Shipping from Wholesale Suppliers: What You Need to Know

If you’re considering shipping goods from wholesale suppliers such as online liquidators, here’s an overview of what you need to know.

Types Of Freight

There are four types of freight shipping options available to wholesalers: sea, freight, rail, and road. When choosing which method to use, many factors must be taken into account. For example, if you’re in the east, you’ll have access to many inland waterways connected to some of the country’s biggest ports, such as New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Houston, which in turn are connected to important inland ports such as Chicago, Memphis, and St. Louis. Thus it might be more viable to ship freight via container ship – a surprisingly cheap option – than by any other method.

Likewise, if you’re in the west, where there is a noticeable lack of an inland shipping network, you’ll likely favor using rail or road transportation, or a combination of the two.

Whichever freight shipping method you choose, the basic rule of thumb is that shipping by air is the most expensive method of shipping, but is by far the fastest if goods need to travel long distances in a hurry.

Many factors affect how much shipping will cost. These include things like fuel costs, whether you’re shipping a full container load (FCL), a partial container load (PCL) or less than a truckload (LCL), the weight of your shipment, the ease with which your shipment can be loaded on and off your chosen shipping method, what tariffs and liabilities need to be paid and whether or not the shipment has special requirements to be taken into consideration such as refrigeration or the need for specialist handling of hazardous material.

On-Truck Freight Classification

For most resellers buying merchandise from a liquidation company such as Direct Liquidation, the preferred method of transportation is usually by road. There are three types of classification:

Less than Truckload (LTL)

An LTL load typically weighs between 200 and 10,000lbs and is a shipment classification referring to a load that does not fill an entire truck. LTL loads are usually carried by specialist carriers alongside other LTL loads from other customers.

Partial Truckload (PTL)

PTL loads also don’t fill an entire truck, but unlike LTL loads, they don’t tend to be moved about much during transit and aren’t submitted to the same stresses and strains as an LTL load. A PTL load is classified more for the way it is transported than for its size and weight.

Full Truckload

An FTL load fills the entirety of a truck, and will typically weigh between 34,000 and 45,000lbs, depending on which part of the country it is loaded, as different states have different maximum weight specifications.

Preparing, Packing, Stacking

When preparing a shipment, you’ll need to take into account a series of factors. First of all, you’ll need to make sure that you have the right type of packaging for your shipment. For example, LTL loads are often loaded and unloaded several times during transit, meaning they’re put under much more strain than PTL or FTL loads.

You’ll have to ensure you pick the right type of boxes for your shipment, and that the pallet used can take the strain. In most cases, a standard 40lb recycled wood pallet or a lightweight 14lb pallet will do the job, but for heavier loads, galvanized steel or aluminum pallets are recommended, though the weight of these will add to the shipping cost.

It’s also vital that loads are packed on pallets correctly. Ideally, the best way to stack boxes is to align them. Staggering of boxes is still fine, though it will result in as much as a 33% reduction in your shipment’s structural integrity. What you must try to avoid is your shipment overhanging your pallet. This is a stacking no-no and must be avoided at all costs.

The Bill Of Lading And Other Documentation

Every shipment you make must be accompanied by a Bill of Lading. A Bill of Lading is a commercially available document that is evidence that your goods have been received by your freight carrier. The Bill of Lading lays out the contract of carriage as well as an order guaranteeing to deliver your shipment to the destination of your choosing. The Bill of Lading is overseen by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and is a compulsory document.

It’s also important to take out cargo insurance on your shipment to cover your back in the event of anything going wrong.

In-Transit Ambient Conditions And Labelling

It’s also important that you take so-called ‘ambient conditions’ into consideration. Shipments are subject to all sorts of stresses and strains during transit such as the vibration of the truck, so it’s important not only to pick the correct strength of boxes and pallets but also to further secure your shipment with things such as anti-slip mats, straps, stretch wrap, bands, corrugated pads and edge protectors.

It’s also important that your shipment is labeled correctly. If you’re shipping hazardous material – not likely, we know, but it’s best to be safe than sorry – your shipment should be labeled with whichever of the Universal Symbols for Hazardous Materials (an internationally recognized labeling system) applies to your load.

Freight Consolidation And Pricing

As well as having the correct documentation for your shipment, you’ll want to consolidate your load into the most compact space possible to cut down on costs. And it’s also important to use the most lightweight packing materials available without compromising your shipment’s integrity to further reduce shipping costs.

And when it comes to reducing the price, it’s also a good idea to see if you can cut out the middleman. When sourcing stock from a top-tier liquidator, for example, it may be cheaper to let the liquidator handle the logistics for you. Most liquidators’ sites contain shipping calculators on the pallets and truckloads of goods they sell, so it’s worth checking out what they have to offer instead of going straight to a third-party courier.

Tariffs And Liability Limitations

Finally, whoever you choose to move your goods from a wholesale supplier to your required destination, they should be able to provide you with a carrier rules tariff document setting out such things as fee structures, cubic capacity rates, reshipping fees and your carrier’s claims procedures should something go wrong.

You should also be able to obtain a carrier’s terms of liability in case you need to seek legal redress and assess blame. You should receive a carrier’s limitations of liability document at the same time as their rules tariff document.

For a more comprehensive breakdown of what you need to know when shipping wholesale goods – including international exporting, freight shipment pricing structures and much more – we’ve compiled our Ultimate Guide to Freight Shipping for Resellers, which should tell you everything you need to know.

Direct Liquidation is a goTRG company.

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