Throughout the course of history, gambling has spawned more than its fair share of interesting tales and anecdotes. But many logistics businesses today are creating gambling anecdotes of their own, by incorrectly guessing consignment weights and dimensions.
With shipping costs directly related to profits for freight forwarders, is this really an area you can afford to gamble?
Playing a guessing game
Having accurate consignment weight and dimension data is critical to the operations of many logistics businesses. However, many shippers find it difficult to accurately weigh and measure heavy and large freight, usually because they lack the proper equipment to do so.
Using improper equipment (or in some cases, no equipment at all) to weigh and measure freight leads to incorrect consignment data, which if gone unchecked, means consequent undercharging by the freight forwarder.
Although the shipper might feel like they’ve hit the jackpot by saving a few pounds on their delivery costs, a build-up of under charged consignments can lead to thousands of pounds in revenue losses for the freight forwarder.
Dedicated revenue protection areas within hubs create huge bottlenecks in processing time, and freight is only double checked if an operator spots an obvious looking discrepancy between the size of the consignment and the stated dimensions.
But this method of guesswork leaves masses of freight slipping through hubs unchecked.
The house always wins
New technologies now make it possible to weigh and dimension every piece of freight as it passes through the hub.
The Revenue Protection Solution from Avery Weigh-Tronix allows freight forwarders to revenue protect 100% of freight, without any major changes to their existing process, by simply scanning, weighing and dimensioning.
Step 1: Scan
The Cubetape® digital dimensioning device scans the consignment’s barcode, containing information including the consignment ID, customer details and routing data.
Step 2: Weigh
While the consignment is moved throughout the hub, an in-motion weight reading is taken on either an Avery Weigh-Tronix Forklift Truck Scale or Pallet Truck Scale – with no need to move freight to a separate revenue protection area.
Step 3: Dimension
The Cubetape is then used to take a digital measurement of the consignment (in the same time as a conventional tape), with the length, width and height being paired to the consignment weight and then wirelessly transferred to the hub management system. This digital data capture approach avoids manual data input, which saves time and eliminates human errors.
The consignment data is then cross-referenced against the weight and dimensions declared by the shipper to ensure there are no discrepancies.
In the event of an under-declared consignment, the Revenue Protection Solution provides a verified audit trail to support surcharges raised to the shipper, thanks to its Legal-for-Trade status.
Deal your business the winning hand
No matter if your business deals in heavy and large, ugly, awkward, two-man, or bulky freight – by using the Revenue Protection Solution to check 100% of freight as it passes through your hub, you can guarantee you’re not gambling on guesswork.
To learn more about safeguarding your revenue against guesswork, visit the averyweigh-tronix.com website and search for Revenue Protection.
