Put Your Parcel Audit to Work with 3 Critical Steps

Parcel auditing is a necessary task for shippers in today’s rapidly growing parcel market. It ensures that shippers pay the correct amount for their shipments, determines whether their shipments are delivered on time, and creates valuable information that the shipper can utilize to further cut their shipping costs. Without an accurate auditing system, shippers stand to lose a significant amount of money due to billing errors as well as the valuable data created by the audit.

The main purpose of a parcel audit is simple: ensure every package is billed correctly and delivered by the promised time. Carrier billing mistakes are common, especially when either a new contract or general rate increases are established; utilizing a parcel audit saves shippers money and gives them peace of mind that they are paying the correct amount for shipping. While the purpose of a parcel audit is simple, the auditing system is anything but. Between multi-year contracts including amendments, multiple shipping accounts, and a host of other variables, creating an accurate parcel audit is a complex task that must take all facets of a shipper’s parcel network into account.

Any audit system will provide a shipper with data about their parcel network, but a quality parcel audit looks to a variety of information to identify parcel network challenges and opportunities, putting that data to use through consistent reports that help shippers track the effects of their parcel network. Creating such an auditing system is not easy, but doing so will ensure that a shipper is paying the correct amount for each package, and the data gleaned from the audit can help a shipper cut their shipping costs and provide better shipping service to their customers, literally impacting customer satisfaction. At the end of the day, parcel auditing is necessary for today’s parcel shipper, and it has far more advantages beyond just ensuring packages are billed correctly.