From the category archives:

Tips for C-Levels

Creating More Profitable “FREE FREIGHT” Rules

by George Muha January 16, 2012

HAVING AN EQUALIZED “FREE FREIGHT” PROGRAM KILLS PROFITS, SO CHANGE IT It’s common for shippers to have an equalized free freight program.  What I mean by equalized freight program I am talking about offering “free freight” to customers who purchase a certain amount of volume of goods, regardless of their geographical location.  The problem is [...]

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The Supply Chain Self Test

by George Muha October 18, 2011

The book The New Supply Chain Agenda (Harvard 2010) outlines an excellent strategy to help companies achieve supply chain excellence.  This book also has some very effective self surveys to help companies identify the current state of things concerning their own supply chain operations.  However, I like to keep things simple and wanted to share [...]

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Freight Audit Companies Fall Short in this One Area: Aged Invioces

by George Muha October 11, 2011

This post is going to be short, sweet and to the point.  I love what a good freight audit company can do for a shipper!  These firms usually can process invoices way more effectively than a shipper can on their own.  In addition, some of these firms can output metrics and business intelligence that can [...]

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What is a Supply Chain Executive’s Salary?

by George Muha October 5, 2011

Its no doubt the hot trend for manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and distributors is to scale out their supply chain.  Companies are smartly realizing that profits are directly tied to operational excellence, so capturing this ideal is becoming a necessity.  So while companies allocate funds for the hiring of the proper talent, I thought it would [...]

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What Time Limit Does a Freight Carrier Have to Send an Invoice

by George Muha September 28, 2011

One question I get a lot is about the time frame in which a carrier has to invoice a shipper.  Shippers get surprised when a freight invoice pops up twelve months after a shipment was executed and they feel there might be some clause that gets them off the hook.  Well, I’m here to burst [...]

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Is it Legal to Mark Up Freight Charges?

by George Muha September 21, 2011

Is it legal to mark up freight charges? No, its not.  So lets load up the paddy wagon and start bringing American businesses to justice!  Okay, I’m only partly kidding around so readers can relax.  Technically it’s not illegal to mark up freight charges but in so doing suppliers may be violating the purchasing terms. [...]

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How Bad Are Parcel Companies Screwing You?

by George Muha September 13, 2011
Thumbnail image for How Bad Are Parcel Companies Screwing You?

One thing I hear a lot in the voice of shippers is their lack of confidence when it comes to their parcel pricing programs.  Recently a shipper told me, in a boasting kind of a way, of the new discount he just achieved with UPS.  Then he immediately asked me if I thought that was [...]

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Outsmarting Vendors by Controlling Inbound

by George Muha September 7, 2011

One area that is typically ripe with opportunity for companies to capitalize on is inbound logistics. Historically this area has been an afterthought for companies but the available cost reduction, operational efficiency and overall value it brings is too significant for anyone to ignore anymore.  I personally feel that, with the way companies are seeing [...]

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The Great Divide: Sales vs. Operations

by George Muha August 12, 2011

I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a company that didn’t have a huge disconnect between sales and operations.  But this week the gap widened to an all time record at one company I visited when a senior operations manager loudly and almost proudly proclaimed in his office, “Our sales people are idiots!” After he uttered [...]

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Better Understanding Fuel Surcharges

by George Muha July 26, 2011

Fuel has jumped an unprecedented 32.34% from the 2nd quarter of 2010 when diesel was $3.03 per gallon to 2nd quarter of 2011 when fuel was $4.01 per gallon.  The good news though, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s projections, is that fuel will hover around the four dollar range through Q4 of 2012. [...]

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