A reduction in delivery costs is more sustainable through changing process rather than actual rates. This is because there is a high percentage of wastage in transport through applying the same service mode to different products and customers, both internal and external to your business.

Your business could be paying premium prices for delivery services when your customers do not expect them - or even notice them. Over 80% of businesses over-service the actual requirements of their customers at a cost penalty to their business.

One customer in the finance industry wanted to reduce their transport costs by 25%. Like many businesses, their costs were growing significantly year-on-year (as is usually the case for businesses experiencing high growth in a short period of time). By analysing their processes, data and costs, Australia Post identified an opportunity for the customer to reduce their transport costs by 52% (or $100,000 per annum), simply by changing process.

If you would like to identify opportunities to save on your transport costs, think about the following questions:

1. Does your choice of delivery services match the size and weight of your items?
   - Many businesses send items weighing less than 1kg in 3kg prepaid satchels. In this situation, keeping a range of prepaid items on hand that includes smaller satchels and envelopes will reduce cost.
   - Most transport companies will charge a minimum of 1kg; what if the majority of your business items weigh less than half of this?
   - How are you charged for international express services - by the gram, every 500g, or per kg?
   


2. Are you paying a premium price for overnight and express services when your items could be delivered reliably and to your customers' expectations at a lower cost?
   - Dimension the time required for delivery of the item. Premiums are applied for overnight delivery; does it require overnight or does next day, two days or one week meet your business and customer needs? Some customers consider 'urgent' to be same day, others consider it to be within a week.
   


3. Do you actually require all the options you are paying for?
   - You can access lower prices if your business requires a reliable delivery service but does not actually require a signature on delivery or full track and trace.