From acquiring supplies and materials to sending goods to customers or other stops on your supply chain, you will have to work with a freight shipping company at some point in the course of your business’s day-to-day operations. Let’s take a closer look at how small, medium, and large businesses can benefit from freight shipping:
Small Businesses
Small business owners often have to wear multiple hats as they manage the full gamut of day-to-day operations, from production to accounting and business development to sales and marketing. Freight shippers can help many types of small businesses as they grow, including:
- Art galleries
| PRO TIP: If you’re shipping art, make sure you work with a freight shipping company that can provide the appropriate insurance. Learn more about how TSI can help ship artwork. |
- Small medical practices or legal offices
- Taxidermists
- Small offices
| Allan recently relocated from Los Angeles to Denver, and he took his small investment firm with him. Unsure of the best way to relocate his office, Allan reached out to us for help. Together with Allan, our experts created a relocation plan that involved packing up and delivering his sensitive documents, as well as his office equipment, technology, and furniture. WIth our help, Allan’s office move went smoothly and he was able to get right back to business. |
- Retail stores
| Emily, an interior designer in Savannah, GA, commissions a lot of custom pieces of furniture from her brother, Peter, who lives in Nashville. She also frequently purchases art from a gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. After experiencing delays as a result of working with different shipping providers, Emily reached out to us to help her coordinate shipments from both locations to her clients in Savannah. Now, her clients’ furniture and artwork arrives on time and undamaged, her projects progress on schedule, and her clients are even happier than ever with her work. |
Partnering with a freight service provider leaves small business owners with more time to deal with the other important aspects of running their business, like earning new clients and increasing your revenue.
If your small business’s client base is growing, a freight shipping company like TSI can help you manage the increased workload and prevent any disruption to your current production and shipping schedule. Freight shipping can also help get your products to customers you may not have been able to reach before, especially if your business sells items that typical shipping services like USPS, UPS, or FedEx can’t handle, such as furniture or mattresses. They do this by:
- Speeding up the quote process. If you regularly ship packages or goods to customers, the best shipping companies will streamline the process so that you can schedule a pickup and delivery in as quick as a single email.
- Offering flexible shipping methods that can be tailored to meet the needs of small businesses. For example, LTL (less than truckload) shipments let you share the space and cost of shipping with others, and are ideal for shipments that won’t fill a whole trailer. And since you don’t have to wait till there is a full truckload to ship, LTL shipping can also reduce shipping times. Learn more about LTL shipping.
- Simplifying scheduled pickups.
- Tracking and reporting shipments and delays.
- Taking the guesswork out of determining freight class.
Medium-sized Businesses
If you’re the owner or logistics manager for a medium-sized business, chances are you’ve already ironed out the shipping strategy that works best for your business. But no matter how streamlined your process is, sometimes there are items or orders that require special consideration, or can’t be transported by a normal shipping company, such as:
- Medical equipment like chiropractor tables or X-ray machines.
| On Friday, Rhonda contacted TSI to help ship an X-ray machine from Jacksonville, Florida to Dallas, Texas. Rhonda requested same or next day pickup, as the X-ray machine was needed in Dallas no later than the following Wednesday. While a shipment of this nature would normally take about about five business days from pickup to delivery, we were able to coordinate with our network of contractors and arrange for two drivers to operate the vehicle in shifts. Rhonda’s X-ray machine arrived on time. |
- Artwork. Many freight companies won’t ship artwork because they can’t insure it. If you are shipping artwork, we can help! TSI specializes in unique situations like this.
- Machinery, such as printers or manufacturing equipment.
- Engines.
Put simply, a freight shipping company can help your medium-sized business manage shipments that require special consideration, and will ensure that your goods or equipment are transported safely and in line with your individual needs.
Large Businesses
Large businesses often have their own shipping divisions, but freight shipping providers like TSI can be especially helpful in the event or emergency or expedited shipping, such as:
- Hospitals sending medical equipment to other facilities in their network
- Offices sending furniture or other equipment to other locations
| Jared is the logistics manager for a company that manufacturers bullet-proof modular office spaces. He had trouble finding a reliable, cost-effective shipping partner who could help his company ship their unique product to buyers around the country. Using our expansive network of logistics professionals, we were able to help Jared create a flexible shipping plan that works for his business, as well as for his customers. |
- Donations of equipment and supplies to areas affected by natural disaster
- Lease returns like 3D printers and fax machines
- Last-minute shipments of manufacturing materials
- Sending replacement items or equipment in the event of breakdown, damage, or customer service reparations
How can TSI help your business?
If you run a small or medium-sized business and you don’t have a dedicated shipping division, TSI can help get your goods where they need to go safely and on time. If you manage shipping or receiving for a large business, we can help you coordinate any last-minute, emergency, or expedited shipments.
Our nationwide network of contractors gives us the flexibility to coordinate just about any shipment. We are equipped to handle specific or specialized shipping situations that USPS, UPS, FedEx, and other freight shipping providers often can’t manage, including:
- High value items
- Items with specific needs that can’t be filled by other freight providers, such as sealed trailers
- Time-critical shipments
We can also help businesses of any size plan and undertake office or employee relocations.
