Who wants to start thinking about the holidays in September? 🎅

Well, for businesses and holiday fanatics alike, September might actually be seen as late for holiday shipping prep. With Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas and New Year just around the corner freight and logistics services demand will soon start to surge!

In fact, holiday shipping impacts can be seen in the logistics industry as early as September and last right through January.

And with no preparation, you might fall victim to increased shipping costs and potential delays due to higher shipping volumes. Our top tip to ensure that you navigate this busy period successfully is to start thoroughly planning as soon as possible—ideally, yesterday!

The following guide can be used as a checklist to help you get ahead of the holiday demand and prepare your business for the holiday shipping rush that’s impending.

Holiday Shipping Guide

1. Plan for Increased Demand and Limited Capacity 🚚

What to Expect: During the holiday season, shipping volumes surge across the board, which can make securing the right transportation for your specialized goods more difficult. The demand for specific equipment, like flatbeds, step-decks or conestogas skyrockets, leading to limited availability and higher operational costs.

How to Prepare…

Book Carriers Waaaaaay in Advance: Start contacting and booking your holiday shipping space with your freight broker or carrier as soon as possible. When you book in advance, you’ll see more options to secure cost-effective and reliable transportation.

Booking early is extra important when your shipments consist of specialized or oversized goods. Specialized trailers like flatbeds, step-decks and conestogas can struggle with capacity during these busy periods. Making it difficult for brokers to secure appropriate trucks for their clients needs. Trust us, we ship specialized freight everyday and know that these types of shipments can be difficult to come by during the holiday surge and come with extra requirements which add that extra layer of complexity when demand surges. So it’s best to be prepared!

2. Budget for Higher Costs and Surcharges 💵

What to Expect: Rates for specialized freight typically rise during the holiday season due to increased demand. Additionally, many carriers impose peak season surcharges, which can significantly impact your shipping budget.

How to Prepare…

Negotiate Rates: Peak season surcharges are common in the shipping industry. But luckily for you, you’re reading this blog nice and early. Which means you’re already thinking about your holiday shipments.  The earlier you book, the more chance you have of negotiating better rates and securing a fixed pricing agreement. By planning ahead and factoring in these increased prices you can avoid any nasty surprises later down the line.

3. Prepare for Weather-Related Disruptions 🌨

The winter months bring their own set of unique challenges to the freight industry, regardless of shipping demands, as winter weather can be extremely unpredictable. We see a dramatic change in the weather across different states, including increased rain, snow and ice, causing dreaded delays. But preparing and making contingency plans can minimize down time and ensure your customers’ and your goods are delivered on time.

How to Prepare…

Communicate with Carriers: Discuss your weather-related concerns with your carrier. This will help you to outline how your carrier will reroute or reschedule your shipments if necessary.

Develop Contingency Plans: In the case of severe weather disruptions, be sure to put contingency plans in place. You can do this with your carrier so that everyone is on the same page, and you can update your customers with new shipping schedules and routes as needed.

4. Prepare for Operational Pressures ⏰

What to Expect: With the dramatic increase in demand during these peak holiday months, delays and tight delivery windows become a lot more pronounced. Especially for specialized shipments that require expedited or precise timing, these pressures can be a lot more challenging.

How to Prepare…

Prioritize Shipments: Identify the most critical shipments you have and work with your freight broker to ensure these are worked on as a priority. To avoid disappointment of your customers and avoid any disasters to production lines, etc. you should clearly communicate with your customers about your carriers shipping deadlines to set realistic expectations from the get go.

4. Learn Your Carrier’s Holiday Schedule & Surcharges 🗓

What to Expect:  Although the surge is high in shipments around national holidays. Everyone needs some down time, so be sure to ask when your carriers shut down for the holidays and be prepared for the logistics chaos that runs up to and follows any significant holiday. Especially when a holiday falls midweek, we’ve seen chaos follow Christmas day for anywhere between 2-10 days with extra heavy congestion on the roads.

How to Prepare…

Holiday Schedule: During the holidays carriers experience an unprecedented surge in shipping volume. But just like everyone else, workers at these companies deserve a well earned break over the holiday periods. So, be sure you know what days your carriers shut down for their break and make plans to work around these. One more thing to bare in mind is that because of these companies shutting down, mixed with congestion on the roads from people travelling to see loved ones the days around national holidays are chaos in the freight world, as everyone is getting back into the swing of things, have a back log of shipments and heavy traffic on the roads.

Inform Customers Early: Communicate with your customers sooner rather than later about your carriers holiday shipping schedules. This sets clear expectations of deadlines for guaranteed delivery before the holidays. As specialized shipments usually consist of cargo that’s high value or critical, then a delay during the holiday season could result in great financial loss and upset.

Offer Flexible Shipping Options: Working with your freight broker, you can offer various shipping options from standard to expedited shipping. Expedited is a great solution to those last minute shipments, but remember expedited shipping comes at a higher cost.

5. Streamline Logistics and Planning 🛣

What to Expect: Shipping specialized cargo is a complex feat, especially when it requires obtaining special permits or specific route planning. These challenges seem to be magnified by the holiday season, permits take longer to be assigned and with increased traffic and potential road restrictions, careful planning is essential.

How to Prepare…

Start Planning Now: If you know that your cargo surpasses DIMs restrictions of typical shipments, then it’s essential to start applying for permits and thoroughly planning routes early. If you use a good freight broker, they’ll organize permits and detailed route planning on your behalf.

Has Our Holiday Shipping Guide Helped?

The holiday season can present both opportunities and challenges for businesses with specialized shipping needs. By starting your preparations now, you can ensure that your goods are delivered on time despite the pressures of peak season. Work closely with your freight broker or carrier, plan ahead, and communicate clearly to navigate this busy period successfully.

We hope you’ve found our holiday shipping guide useful. We hope to hear from you to see how we can support you in the coming months with any specialized shipments you may have. No matter how complex. Get in touch now, because remember planning should have started yesterday 😊

Phone: 888-SHIP-911 or use the link below!

 

Contact PEI for help with your holiday shipments

At PEI we’re experts in dealing with specialized freight during busy holiday periods and can handle yours with any custom requirements.