles. They agreed that these would suit their customer expectations perfectly.
When the CFO came back into the conference room in the afternoon, his IT guys said, "We just saved $120,000 a year." Instead of sweating over pricing, we went to dinner and talked about our future together.
If shipping is, in fact, one of your top two expenses (along with insurance), analyzing your options may be some of the most profitable effort you can expend.
That’s how it is with your current parcel carrier. Guess who gets all the latest savings and incentives? The company who’s shipping with another carrier!
Logistics is one of the greatest expenses in the gem and jewelry industry. Because many businesses in this trade are small operations, they don’t have the time to analyze various methods of shipping and choose the best. They tend to build a relationship with one carrier or one consolidator and stick with them. That relationship often becomes one of friendship and trust - or so you think...
The problem is that the worst friend you have in the world is the sales rep from your current consolidator or carrier.
The rep already calling on you is that last person to tell you that you are entitled to lower rates, increased incentives, and reduced accessorial charges. Remember, the carrier values the rep based on how much money he or she can charge you, not on how much you can save.
To make matters worse, the big carriers often treat their customers with threats and arrogance. They know shipping is your lifeline, so they badmouth the competition and create a sense of fear.
One customer told us, “My carrier threatened to raise my freight rates if I didn’t insure with them.” Of course, there’s no such provision in the carrier contract, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other customers using the exact same association discounts and using third-party insurance within a half-mile radius of this same business. But it shows how the sales rep treats an existing customer: like a hostage, not a valued source of business.
The smart way is to have relationships with the three major carries, UPS, FedEx, and DHL, as well as with the US Postal Service. And let each of them know you have a good rapport with the others.
Having a sole relationship with a freight consolidator is no solution, either, because consolidators have the same motivation as carrier reps – to charge you the most money they can for freight. So they steer you towards the carrier that gives them, not you, the best deal.
What makes you think you couldn’t get the same deal through the carrier directly? Probably nothing but the fact that you’ve never asked.
Listen, if you’re paying $10 per package through a consolidator for UPS or FedEx, guess what? The carrier is charging $9 to the consolidator. Don’t you think that UPS or FedEx would rather have your business for $10 if you worked directly with them? Better yet, if you’re using FedEx through a consolidator, see what you can get through UPS without the consolidator…then go back and ask FedEx to match it.
The truth is, no one carrier is best everywhere. You need the options that all four provide for different circumstances.
That’s why TransGuardian presents all four major carriers, UPS, FedEx, DHL and the USPS, to you through our carrier-neutral website. That’s why we bring you competitive Secure Transit Coverage, Trade Risk Coverage, and Virtual COD…as support services, without marking up freight.
Are rate-shopping and carrier comparison a lot of trouble to go to? Well, we’re trying to make it easy for you.
I was just visiting with a major customer in the Southeast. The purpose of my visit was to further integrate TransGuardan's services to his sales and inventory management software. But the CFO told me, "I want to talk to you about prices after you finish with my IT guys." Well, you know what he had in mind. He wasn't hoping I'd find a way to raise them!
But I had laid down some proposed guidelines for his programmers, choosing less expensive freight options for their various package profiles. They agreed that these would suit their customer expectations perfectly.
When the CFO came back into the conference room in the afternoon, his IT guys said, "We just saved $120,000 a year." Instead of sweating over pricing, we went to dinner and talked about our future together.
If shipping is, in fact, one of your top two expenses (along with insurance), analyzing your options may be some of the most profitable effort you can expend.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
The Great Package Race: DHL Smacks the Competition
Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering just conducted the 2007 Great Package Race.
The goal was to test the three major private carriers to see which could deliver a package to remote and challenging destinations most quickly and in the best condition.
They sent identical boxes by UPS, DHL and FedEx from Atlanta, Georgia to
The carriers were unaware that the race was even going on. They picked up the parcels April 13, and students tracked them online as they traversed oceans, rivers, and jungles. Some destinations, with no official street address, required last-mile delivery by bicycle!
DHL stomped the competition, delivering first to 3 out of 5 destinations and finishing second at the remaining two. FedEx and UPS each came in first at one destination.
“Most packages arrived within a week or two, but one has yet to be delivered or returned, and the mistakes in delivery were often entertaining,” wrote LiveScience.com “One package was sent back-and-forth across the Atlantic nine times before it was delivered, and another was sent to Costa Rica instead of Croatia.
“And just as in a road race, the sprint to the finish proved the most difficult part of the package’s journey, as packages usually arrived in the general vicinity of their destination, but then finding the exact locale was harder.” (http://www.livescience.com/othernews/070502_package_race.html).
TransGuardian insures DHL, UPS, FedEx, the USPS and Canada Post up to $150,000 per package, because we believe that the informed shipper uses the strengths and avoids the weaknesses of every carrier option.
The goal was to test the three major private carriers to see which could deliver a package to remote and challenging destinations most quickly and in the best condition.
They sent identical boxes by UPS, DHL and FedEx from Atlanta, Georgia to
- Yangon, Myanmar
- Tikrit, Iraq (a center of the Sunni insurgency)
- Floranopolis, Brazil (a small island)
- Harare, Zimbabwe and
- Apia, Samoa
The carriers were unaware that the race was even going on. They picked up the parcels April 13, and students tracked them online as they traversed oceans, rivers, and jungles. Some destinations, with no official street address, required last-mile delivery by bicycle!
DHL stomped the competition, delivering first to 3 out of 5 destinations and finishing second at the remaining two. FedEx and UPS each came in first at one destination.
“Most packages arrived within a week or two, but one has yet to be delivered or returned, and the mistakes in delivery were often entertaining,” wrote LiveScience.com “One package was sent back-and-forth across the Atlantic nine times before it was delivered, and another was sent to Costa Rica instead of Croatia.
“And just as in a road race, the sprint to the finish proved the most difficult part of the package’s journey, as packages usually arrived in the general vicinity of their destination, but then finding the exact locale was harder.” (http://www.livescience.com/othernews/070502_package_race.html).
TransGuardian insures DHL, UPS, FedEx, the USPS and Canada Post up to $150,000 per package, because we believe that the informed shipper uses the strengths and avoids the weaknesses of every carrier option.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Someone to Watch Over You
"Hello, this is Greg Finck from TransGuardian. May I speak to Ellie in shipping?"
"This is Ellie..."
"Hi, Ellie, I see that two minutes ago you logged in a shipment by Express Mail to the XYZ Company in Palm Beach, Florida with a value of $75,000. I was just calling to ensure that you have used the proper security packaging with that."
"Who is this?"
"Greg Finck with TransGuardian."
"Um...we usually speak to Joe Rodriguez..."
"Yes, he's our Manager in Los Angeles. But I'm at the TransGuardian Security Center in Utah, and your shipment just flashed on our screens and pdas, because of its high value. To be fully covered, you need to package that either in a Digital SmartBox or in a 'turtle' with numbered seals. Do you have our security packaging?"
"Yes, Joe provided us with that. But I just put this in a regular box. Should I re-package it?"
"Absolutely, if you want it fully covered. And, Ellie?"
"Yes, Greg?"
"You also put 'Bob's diamonds' in the reference field."
"I did?"
"Yes, you did. That's the other reason I called. If you put any reference to gems, diamonds, gold, or any valuable item on the shipping label, you void your coverage."
"Oh, that's right!"
"So please cancel and re-do your label, use the security packaging, and omit any reference to diamonds in the reference field."
"OK, Greg. And..thank you!"
TransGuardian not only covers the value you declare for high-value packages...our powerful report programming analyzes shipping trends real-time.
When any TransGuardian member ships a package with a declared value over $50,000, our Security Center in Utah receives an immediate flash with all the package-level details.
A TransGuardian representative will then call the shipper to enquire if the appropriate security measures are being taken with that package.
Appropriate security measures include use of a Digital SmartBox or a "turtle" (a blow-molded security case with numbered security seals).
If not, we'll advise you how to get the required security packaging to ensure that your shipment is fully covered.
Also, if there is a pattern of losses with a certain carrier to or through a certain ZIP Code, our programming is designed to detect it quickly. If the pattern warrants it, we can turn off certain carriers to certain ZIP Codes on certain days.
That way, your shipping operator doesn't have to rely on his or her ability to judge the risk of certain destinations or shipping methods; if a loss pattern emerges, that option will simply become unavailable through TransGuardian.
A diamond may be forever...but it should get there overnight...safely.
"This is Ellie..."
"Hi, Ellie, I see that two minutes ago you logged in a shipment by Express Mail to the XYZ Company in Palm Beach, Florida with a value of $75,000. I was just calling to ensure that you have used the proper security packaging with that."
"Who is this?"
"Greg Finck with TransGuardian."
"Um...we usually speak to Joe Rodriguez..."
"Yes, he's our Manager in Los Angeles. But I'm at the TransGuardian Security Center in Utah, and your shipment just flashed on our screens and pdas, because of its high value. To be fully covered, you need to package that either in a Digital SmartBox or in a 'turtle' with numbered seals. Do you have our security packaging?"
"Yes, Joe provided us with that. But I just put this in a regular box. Should I re-package it?"
"Absolutely, if you want it fully covered. And, Ellie?"
"Yes, Greg?"
"You also put 'Bob's diamonds' in the reference field."
"I did?"
"Yes, you did. That's the other reason I called. If you put any reference to gems, diamonds, gold, or any valuable item on the shipping label, you void your coverage."
"Oh, that's right!"
"So please cancel and re-do your label, use the security packaging, and omit any reference to diamonds in the reference field."
"OK, Greg. And..thank you!"
TransGuardian not only covers the value you declare for high-value packages...our powerful report programming analyzes shipping trends real-time.
When any TransGuardian member ships a package with a declared value over $50,000, our Security Center in Utah receives an immediate flash with all the package-level details.
A TransGuardian representative will then call the shipper to enquire if the appropriate security measures are being taken with that package.
Appropriate security measures include use of a Digital SmartBox or a "turtle" (a blow-molded security case with numbered security seals).
If not, we'll advise you how to get the required security packaging to ensure that your shipment is fully covered.
Also, if there is a pattern of losses with a certain carrier to or through a certain ZIP Code, our programming is designed to detect it quickly. If the pattern warrants it, we can turn off certain carriers to certain ZIP Codes on certain days.
That way, your shipping operator doesn't have to rely on his or her ability to judge the risk of certain destinations or shipping methods; if a loss pattern emerges, that option will simply become unavailable through TransGuardian.
A diamond may be forever...but it should get there overnight...safely.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Now You Can Use TransGaurdian's Label Maker Without Declared Value
Many clients enjoy the benefits of producing online US Postal Service labels with TransGuardian, as opposed to paying a monthly fee for a postal meter.
In the near future, TransGuardian will also offer online labels for UPS, FedEx, DHL, and Canada Post.
TransGuardian's policy is not to mark up freight. So if you have a great rate with one of the carriers, you can continue to enjoy it directly through TransGuardian. Our revenue comes from providing Secure Transit Coverage on the declared value of packages.
However, TransGuardian does have costs associated with the generation of labels. That means we pay a per-label fee.
In order to keep our charges as low as possible and to avoid charging a monthly per label fee, we have decided to add minimum per-label charges for packages with no declared value, as follows:
Express Mail or Overnight with UPS, FedEx or DHL: $0.75
Priority Mail or 2nd Day with UPS, FedEx or DHL: $0.50
First Class Mail or Ground with UPS, FedEx or DHL: $0.25
We believe this will offer our customers continued savings and advantages without compelling TransGuardian to impose monthly or membership fees.
In the near future, TransGuardian will also offer online labels for UPS, FedEx, DHL, and Canada Post.
TransGuardian's policy is not to mark up freight. So if you have a great rate with one of the carriers, you can continue to enjoy it directly through TransGuardian. Our revenue comes from providing Secure Transit Coverage on the declared value of packages.
However, TransGuardian does have costs associated with the generation of labels. That means we pay a per-label fee.
In order to keep our charges as low as possible and to avoid charging a monthly per label fee, we have decided to add minimum per-label charges for packages with no declared value, as follows:
Express Mail or Overnight with UPS, FedEx or DHL: $0.75
Priority Mail or 2nd Day with UPS, FedEx or DHL: $0.50
First Class Mail or Ground with UPS, FedEx or DHL: $0.25
We believe this will offer our customers continued savings and advantages without compelling TransGuardian to impose monthly or membership fees.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Turn Shipping Labor Hours into Minutes
TransGuardian has introduced a method of batch producing USPS labels that turns hours of labor time into minutes.
If you have order-order taking software, you simply export today's orders to an Excel file (or to a .csv or ASCII file and convert to Excel).
Send the file to TransGuardian, and we'll do the data mapping to enable Batch Upload for your account.
Now you can upload the .csv file in the TransGuardian Insured USPS Shipping Module. The module enters all package level-detail into the appropriate fields to generate a USPS bar-coded label with a tracking number.
Yes, it can auto-fill your internal reference or billing number, too.
Our software presents you with a list of all the packages to be sent with a check box (so you can select or de-select that package) showing the total quotation for each package, including postage and insurance, if any.
It takes 3 seconds per label to turn your order-entry data into the USPS Labels of your choice. So 100 labels take 5 minutes to generate, and another few minutes to print, depending on the speed of your printe.
The Labels are produced in a multi-page Adobe .pdf. That means you can print them one at a time or all at once, and if any page misfeeds, you can simply choose to print that page again.
One large shipper of 50-100 packages per day told us:
We've been spending 5-7 hours per day preparing labels, even before we started using TransGuardian. Now the whole process takes 15-30 minutes. We hit the button, go get a cup of coffee, come back and we're done. Now we don't have to hire more people to handle future growth. All we have to worry about is what to do with the extra 4-5 hours per day!
If you have order-order taking software, you simply export today's orders to an Excel file (or to a .csv or ASCII file and convert to Excel).
Send the file to TransGuardian, and we'll do the data mapping to enable Batch Upload for your account.
Now you can upload the .csv file in the TransGuardian Insured USPS Shipping Module. The module enters all package level-detail into the appropriate fields to generate a USPS bar-coded label with a tracking number.
Yes, it can auto-fill your internal reference or billing number, too.
Our software presents you with a list of all the packages to be sent with a check box (so you can select or de-select that package) showing the total quotation for each package, including postage and insurance, if any.
It takes 3 seconds per label to turn your order-entry data into the USPS Labels of your choice. So 100 labels take 5 minutes to generate, and another few minutes to print, depending on the speed of your printe.
The Labels are produced in a multi-page Adobe .pdf. That means you can print them one at a time or all at once, and if any page misfeeds, you can simply choose to print that page again.
One large shipper of 50-100 packages per day told us:
We've been spending 5-7 hours per day preparing labels, even before we started using TransGuardian. Now the whole process takes 15-30 minutes. We hit the button, go get a cup of coffee, come back and we're done. Now we don't have to hire more people to handle future growth. All we have to worry about is what to do with the extra 4-5 hours per day!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Factoids from the 2007 National Postal Forum
- The USPS is seeing a significant shift from air to ground packages as ground transit times improve and shippers look to lower costs.
- UPS estimates that it consumes 0.1 gallons of fuel per EACH delivered package. The USPS estimates that it uses 0.002 gallons of fuel per delivery stop (0.75 gallons per stop annually). This is why you don't get fuel charges with the USPS...you get the leverage of the USPS tremendous mail delivery network cutting down fuel costs to a vanishing impact per package.
- The USPS views "reverse logistics" as a great growth opportunity. The USPS can leverage its huge network of drop boxes and post offices to collect packages that consumers want to return to manufacturers or retailers -- conveniently and economically.
- Growth in online postage sales is projected to jump from $1 billion in 2006 to $1.5 billion in 2007.
- Over 70% of USPS packages are shipped a distance of less than 700 miles.
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