With a record 2.5 billion packages estimated to have been shipped last year during the holidays, and with growing eCommerce and retail sales expected this season adding even more parcels to the mix, it isn’t a stretch to think that plenty of employees will be shipping a gift or two on their own as well.
“Rogue shipping” reaches its peak in the holiday season when employees absolutely positively have to get personal shipments to their loved ones. The lines are way too long at post offices and retail shipping rates are too expensive, especially to residences. So the natural thing to do is to simply add personal shipments to the avalanche of parcels going through shipping departments or mail centers that time of year. Who will notice?
Well, the finance department, for one, will notice the more than usual bump in shipping costs. They will also struggle to reconcile shipping costs against undeclared cost centers and wonder why so many accessorial charges are incurred that month. (Employees don’t ship enough to really understand all the hidden charges that await those who don’t check addresses, extended delivery points, DIM rates, etc.). With so many employees working out of virtual environments, rogue shipping is increasingly hard to detect.
Even if employees do declare shipping costs as a personal expense, how will finance and administration deal with those expenses in terms of payroll process? How will operations managers deal with otherwise productive hours wasted waiting in the aforementioned long lines at post offices and carrier drop-off points.
Enhance your benefits program with a no-cost, low maintenance service
Employers could avoid incurring unexpected shipping and administrative costs, while improving productivity by providing their employees with a no-cost, valuable benefit: Transtream’s Personal Shipping app.
Transtream provides employers with the controls they need to not only authorize employee shipping from their desktops using company carrier accounts, but also a secure means of processing personal shipments at discounted rates using their own credit cards. They can ship from the office, home, or on the road. Convenient, economical, and simple. Forget the ham and fruitcake, personal shipping is the perfect holiday gift.
Click here for a demo of Transtream Personal Shipping, and watch the video to see personal shipping in action.