One of the biggest disadvantages to using biological pest control is the cost of getting product shipped to you. Because the good bugs you’ll use in your garden or greenhouse are living organisms, it’s imperative that they are shipped via an expedited means. The reason is simple: If shipped via another means it can be at the expense of the bugs’ lives or general well-being. Moreover, slo-mo shipping can significantly eat into the usable life-span of the good guys. Say, for instance, you order some mites that live for ten days. Overnight shipping equates to a ten percent loss — not in numbers, but in the amount of time they are usable as effective predators. Second day freight is twenty percent in this example. Based on the usable life of most biocontrols, this example is exaggerated, but you hopefully get the idea. Time in transit has its own cost.
To those who regularly purchase and use biocontrols, the high freight costs associated with overnight delivery is something you’re quite familiar with, but to those who don’t yet practice these pest control methods or are new to the whole thing, you may be in for some shocking news. You’re not the only one who feels this expense. We at The Green Spot, as a biocontrol supplier, feel it too. In fact — and this may be a surprise to some — our biggest weekly expense to any single vendor is shipping. In other words we pay more to UPS each week than we do payroll or any individual bug producer. It’s actually quite appalling. Add to this another kick in the teeth: The credit terms for UPS are only seven days. In other words much of this shipping expense isn’t returned to us for an average of twenty-one days beyond the UPS due date. We have to carry the burden during that period. To us, the title “Killer Freight” is apt.
Unofficially we get a small incentive from UPS, so it could be worse. We’ve shopped around looking for a better deal. We used to ship with Airborne Express (they used to be cheaper, but the service was completely unacceptable; now we’re told the prices are now much higher even though the service-level is about the same as it was). We’ve tried Fedex. But they always give us the same arrogant brush-off. You see, in Fedex’s eyes we’re a nobody. In fact. it was the [lack of] response from Fedex that made us go with UPS in the first place. UPS came to meet with us, Fedex would only fax us some pricing. This was many years ago, and we’ve since contacted Fedex, but they still treat us the same way. Considering we give UPS about $100,000.00 in business a year, we’re at a loss to what it takes to impress Fedex and get them to talk to us. We’re stuck. But you may not be.
Helpful Suggestions.
To save on freight you do have some options available. Not options like using coast-to-coast ground services, that just wouldn’t do, but there are things you can do.
- Consolidate your orders into the largest possible shipping units. If you’re a large grower, this is a good way to save.
- Smaller growers should get together to consolidate on a group level. This can be a tremendous savings. Additionally, consolidation can lead to obtaining better volume discounts.
- Shop locally. Throughout New England, as a customer option, we ship via ground and still get the required overnight delivery. This saves our customers a cool $10.-$15. per shipment.
- Scout well and use your head when ordering. Ordering smartly can save you a few shipments per year.
- For some bugs you may request another method. Ask when ordering if a lesser method is doable. Sometimes it will be, depending on several factors, time of year and location being a couple of big ones. A loss-of-warranty may ensue, but if you can get away with it we will tell you.
These ideas won’t save you thousands unless you’re a mega-buyer, but it’s not unheard of or unreasonable to expect, for our average-size customer, to save one to two hundred dollars per year. This won’t be the answer to your prayers, only “Worm-Hole, Time Travel” delivery company could provide that, but this can help ease some of the pain.
