Parcel Shipping
Turn high annual parcel spend into a managed shipping program built around better rates, connected technology, and day-to-day expert support.
FreightCenter helps repeat parcel shippers analyze spend, improve carrier strategy, integrate shipping through BlueShip, and offload the daily work of managing a parcel program.
Build a More Connected Shipping Operation
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If your business spends $30,000 or more each year on parcel shipping, managing rates, invoices, carrier rules, systems, and day-to-day execution can become its own operational workload. FreightCenter, backed by BlueGrace and BlueShip technology, helps high-volume shippers turn that workload into a managed parcel program built for the shipments you handle today and the volume you expect tomorrow.
For businesses spending $250,000 or more annually on parcel shipping, there may be substantially more opportunity to analyze carrier agreements, billing, service selection, processes, and transportation data.
Thousands of businesses trust FreightCenter to move their freight faster, smarter, and cheaper! From unbeatable rates to top-notch service, our customers are raving about their shipping success.
See why they keep coming back!
Award-Winning Service, Trusted by Shippers Everywhere!
- 2021, 2017 & 2016 Food Logistics’ Top Green Providers
- 2021 & 2018 Supply & Demand Chain Executives’ Pros to Know: Matthew Brosious
- 2020 & 2019 Top Food Logistics’ 3PL & Cold Storage Provider Award
- 2020 & 2019 Business Observer’s Top 500 Companies on the Gulf Coast
- 2020 & 2017 SmartWay® Transport Partner
- 2020 & 2017 Food Logistics’ Champions: Rock Stars of the Supply Chain
- 2020 Best of Palm Harbor Awards for Local Businesses
- 2017 Green Supply Chain Award from Supply & Demand Chain Executive
- 2017 Tampa Bay Business Journal Heroes at Work
- 2016, 2015, & 2012 Food Logistics Top 100 Software and Technology Providers
- 2013 Tampa Bay Business 100 by Tampa Bay Business Journal
- 2013 Top 100 Great Supply Chain Partners by SupplyChainBrain
- 2012 TIA Samaritan Award Honorable Mention
- 2012, 2011 & 2010 TBBJ Fast 50 Recipient
- 2013, 2011, & 2010 Diversity Business Top Businesses
Put Your Parcel Shipping Program to Work
High parcel volume creates leverage, but only if you can see where the money is going and act on the data. FreightCenter combines parcel expertise with BlueShip technology to help your team manage spend, execution, carrier strategy, and transportation systems as one program.
Benefits:
- Find savings across your parcel spend: Review shipment patterns, service usage, accessorial charges, carrier pricing, and other cost drivers instead of focusing only on the rate for one package.
- Take parcel management off your team’s plate: FreightCenter can serve as an extension of your operation, helping manage the ongoing work behind your parcel shipping program.
- Connect shipping with your existing systems: BlueShip supports integrations with ERP, WMS, and other business systems so transportation data can move through the tools your operation already uses.
- Bring parcel, LTL, and truckload together: BlueShip supports parcel alongside other transportation modes, giving teams a more centralized way to execute, analyze, and report on transportation activity.
- Use parcel data to improve carrier decisions: Spend visibility, contract modeling, carrier performance analysis, and shipping data can help your team make better purchasing and operational decisions.
High-Volume Parcel Shipping Is a Program, Not a Series of Packages
Once parcel spending reaches tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, the question changes.
You’re no longer simply asking, “How much does this package cost to ship?”
You need to know:
- Are we using the right carrier and service for each shipment?
- Are our carrier agreements aligned with the way we actually ship?
- Where are accessorial charges increasing costs?
- Are we paying for services our shipments don’t require?
- Can our parcel data be analyzed across locations and departments?
- How much staff time goes into managing parcel transportation?
- Can parcel work inside the same transportation system as LTL and truckload?
That’s the level at which FreightCenter’s managed parcel approach becomes valuable.
Start With Your Annual Parcel Spend
Businesses spending approximately $30,000 or more per year on parcel shipping may have enough repeat activity to benefit from a closer review of their shipping program.
As annual spend grows, so does the amount of shipping data available for analysis.
A business spending $250,000 or more annually may offer significantly more opportunity to examine carrier agreements, shipment patterns, service selection, billing, accessorials, and operating processes.
The goal isn’t to promise a predetermined savings percentage. It’s to understand what your business ships, what you currently pay, and where measurable opportunities exist.
BlueShip Connects Parcel With the Rest of Transportation
BlueShip brings parcel into the same transportation environment used to manage LTL and truckload activity. Teams can centralize execution, reporting, transportation data, and visibility rather than maintaining separate processes for each mode.
BlueShip parcel capabilities include:
- Real-time rate comparisons
- Carrier and service selection
- Centralized shipment execution
- Parcel spend visibility
- Reporting and analytics
- ERP and WMS integrations
- Multi-mode transportation management
- Business-rule and workflow support
BlueShip supports centralized parcel, LTL, and truckload management within one system.
Connect Parcel Shipping to Your Existing Systems
A high-volume shipper shouldn’t have to rebuild its operation around another disconnected shipping tool.
BlueShip supports integration with ERP, WMS, and other business systems, allowing shipping information to connect with existing order, warehouse, and transportation workflows. Its customer integration API also supports quoting, booking, shipment information, and related transportation data.
The result is less dependence on separate spreadsheets, repeated entry, and isolated transportation systems.
Use Rate Intelligence Instead of Static Shipping Rules
High-volume parcel programs generate enough data to make carrier and service decisions more intelligently.
BlueGrace’s parcel technology supports real-time rate comparisons and automated carrier optimization based on factors including cost, transit requirements, service performance, and shipment characteristics.
That gives your operation the ability to apply shipping logic consistently rather than relying on individual employees to make the same decision shipment after shipment.
Look Beyond the Negotiated Rate
The carrier rate matters, but it isn’t the only place parcel spending can grow.
A parcel program review can examine:
- Base transportation charges
- Accessorial charges
- Service selection
- Shipment characteristics
- Carrier performance
- Contract structure
- Invoice accuracy
- Multi-location shipping behavior
- Mode-selection opportunities
- Internal administrative work
BlueGrace’s parcel program includes spend visibility, automated invoice validation, parcel contract modeling, analytics, and carrier-performance analysis.
That wider view can uncover issues that aren’t visible when transportation is reviewed one shipment at a time.
Let FreightCenter Become Your Parcel Shipping Department
Your business may ship thousands of packages without wanting to build an internal department around parcel transportation.
That’s where managed parcel shipping changes the model.
FreightCenter and BlueGrace combine people, transportation technology, analysis, and execution support so your internal employees don’t have to own every carrier issue, rate decision, billing question, system process, and shipping rule themselves.
Think of us as your outsourced parcel shipping department: connected to your systems, working with your transportation data, and focused on improving the program over time.
Shipping Handled.
Parcel may be the starting point, but high-volume shippers often benefit from connecting parcel decisions with transportation technology, optimization, and other shipping modes.
BlueShip supports centralized transportation management, reporting, integrations, and optimization across shipping modes.
Analyze transportation activity at the network level to identify opportunities involving cost, routing, modes, locations, and carrier performance.
Coordinate parcel requirements alongside the larger freight needs of a growing business.
Explore FreightCenter and BlueGrace capabilities for businesses with more complex transportation requirements.
Guaranteed competitive pricing every time you ship.
What Determines Your Parcel Savings Opportunity?
There isn’t one savings number that applies to every high-volume parcel shipper. The opportunity depends on your annual spend, shipping profile, carrier agreements, service mix, billing activity, and how efficiently the program is managed today.
Businesses spending $250,000 or more annually on parcel shipping can present especially strong optimization opportunities because improvements can be applied across a much larger transportation budget.
Key factors include:
- Annual parcel spend: Higher spend creates more data to analyze and a larger base across which rate, process, and billing improvements can have an impact.
- Shipment volume: A large number of repeat shipments makes consistent carrier and service-selection rules more important.
- Package weight and dimensions: Package weight and dimensions: Your shipment profile influences carrier pricing, service selection, and the types of charges your business encounters. For example, the UPS dimensional weight guidelines explain how package size can affect billable weight when dimensional weight exceeds actual weight.
- Shipping zones and destinations: Where packages originate and where they travel affects the structure of your parcel spend.
- Service mix: Using faster services when they aren’t required can increase transportation costs.
- Accessorial charges: Additional charges can materially affect the actual amount paid beyond a base transportation rate.
- Carrier agreements: Contract terms should reflect the shipment characteristics and services your business actually uses.
- Invoice accuracy: Automated parcel audit processes can identify billing discrepancies, service failures, and accessorial errors.
- Number of shipping locations: Multiple facilities can create inconsistent carrier usage, processes, and reporting when parcels are managed independently at each site.
- Technology integration: Connecting transportation to ERP, WMS, and other business systems can reduce manual work and improve the quality of shipping data available for analysis.
- Mode selection: Some shipments may be better served through LTL or another transportation option rather than being managed automatically as parcel. BlueShip supports parcel and freight modes within the same platform.
Parcel Shipping FAQ
Q. What is managed parcel shipping?
Managed parcel shipping gives a logistics partner responsibility for major parts of your parcel transportation program. Instead of your staff handling carrier strategy, technology, shipping rules, spend analysis, and ongoing optimization independently, FreightCenter and BlueGrace can support those functions as an extension of your transportation team.
Q. How much should my business spend on parcel shipping before considering a managed program?
Businesses spending about $30,000 or more annually on parcel shipping may be good candidates for a parcel program review. At that level, repeat shipment activity can provide enough data to begin evaluating rates, service usage, carrier agreements, and operating processes.
Q. Why are businesses spending $250,000 or more on parcel especially good candidates?
A larger annual parcel spend creates more opportunities for improvements to have a meaningful financial impact. Businesses at or above $250,000 in annual parcel spend may have more shipment data, carrier activity, accessorial charges, service decisions, and operating processes available for analysis.
Q. How does FreightCenter help reduce parcel shipping costs?
FreightCenter approaches parcel savings by examining the entire shipping program rather than promising a lower price on every package. That can include spend analysis, carrier strategy, contract modeling, service selection, billing review, technology, and ongoing transportation optimization.
Q. Can you manage parcel shipping for multiple warehouses or locations?
Yes, BlueGrace parcel solutions support multi-origin shipping networks. A centralized program can help businesses create more consistent processes, visibility, and transportation decision-making across multiple facilities.
Q. Can parcel shipping be managed alongside LTL and truckload?
Yes, BlueShip brings parcel, LTL, and truckload transportation into one platform. This gives businesses a centralized way to execute, analyze, and report across modes rather than operating separate transportation systems.
Q. What is the first step in improving our parcel shipping program?
Start with a review of your current parcel spend and shipment data. That establishes what you ship, what you pay, how your carriers are being used, and which areas deserve deeper analysis before changes are recommended.
3 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Parcel Shipping
Your Carrier Rate Is Only Part of Your Parcel Spend
Accessorial charges, service selection, billing accuracy, and contract structure can all influence what your business actually spends on parcel shipping. Looking at the full program can reveal opportunities that a simple rate comparison misses.
Parcel Doesn’t Have to Operate in Its Own System
BlueShip supports parcel alongside LTL and truckload, allowing transportation teams to manage multiple shipping modes through a more centralized technology environment.
A Parcel Partner Can Replace a Lot of Internal Administrative Work
A managed parcel program can combine transportation technology, carrier strategy, analysis, execution support, and ongoing improvement. Instead of building a larger internal parcel function, your business can use FreightCenter and BlueGrace as an extension of its team.
