A carrier contract is the largest logistics decision most retailers make, and most make it once, under time pressure, with one quote on the table. We run it as a tender: several carriers, one specification, comparable prices, and a contract with service levels written down.
How the tender runs
- Week 1-2: your shipping profile, destination by destination, parcel size and weight, delivery promise you want to make.
- Week 3-5: specification to the carriers that fit, questions answered once for everybody, offers back in one format.
- Week 6-7: comparison on total cost including surcharges, service tests on real parcels, negotiation.
- Week 8: contract, rate card, transition plan, and the integration brief for your warehouse system.
Why a mix and not one carrier
Every carrier is strong somewhere and expensive elsewhere. A two- or three-carrier setup, chosen by country and parcel type, typically saves 10 to 20 percent on the shipping line and gives you a fallback when one network has a bad week in December.
What holds afterwards
A rate card valid for at least twelve months, surcharges listed and capped, service levels with measurement rules you can check on your own data. We stay on call for the first quarter of the new contract.
Talk to us about your next carrier contract, ideally three months before the current one renews.