The Top 5 Benefits of Freight Shipping

Freight shipping offers many benefits, especially to small businesses that don’t have the funds to invest in their own fleet of delivery vehicles. Freight shipping lets you send your goods from one place to another without taking on the burden of driving or hiring drivers, keeping you flexible while saving you time and money. Here are the top five reasons why small businesses should consider freight shipping.

1) Reliability

While moving things by car is convenient and common, it doesn’t offer much in terms of reliability. When there’s a breakdown or an accident, you can end up stuck in traffic with your goods sitting on the side of the road. Because most carriers are familiar with commonly-traveled routes and spots to avoid, they tend to be more reliable than some privately owned vehicles. If reliability is important to you when it comes to shipping your goods from Point A to Point B, then you should consider cargo shipping services instead.

2) Time Savings

While shipping by truck can require an overnight stop, freight shipping is almost always less time-consuming than driving and parking. Sure, it might mean you have to wait for a delivery in front of your home or business, but you save time by not having to sit in line at a crowded post office or pick up depot. It’s especially helpful if you have to deliver out-of-town packages frequently because dropping off your shipment once saves time every single trip. Plus, with next-day service available for most packages, customers are never left waiting for their deliveries.

3) Flexibility

Since freight shipping is less expensive and more efficient than ground shipping, it’s ideal for those businesses that have a lot to move. Whether you’re planning on moving a few offices or multiple branches across the country, using freight shipping can give you flexibility in your business scheduling. Plus, there are no contracts involved in freight shipping, so if something comes up and you need to delay a shipment by a day or two, it won’t be an issue. For businesses with multiple locations or large amounts of inventory to move, being able to ship freight when needed is key.

4) Saving Money

Shippers can reduce costs by taking advantage of logistics services, such as international forwarding, which help them find new routes and lower rates. It’s always worth checking to see if your carrier provides other services you can leverage. For example, some firms offer a distribution service where they keep your goods in a warehouse before sending them on to their final destination, thus avoiding fees associated with dwell time at ports. Others provide partial truckload (PTL) or full truckload (FTL) shipping; still others offer everything from warehousing space to customs clearance to online tracking. By keeping an open mind about what a carrier can do for you, you might be able to get better pricing—or at least avoid surprise fees that add up over time.

5) Insulation from Weather Risks

Just as it’s important to insulate your home from external factors that could cause damage, shipping containers also offer valuable protection against exterior risks. If a container can withstand cargo transport by ship or railcar, for example, then it should stand up well against weather-related problems like rust and wind damage. That makes shipping containers an ideal choice for cold storage needs; items stored in them are protected not only from weather, but also theft and other types of physical damage. This is especially important if you’re storing expensive equipment or perishable items. In addition to physical safety, freight shipping containers are also prized for their temperature control capabilities; they provide substantial insulation against extreme heat and cold so your items don’t have to take as much damage while they’re on display or in storage.