Major retail and grocery stores have all rolled out vendor compliance programs in recent years. Retailers like Walmart, Kroger, Amazon, and Target have instituted vendor scorecards that encourage suppliers to more accurately hit order quantities and timelines. These exist to help the stores remain competitive, lower inventory costs, and keep their shelves full. Vendor chargebacks […]
Read MoreTopic: Retail and Grocery Shipping Best Practices
To Be a Shipper of Choice, Work with a 3PL of Choice
In today’s tight freight market, shippers are encouraged to be more accommodating to drivers, acting as a “Shipper of Choice”. But being a shipper of choice is often out of a brand’s control and is instead dependent on their warehouse, manufacturing and/or co-packing partnerships. In all freight markets, but especially in tight ones like our […]
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Freight Claims 101: Practical Advice for Quick Issue Resolution
What are freight claims? When goods go missing or arrive damaged, the basic contract for carriage – agreement to transport goods safely from Point A to Point B – is violated. Since the contract was broken, a shipper can file a claim to recover its lost revenue. Educating yourself on best practices surrounding freight claims […]
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Prepping Pallet Orders for Food and Beverage Shipping
Graduating from shipping cases with UPS or FedEx to shipping pallets via LTL or full truckload is an extremely exciting milestone for food and beverage brands. It can also be a bit overwhelming, taking on entirely new processes. Perhaps pallet orders represent your first sale to a major retailer, distributor, or wholesaler. Either way, it’s […]
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Cold Chain Shipping: A Transportation Renaissance
As consumers around the world get used to the convenience of frozen and temperature-controlled food – and the freshness and nutrition it affords – every container, truck and warehouse within the cold chain shipping that supports it, strains to keep up with such demand. Supply and demand economics of this scenario has created a renaissance […]
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Custom Transportation Programs Lead to Added Efficiencies
In the May 2018 issue of Snack Food and Wholesale Bakery, the publication shared how snack producers and bakeries are working with third-party logistics providers (3PLs) to develop custom transportation programs that help deliver products more effectively. Zipline Logistics’ Senior Business Development Representative, Jesse Juett, weighed in on new trends. Major tactics covered include: Technology – Acces […]
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Shipping Carbonated Beverages
Even if you’ve never been on the wrong end of a shaken soda bottle, you’re likely aware that these fizzy drinks can explode if shaken or frozen and cause sticky chaos. So how do you avoid product damage (and major messes) while shipping carbonated beverages? Why do carbonated beverages explode when shaken? Carbonated drinks contain […]
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Timely Answers to 5 Big Logistics Questions
The logistics industry is in a rapid state of change and advancement, and its sophistication and development are a work in progress. It seems like every day and every week a new value proposition comes along that continues to shape the industry. This changing environment, particularly ongoing technology trends, brings up some fundamental questions worth […]
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Sam’s Club On-Time In-Full (OTIF) Program
Sam’s Club is moving forward with instituting an On Time in Full (OTIF) program, like its parent company, Walmart. This program exists to score Sam’s Club suppliers on their overall delivery performance and to clarify vendor expectations. What is a Supplier Scorecard? Most retailers have some sort of supplier scorecard system in place to evaluate […]
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Walmart Updates Supplier Guidelines, Again
https://sfa.ziplinelogistics.com/blog/walmart-otif-may-2019/ Over the last two years, Walmart has tightened their delivery standards. The strict guidelines were implemented to help the company run leaner and be more exact with inventory levels. Unfortunately, most suppliers have been unable to meet the strict guidelines. Walmart went from requiring a four-day shipping window in 2016 to a two-day shipping […]
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10 Powerful Logistics Metrics to Watch for Success
Management guru Peter Drucker famously stated, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Controlling the performance of business operations, which includes your supply chain and transportation, is nearly impossible without business metrics and data analytics. These quantifiable measures and in-depth discoveries of useful information help evaluate the success of your organization in meeting […]
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Retail Logistics: Right Carrier for the Job
When launching a relationship with a big-box store, it’s essential that brands understand the implications of using “the right carrier for the job.” If using the wrong trucking company for a certain region, route, or customer, brands can end up dealing with delivery issues, upcharges, and unnecessary frustrations. This fact is little known to newer […]
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