Industrial shipping guidelines for individuals

Navigating through industrial shipping as an individual can be quite difficult at first. You may be trying to expand your business to foreign markets but are not exactly sure what is required. There are several options at your disposal. First, you can use the services of professionals such as Transparent International NYC for all your shipping needs. The second option is to follow the industrial shipping guidelines and conduct your business accordingly. In this article, we are going to detail what may be required from you when it comes to shipping, both local and international.

Industrial shipping guidelines – The Big Three

Here are the three main things that you are going to need to learn about:

1. Shipping containers, supplies, and equipment
2. Adequate measurements
3. Proper labeling

Shipping containers, supplies, and equipment

Shipping supplies and containers

You simply can’t do proper shipping without having all of these things. First, you are going to need the containers for your items. It is advisable to stock up on boxes and cartons of all sizes before you go any further. Then you are going to need packing materials to ensure the safety of your items in transit. Try to have a good amount of bubble packs, packing paper, packing peanuts, air pillows, and so on. The greater variety of these materials you have, the easier it is going to be to pack anything that you need.

Shipping equipment

But that is just the start. Depending on the nature of your business, you may need to acquire special machinery that will do the packing for you. Having such equipment will severely reduce your workload and will make the whole process a lot smoother. Machines such as carton staplers and case sealers are just some of the examples of the equipment you might need. Then there is international car transportation, which has its own set of rules. If your business is not large enough, it might be best to outsource car shipping to other companies. They will already have everything for the job and it might cost less to use their services than it will be to acquire proper equipment.

Industrial shipping guidelines – Adequate measurements

You are going to need to utilize shipping partners for the transport of your items. They have various rules and regulations that concern the size and weight of the packages they receive. In order to properly comply with all of their standards, you are going to need to learn about adequate measuring.

Weight and DIM

First of all, there are two types of weight. There is the standard weight and there is the dimensional weight (DIM) that indicates how much space a package takes in cubic feet. Most carriers are going to compare the two of them and select whichever is larger for billing purposes. Which makes learning about DIM your priority if you want to accurately predict your shipping costs. Whenever you are using international services, you need to check for their set of rules and regulations. They can all factor in the cost, too. The way that you are going to determine DIM is to measure the width, length, and height (in inches) and then multiply them. The result will be the cubic size of the package.

The pricing

Now, most carriers round down that size to the nearest whole number. Local shipments usually divide the cubic size by 166 in order to determine the DIM of the package, where international shipments divide by 139. What you get after that division is the billable size. If it is smaller than the weight, they are going to charge you by the weight and vice versa. They always take the higher number. However, every carrier has its own method of determining billables so you might want to check out the policies before you sign anything. Some carriers charge more by weight, while others charge more by DIM. Your mileage may vary on this one.

Proper labeling

Industrial shipping guidelines – General concerns

Every single item that you ship is going to need a proper shipping label. There are numerous factors that go into it, such as weight, size, destination and departure locations, insurance, and tracking. All of the carriers are going to base their prices according to those factors. What you need to do is figure out which carrier has the best prices for your particular business. For example, let’s say that you are moving to New Zealand from the US and that you have a lot of large items that weigh less than their size might indicate. You are going to search for a carrier with good ties with NZ, first and foremost, and the one that charges mostly by weight.

Labeling process

Once you find the carrier to ship your items, you need to figure out the best way to label your items. There are several options when it comes to labels. First, you can purchase a professional label printer. These devices can be a bit expensive but they are the best when it comes to a large number of packages. The second option is to use a regular printer and print your own labels. You can find shipping label templates on the internet, which will make the process a lot easier. Or you can make your own, custom, labels. The important part is that all of your labels have the correct postage and shipping information. Otherwise, you may experience delivery delays, which you don’t want, ever.

You can always consult professionals for Industrial shipping guidelines

There is a lot more to shipping than we can cover in one article. If you have any further concerns or questions, it is always good to contact professionals and ask for some advice. For example, moving companies, such as Transparent International NYC, have a lot of experience when it comes to shipping and they can provide you with valuable advice. You can also use their services to start with, and then slowly transition to doing everything on your own.