Retailers are continuously changing their vendor guidelines in order to remain competitive and adjust to both consumer and supplier demands. Walmart OTIF (On Time In Full) is the latest retail vendor compliance program to see a round of updates. Wall Street Journal reported on the update earlier this month, but here’s a break down of […]
Read MoreTopic: Retail and Grocery Shipping Best Practices
5 Ways to Recoup Value of Near-Expired Food and Beverage Products
Food and beverage manufacturers are often faced with figuring out what to do with product that is near its “sell by,” “use by,” or “best by” date. These dates prevent them from being able to sell through traditional customer channels and they must find new ways to salvage not only the product but the potential […]
Read More
Retail Supplier Updates: H-E-B and UNFI – February 2019
Retailers and distributors make regular updates to their supplier guidelines and warehouse networks. These changes are often related to billing, packaging, appointment scheduling, hours of operation, and/or chargeback structures. All changes are made with intentions to improve business processes. Zipline goes in and out of big-box/grocery retailers daily, so we have a strong pulse on […]
Read More
Rejected Freight: Top Reasons Freight is Turned Away
What does it mean to have rejected freight? If a carrier arrives at a facility and the receiver refuses to take the freight as is, it is rejected and must go back to the shipper or be fixed before ownership can switch hands. Some reasons for rejected freight are obvious, like a damaged product or […]
Read More
Difference Between Food Broker, Distributor, and 3PL
Rather than handling sales and shipping for a food or beverage product, many business owners chose to work with partners to ease their workload and expand their growth potential. Working with outside service providers allows a food or beverage brand to focus on its core competencies, access experts without hiring new staff, save money, and […]
Read More
Kroger Vendor Guidelines Updated for On-Time Delivery
(Photo: Matthew Berry/Eagle-Gazette) Since Kroger launched its on-time delivery compliance program, the retailer reports seeing improvements from several suppliers. In response to the success, Kroger is rolling out new parameters to reward high-performing suppliers. Updated Kroger Vendor Guidelines Below are the specific changes that Kroger will be implementing: Any supplier that achieves an average of […]
Read More
CPG Logistics: Right Carrier Mix and More Communication
Our friends over at the Freight Project Podcast recently had Zipline’s President, Andrew Lynch, on as a guest to talk about how in an Amazon-driven retail and logistics world, shippers who find the right carrier mix and focus on logistics fundamentals can find capacity and compete. CPG logistics managers are facing one of the toughest […]
Read More
List of Top 20 Accessorial Charges
First, what are accessorial charges? Accessorial charges are fees added to a freight bill for additional services that the carrier might provide. These are a la carte, or per service, and outside of standard shipping and receiving. They are mode-agnostic but are known to occur most often with LTL shipments. These charges will oftentimes be assessed […]
Read More
Walmart’s On-Time, In-Full (OTIF) Program: What You Need to Know
https://sfa.ziplinelogistics.com/blog/walmart-otif-may-2019/ Walmart has changed their vendor guidelines and scorecard parameters a few times in recent years. They went from requiring a four-day shipping window in 2016 to a two-day shipping window in 2017 and a no-day shipping window in 2018. They have since relaxed rules to allow carriers to deliver one day early (as of April […]
Read More
Zipline Logistics Named to Food Logistics’ 2018 Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers List
Columbus, Ohio— Food Logistics, the only publication exclusively dedicated to covering the movement of product through the global food supply chain, has named Zipline Logistics to its 2018 Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers list for the third consecutive year. “Food and beverage transportation continues to evolve with added complexities,” explains Walter Lynch, CEO of […]
Read More
Preventing and Disputing Retail Chargebacks
What are retail chargebacks? Chargebacks are penalties or fees that are issued by retailers when vendors fall out of compliance. Being non-compliant could mean a multitude of things, but the most common reasons are tied to mislabeling, early/late delivery, and incomplete orders. Read more about the top reasons for retail chargebacks here. Vendor chargebacks can […]
Read More
Case Study: Solving for Walmart Vendor Compliance
Strategic appointment times and booking of preferred carriers makes meeting Walmart vendor compliance standards simple. A producer of organic food supplements engaged Zipline Logistics to solve reoccurring delivery problems for one of its largest customers – Walmart. Orders for the big-box store were consistently rejected. This caused orders to be late, extra paperwork, and the […]
Read More