Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

Yesterday we discussed Case Cubes and Full Load Shipments. So today what is LTL? Because everyone needs to use both.

LTL is a shipment that does not fill a truck. The less-than-truckload (LTL) industry provides transportation of partial-load shipments that go to one or more destinations or full trailer-load shipments going to multiple destinations. The LTL is a $39 billion industry and is comprised of two distinct segments, national LTL, and regional LTL. The national LTL participants operate a “hub-and-spoke” network with an average length of haul of 1,200 to 1,400 miles. Growth is dependent on accelerated economic activity and competitor failures. The estimated size of the national LTL segment is $12 billion. The regional LTL segment is characterized by numerous carriers, typically non-union, that operate a modified hub-and-spoke network, with an average length of haul of 200 to 600 miles for most freight. Growth in this segment is dependent on consolidation within the marketplace, the shift toward more regionalized freight patterns by shippers, and general economic growth. The regional LTL segment is highly fragmented, with the top 20 participants accounting for roughly 50% of the estimated $27B market. http://www.stephens.com/research/industries__companies/transportation/truckload__less-than-truckloa.aspx

SafeSourcing is an eprocurement company that operates across multiple industries. As such we have specific experience in almost any commodity, service or capital related spend including shipping and freight costs. Our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database is an often-used source for these freight suppliers. To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Director of HR, and Administration at SafeSourcing

Amazon has been the powerhouse company for many different fields for the ten years and more with reaches into e-commerce, technology, digital streaming, artificial intelligence, and more. Recently Amazon launched its annual Prime day, where a significant amount of goods, services, and subscriptions are offered at small to large, discounted rates, but only for a short amount of time. It has been estimated that the most recent Prime Day brought in over $10b in e-commerce sales in just a short amount of time.

While perusing the vast Amazon site, exploring the deals that might be of the greatest use and value, I found that some items were discounted significantly (50-75% off normal prices!) but with price expiration of only 15 minutes. This instinctively triggered the urge to buy now before time expired, but reason kicked in and found that I, and likely many others, was acting exactly as planned by this sale for Prime day. The hope is that buyers will opt to buy now so the sale price is not lost, but this leads to zero time to think about the practicality of the purchase.

This use of psychological tactics in sales in nothing new. We often see the gimmick in our mail, with bold print and deadlines and exclusives to reassure the buyer that their product is the best value for buyers’ money. Another time your see this kind of marketing is during Black Friday Sales after Thanksgiving. Retailers use the holidays as a prime time to push their products using the same one day only sale to get people to buy before the sale ends, pushing the demand higher.

This kind of demand is seen in other industries as well. When the buyer gets to be the one setting the timer on sales, the sellers then complete for their business. This is something that benefits both buyer and seller and finding the right platform is easier than one might think. A procurement partner, like SafeSourcing, can be the expert guiding your company through finding the right suppliers and the right goods for your company’s needs, and having them put in the effort and earn your business while filling all the needs of everyone.

For more information on what the SafeSourcing team can offer you, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

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Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

How do you evaluate your vendor/supplier import partners? Sometimes it is interesting to compare your view to their own. The ISA is a voluntary program that you might suggest for your import partners.

ISA is a voluntary approach to trade compliance that originated from the passage of the Customs Modernization Act (Customs Mod Act) in 1993 as it ushered in an era of new partnership concepts between the importing community and the United States Customs Service (Customs and Border Protection – CBP). The program provides the opportunity for importers who have made a commitment of resources to assume responsibility for monitoring their own compliance in exchange for benefits. The ISA program offers benefits that can be tailored to industry needs and requires that importers demonstrate readiness to assume responsibilities for managing and monitoring their own compliance through self-assessment.

1 Purpose: The ISA program is built on the knowledge, trust, and willingness to maintain an ongoing Customs and Border Protection (CBP)/importer relationship that is mutually beneficial to both parties. CBP’s goal is to partner with importers who can demonstrate their readiness to assume the responsibility to manage and monitor their compliance through self-assessment. Importers who are accepted into the ISA program receive tangible benefits, while allowing CBP to re-direct valuable resources to focus on high-risk and unknown importers.

2 Background: The passage of the Customs Modernization Act (Customs Mod Act) in 1993 ushered in an era of new partnership concepts between the importing community and the United States Customs Service (Customs and Border Protection – CBP). Under the Mod Act, CBP and the importer share the responsibility for compliance with trade laws and regulations. The importer is responsible for using reasonable care when declaring the value, classification, rate of duty applicable to entered merchandise, and CBP is responsible for informing the importer of its rights and responsibilities under the law.

3 Program Overview: The ISA program is a voluntary approach to trade compliance. It is built on knowledge, trust, and a willingness to maintain an ongoing CBP/importer relationship. The ISA program offers meaningful benefits that can be tailored to industry needs and requires that importers demonstrate readiness to assume responsibilities for managing and monitoring their own compliance through self-assessment.

SafeSourcing is an eprocurement company that operates across multiple industries. As such we have specific experience in almost any commodity, service or capital related spend. Our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database holds import and supplier vendors accountable to 100’s of certifications. To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

References: Http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/trade_programs/importer_self_assessment/isa_hb.ctt/isa_hb.pdf 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

SafeSourcing has found that many companies achieve improved results by having additional eyes available to review complex categories before final contract award. Often, SafeSourcing is asked to be a part of these committees as we are generally very deeply involved in the data and meta data. Additionally, many companies only source service type categories annually while SafeSourcing may host these categories dozens of times in a single year and be more aware of nuances that can improve final negotiation.

A buying committee is an organization’s committee that analyzes and selects new products, deals, and offers special promotions. The buying committee has been implemented in many industrial organizations, hospitals, and government. The salesperson must provide information to all the members of the buying committee and should target the real sales efforts.

SafeSourcing is an eprocurement company that operates across multiple industries. As such we have specific experience in almost any commodity, service or capital related spend. To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

Is your company considering bringing more of your sourcing onshore or changing to multisource?

Low-cost company sourcing along with sole source commitments has had a negative impact on the supply chain during the COVID-19 Pandemic and that negative impact continues in our current economic environment. Many companies are rethinking these strategies in to limit their supply chain risks. SafeSourcing continues to field requests to assist in finding alternative and or multiple sources of supply in this current environment. Our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database is the source for many of these companies.

Low-Cost Country sourcing (LCCS) is a procurement strategy in which a company uses foreign companies with lower wages to produce resources for manufacturing. By finding companies countries with lower labor and production costs that operate on leaner budgets than domestic operations, a company may be able to acquire materials and reduce operational expenses. Low-cost country sourcing is a part of a company’s global sourcing strategy. It is also called outsourcing or international procurement organization (IPO).

If you’d like to learn more about how SafeSourcing can assist in helping your company find additional sources of supply, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

References: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/low-cost-country-sourcing-LCCS.html#ixzz2BIrG7ujm

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

What does your company do to support your social responsivity initiatives through your supply chain and supplier relationships? What do they do to support yours?

At SafeSourcing we ask these questions on your behalf to our suppliers in the SafeSourceIt™ Supplier Database. One of those types of businesses are those owned by Women amongst other minority owned business we also inquire about. This service is no charge to our customers during our six-step sourcing strategy.

The WBENC was founded in 1997 as an advocate of women-owned business. It is the third largest certifier of women owned or operated businesses. The WBENC works with businesses to expand and utilize their diversity programs. The WBENC has over seven hundred members. As part of its efforts, the WBENC provides its partner agencies with onsite training and other educational materials.

If you would like to learn more about SafeSourcing and how we work to support yoursocial responsibility initiative, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

Second Tier Sourcing is a procurement policy that is used by various Fortune 500 corporations. This is a practice of rewarding suppliers for attempting to achieve minority-owned business spending goals of their customer(s).

The program was created by the Chrysler Corporation in 1993 and now extends throughout the Fortune 500. In 2005, Toyota set a goal of 10% for their suppliers and holds an annual matchmaking event to help their suppliers achieve those goals.

The SafeSourcing Supplier Database with over 450,000 suppliers contains the information necessary to support your minority-owned supplier search criteria.

If you’d like to learn more about how SafeSourcing goes about holding your supply chain accountable, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate