UPS - when can you ask for added discount?

[cgchris99]

I am aware that UPS offers discounts based on the volume of shipping you do. At what dollar amount do you need to get to before they will start giving you discounts on your shipping?

Is it $1k/mth, $5k/mth, $10k, $50k?

Any help would be great.

[mattb]

The best way to get a discount is to have Fedex forward you a competitive quote. Show that to UPS and see if they can match it. Don't expect too much of a discount.

[kris_winter]

listen to matt b, he knows what hes talking about, i saved a packet by passing my fedex quotes to ups and vica versa. at one point i made the honest mistake of faxing UPS quotes for letters not parcels to Fedex. Fedex parcel price then ended up beating UPS letter prices. Result.

[rubysky]

Matt/Kris,

Thanks for the great idea! What kind of volume/day am I looking at for either UPS/FedEx to even consider returning us a competitive quote?

Thanks!

RS.

[kris_winter]

hard to say, depends on size and that, if your sending tables and chairs or something that is bif and awkward they wont give you such a good deal if you sending something small n heavy like books.

Id say anything from 3 to 5 packages a day should get a small discount. 10 a day would warrent more, 20 and the couriers should be fighting for your business. obviously the more you send the more batering power you have.

[cgchris99]

Any tips on who to contact at UPS and FedEx?

Thanks for any help...I will post back what the results are.

[netscan]

Find out your regions accounts exec and contact him/her directly. You should be able to find them by calling your local hub.

[jsinger]

The discount will be small...maybe 5% and you'll have to sign up for a few years (they can still raise their base rates anyway during that period).

"Id say anything from 3 to 5 packages a day should get a small discount." Nah, I doubt it. That's just breakeven for them. Maybe 10 or more would get you a savings.

It's easier to get a break on things like next day and overseas shipping, which are higher margin.

We do a fair amount of shipping with UPS and decided not to go the contract route...there were too many trade-offs.

[sun818]

Really, just 10 a day? Hmmm... I was under the impression you need to do ship at least $250,000 USD annually to get any sort of discount. FedEx rates do seem better when it comes to Ground. Its a mix and match between FedEx/UPS when it comes to Air. Still US Postal Service (USPS) is still the best deal in terms of delivery time and price for packages 2 lbs or less.

[rsia23]

You can try using FedEx, I believe they will give you an instant 10% off if you ship with them and pay thru the net

[hfwd]

Actually, one of our clients was unaware that UPS gave discounts for shipping large quantities ... until a rep called and gave it to 'em without asking!

Talk about feeling good that there's someone honest out there and kinda bad that I should've known. Could save him some money from the start.

They're shipping about 20+ packages/day, btw.

[jsinger]

Don't expect UPS to offer a discount unless, perhaps, you also ship a ton by FedEx or the like. You'll have to ask for it.

Another point, you can have your INCOMING merchandise shipped freight collect to you and put on your discounted UPS plan.

I've learned too that many of our large suppliers get a discount from UPS but charge us full "list" price for shipping. (some even tack on a secret handling fee)

[netscan]

Yeah, the company I work for (day job) gets a discount of up-to 58% (sometimes more) and charges full flat rate plus handling. We ship ALOT (400+ per day, record: 1028 in a day).

[sun818]

What kind of packages do you ship? How heavy? What kind of dimensions? Do you ship mostly ground or air?

[jsinger]

Wow! Your post is worth repeating:

"Yeah, the company I work for (day job) gets a discount of up-to 58% (sometimes more) and charges full flat rate plus handling. We ship ALOT (400+ per day, record: 1028 in a day)."
---
I'm a member of a buying group (we don't get a group discount from UPS, BTW) and I surveyed members two years ago about discounts. The biggest I heard of was about 18% as I recall.

You will get a bigger discount if you ship: to
businesses, not homes; heavier items; next day or second day; international.

Basic 1 to 50 lb standard ground shipments, the kind of shipping most of us do, are low margin for UPS and your discount, if any, will be small.

---
One last thing: they used to give computers and scales away to good accounts.

[Raymond]

I live in Asia. My girlfriend ordered a pair of shoes from an ok well know online company in the US. It was shipped by UPS and cost $17.00US. The package weighed 2 lbs with 15"x8"x5" dimension.

Now, I really wonder how did that company get SUCH a big discount on this international shipment? According to the UPS website, the shipment was supposed to cost $77.00US.

I run an online business myself. We ship 5 to 15 items per day. I have called UPS asking if they offer me any discount. They never offered nothing.

[devildude8989]

Maybe the comapny is taking a loss?

Something that huge (discount) would have to be in the red for UPS, unless the account is super-profitable in other places..

[netscan]

"I'm a member of a buying group (we don't get a group discount from UPS, BTW) and I surveyed members two years ago about discounts. The biggest I heard of was about 18% as I recall."

It depends on the location the package is going to, how often we ship there, and level of service.

It's all about volume and shipping alot of Red (Next Day Air). That and we keep telling them that we'll give more business to FedEx, and then telling FedEx that we'll give their business to UPS of course :) Trick is to keep them fighting over your business, they'll give you computers, printers, doughnuts, whatever it takes.

[sun818]

My UPS driver tells me they don't make much money on Ground. Their "bread & butter" as he put it is in Air. So it sounds like unless you ship a lot of Air packages there's not going to be a discount you can fight for.

[Rugles]

>>>The biggest I heard of was about 18% as I recall

We are doing a lot better than 18%, but we do a lot of volume. UPS was very aggresive in stealing our FedEx business and saved us a lot of coin.

>>>>free computer and scale

Yes, this is available but you need a lot of volume.

We were happy to switch back to UPS after dealing with FedEx for a few years. FedEx express was fine but the ground division (formerly RPS) is a nightmare. They have to many contract drivers who really could care less about your packages.

But as someone who has negotiated with courier companies for several years, it is all about volume and dense packages. If you are shipping feathers, you will pay. If you are shipping small heavy pieces of steel, they will love you.

[wingslevel]

Your UPS discount will also vary regionally. Some areas of the country are net importers, so if you're there then you are likely to get better pricing.

Our discount is in the low double digits and we are doing $6k/wk. - anybody else care to get more specific?

What's killing us is all of the new extra charges - oversize, address correction, residential and rural delivery. Also, our discount rate varies by service type (ie next day air etc.)