Achieving Operational Excellence: Using Internet Tools to Budget for Shipping Costs
You are the shipping of a small firm that prints, binds, and ships popular books for a midlevel publisher. Your production facilities are located in Albany, New York (ZIP code 12250). Your customers' warehouses are located in Irving, Texas (75015); and Portland, Oregon (97202). The production facility operates 250 days per year. Your books are usually shipped in 45-pound packages, measuring height: 9 inches, length: 13 inches, width: 17 inches. The company ships about four boxes to each of the warehouses on an average day.
Your task is to select the best shipper for your company. Compare these shippers, such as FedEx (www.fedex.com), UPS (www.ups.com), and the U.S. Postal Service (www.usps.gov). Consider not only costs but also such issues as delivery speed, pickup schedules, drop-off locations, tracking ability, and ease of use of the website. Which service did you select? Explain why.