FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
GENERAL QUESTIONS
For both Small Parcel and Freight, our four core services are: Audit, Business Intelligence, Optimization, and TMS. We also offer General Ledger Allocation, Bill Pay, Duty Drawback, and Packaging Analysis.
Our clients consist of anyone with a hand in logistics. This includes shippers, fulfillment companies, 3PL’s, freight forwarders, LTL companies, and others.
Zero Down can service all of your company’s modes of transportation. Our Parcel offering covers UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS, and other regional parcel carriers throughout the United States, such as OnTrac, GSO, LSO, SpeeDee, Dicom, and LaserShip. Our Freight offering includes LTL, Truckload, Domestic & International Air & Ocean Freight Forwarding, and Courier shipments.
Savings vary depending on the client and shipping spend, but we regularly achieve savings of 2-5% for Parcel Audit services and 10-30% on Parcel Optimization projects. However, all our services save our clients time so they can focus on what is truly important.
There are no upfront costs! Remember: You only pay us when we successfully produce savings!
No, our system is easy to implement since we don’t require any IT involvement, allowing for savings to be achieved within days. We simply need login credentials to the parcel carriers to access our clients billing data. We can utilize other methods as well, such as EDI, FTP or API connections.
AUDIT SERVICES
Our clients enjoy several benefits from our Audit services:
- Immediate 2-5% savings on total parcel spend
- Confidence that invoices are being billed according to their negotiated rates
- Recovered fees for service failures, address corrections, duplicate shipments, and other incorrect charges
- Increased analytical visibility into how rates affect profits
After being enrolled in electronic billing, refunds begin within 7 days and many times even quicker
Zero Down works with all carriers and has the capacity to readily implement our Audit process across all modes. However, the process usually requires more in-depth involvement with the carrier than the Small Parcel implementation. The Freight carriers typically require an EDI or similar connection, as they aren’t as technologically savvy.
Typically, there is no client IT involvement required, although some clients have requested us to connect to their ERP or WMS system. In those cases, we will interact with the client’s IT department to get this additional data into the system.
For Freight Audit, we focus on correcting the invoices before our clients are billed, thus providing cost-avoidance as opposed to refunds after the fact. Our system provides reports with the overcharges corrected before invoice payment.
No, clients who implement our Audit services do not negatively impact their relationship with the carrier, whatsoever. If a carrier is concerned with their invoices being audited, clients should consider switching carriers. Our clients are the customer, and the carrier needs to be doing everything possible to provide superior service and accurate billing. Our Audit process simply gives the carrier proper feedback to improve their processes, while making sure that accurate invoices are paid timely.
Yes, we help our clients with Lost & Damage filing of claims with the parcel carriers. The Zero Down team not only files, but then monitors the life cycle of the claim until it’s approved or denied. We provide our clients with monthly metrics that track carrier performance.
Yes, we have both self-pay and Zero Down-pay options. Leveraging either option will provide clients with technology that will simplify and consolidate the management of carrier invoice payments. Our technology ensures the carriers are paid on time while maximizing the net payment terms with each individual carrier. For clients electing the Zero Down-pay option, we provide a single consolidated invoice across mode and carrier, rather than many individual carrier invoices.
Yes, we can fully automate your General Ledger Coding. Whether your methodology is simple or complex, our system and expertise simplify and automate this process.
Yes, we audit both national and regional carriers for both small parcel and freight shipments, including OnTrac, GSO, LSO, SpeeDee, Dicom, and LaserShip. We are also fully capable of auditing Canadian carriers such as Purolator and Canada Post.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Yes, of course! Our Business Intelligence tools give you visibility to all of your packages regardless of carrier or mode in one place with our technology, FreightOptics.
Our BI tools can search through endless amounts of shipments by invoice number, tracking number or specific dates, finding exactly what you’re looking for quickly and efficiently. Our reports and dashboards are highly customizable and allow our clients to manipulate their shipping data to gain complete visibility into their supply chain.
Yes! We have more than 70 reports to choose from that can be scheduled for delivery directly to your inbox. Our report module is also highly customizable, allowing our clients to add special criteria to create exception reports as needed.
Our Dashboards provide a simple and elegant way to visualize your data that doesn’t require combing through spreadsheets. They are highly customizable, so you can quickly access the specific data you’re looking for. Plus, our technology is mobile-friendly and easily accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. You can access your data in a meeting, on a plane, or even on a beach.
Our premium Rate Calculator provides one-login access to multiple carriers and provides rates along with estimated delivery dates for multiple services. It also comes with a calendar view so clients can route by delivery date. We can also provide “mark-up” capabilities so that our clients can protect their margins for shipping/handling charges.
TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (TMS)
The process could not be any easier! As with all of our services, there is no client IT involvement required to implement our TMS. All we need are login credentials for the carriers – that’s it!
Utilizing our TMS technology with one-login access to all of your carriers to quote, book, and track shipments will absolutely save your logistics department time and money. Also, you no longer have to call in pick up requests or navigate between multiple carriers’ websites. Our TMS does it all for you in one spot!
