A reader asked me recently how to reduce their Fedex/DHL/UPS bill. They spend thousands of dollars every month just for receiving samples to approve.

The good news is, there are ways to reduce that cost. And my company already provides these solutions to a few clients, so we have a clear idea of how to do it. 

How does it work?

For pre-production Samples

The question about pre-production samples is always “have they understood what we want?”. So we follow this procedure:

• Supplier sends at least 2 sets of samples to us.
• We review them. If they are not acceptable, we send a report to the client and we wait for the decision (usually: send them back to the supplier).
• If they are fine, we send the worst one(s) to the client and we keep the best one (to be sent to the inspector).
• As an option, we can use the sample we have in hand to prepare the specification sheet.

For production samples

The question is always “have they respected the requirements?”. But, in terms of sample review, it is the same thing. So the same procedure as above can be followed.

Benefits for the importer

Obviously we send the samples only once or twice a week. There are several ways it reduces the total UPS/DHL bill:

• On average more samples get sent in a package
• Fewer samples get sent for nothing, since the bad ones are rejected at the sample review stage

Another benefit is faster reaction to suppliers. If samples are rejected, the supplier can start working on new samples right away.

Maybe some readers have other tips to offer?