📖 Reading: These 7 Small Business Shipping Tips Will Save You Time and Money

2025 - USPS Shipping Rates

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▶️Video: Must-Know Tips for Shipping Your Product From Home Pt. 1 (Candle Buisness Example)

▶️Video: How To Choose The Cheapest Way to Ship Your Product (Candle Business Example, Pt. 2)

📖Reading: How To Handle Product Returns As A Small Business

▶️Video: Delivery and Shipping-How Supply Chain Issues Affect Small Businesses

What Is a Logistics Plan and Why It Matters for Your Business

A logistics plan is the roadmap that keeps your business moving efficiently — it’s how you make sure the right products, materials, or services get to the right place, at the right time, and at the right cost. Whether you run a bakery, an online shop, or a cleaning service, logistics covers everything that happens after a customer places an order — from sourcing supplies and managing inventory to packaging, delivery, and follow-up.

Having a solid logistics plan helps you save money, reduce delays, and keep customers happy. It allows you to anticipate what’s needed (like delivery schedules, storage space, or supplier coordination) and avoid last-minute stress or wasted resources. For example, if you sell handmade candles, your logistics plan might include ordering materials in advance, tracking stock, choosing the most cost-effective shipping method, and making sure deliveries arrive safely and on time.

In short, logistics is about turning great products and services into great customer experiences through reliable, organized systems that make your business run smoothly from start to finish.

Here is an example of a Logistics Plan for a Local Transportation Business.

📝 Example: Logistical Plan for Transportation Services AFTS

You have a product, but you need a way to get it to your customers. What’s the best way to deliver or ship your product to your customers?

Establishing your delivery approach

There has been a significant trend towards customer’s preferring that products get delivered to their homes or selected locations. Taking into account your product, as well as your target audience, you will want to determine what makes the most sense for your business. Should you offer delivery at all, should you provide it yourself, or should you use a thirdparty delivery service?

If delivery is not something customers normally expect, you are likely better off not to incur the expense when you first start, unless you are attempting to use delivery as a means of differentiation from competitors. Even here, be sure the cost is worth the benefit in terms of increased sales.

Providing delivery yourself requires preparation. Not only do you need a properly equipped vehicle and insurance (if using a personal vehicle your insurance company will need to know it is being used for business purposes), but you will have fuel costs, labor time to make deliveries, a delivery and routing schedule, and contingencies should customers not be at home when you deliver goods.

Here are examples of issues an entrepreneur would need to consider if they were providing delivery of food items or items subject to spoilage:

- Range for delivery: make it clear to your customers the boundaries of your delivery service.

- Delivery vehicle: If you can afford to have a dedicated delivery vehicle for your business, that may be your best option if the volume of deliveries is high. However, it might take some time to get there. As an alternative, use your own vehicle, or allow your delivery driver to use their vehicle, making sure to track gas mileage so they can be reimbursed.

- Delivery driver: maybe this is you, or a family member to start out, or, if the volume of orders becomes substantial enough, hire an employee whose sole purpose is to deliver food.

- Mechanism of keeping food warm or cold.

- Packaging in which items will be delivered.

- A delivery system: This can include a range of factors such as how items are loaded into the vehicle and in what order, a delivery route schedule, how customers are informed of delivery times, how completed deliveries are recorded, how to handle orders that include incorrect items or items damaged in transit, among other things.

Today, it is increasingly easy to find third party delivery services that can remove a lot of the delivery headaches. Some specialize in particular items (e.g., Uber Eats or Doordash for restaurant deliveries, Instacart for groceries) and some deliver a broader range of items (e.g., Roadie). With these, you need to look carefully at their performance records, fee schedules, and guarantees or commitments.

Establishing your shipping approach

Shipping items of all types and sizes has become relatively easy, affordable, and allows entrepreneurs to reach customers in locations far from wherever the entrepreneur is based. While a shipping strategy is a necessity for online businesses, it is increasingly important for lots of businesses that sell products from physical locations.

Start by defining your shipping strategy. Consider the types of products you sell, the average order size, your target market and where they are located, how quickly customers require the items, and your budget. Will you offer free shipping, charge customers for shipping, or have a combination of both? Will you handle shipping in-house or outsource it to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider? These third-party companies can handle all your order fulfillment needs for you.

Take into account such factors as packaging materials, weight, dimensions, shipping method, destination, and calculate your shipping cost. If you are shipping multiple different products, you’ll want to calculate the cost of each product as they may differ by size. The US Postal Service, as well as carriers like United Parcel Service (UPS) and FedEx have easy to use calculators to help you determine the cost of shipping.

Next you will choose a carrier. USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL are popular options. Consider the reliability, affordability, coverage areas, speed, and tracking capabilities when deciding who to go with.

Once you have decided on a carrier, you’ll need to gather the necessary supplies to ship your products, this may include packages, tape, and the necessary labels. Be sure to package your products correctly and according to the carrier’s guidelines. This will ensure products get to your customer timely and safely. Consider also how you want the contents to arrive to your customer, and what kind of experience you want them to have in opening your package, called an “unboxing experience”. This will be the first impression your customer has of your products and your business. Do you want to include a thank you note, instructions about the product, or the story behind your business? Will the product be wrapped in brand-identifiable paper? Will you include QR codes leading to special offers, places to leave testimonials, or provide feedback? Consider the box and package an opportunity to build or deepen a relationship with your customer and set you apart from competitors.

After deciding what carrier to use, a system for shipping will need to be put into place. This may include setting up a shipping station in your home, office, or store, designating specific people to handle shipping, or specific tasks of shipping, and also putting protocol in place to ensure that customers receive their package on time. You may ship goods (or have them picked up for shipment) at a particular time each day. Whatever this process looks like, you will want it to be systematic. Also, the customer should receive tracking information after placing an order. This can be as simple as sending a picture of the tracking information from the shipping receipt to the customer’s email or phone number. Tracking info allows the customer to track their own package, and can also save you from liability when packages go missing, or arrive late.

The shipping process should be clear to your customers. Make sure that your website has all of the information regarding shipping, like the price, expected delivery date, return policy, and any other charges or restrictions.

Finally, here are some general questions to address when making decisions about both delivery and shipping:

1. Do your competitors charge for shipping or delivery?

2. Is it typical in your industry to charge for shipping or delivery? For example, in the food delivery industry, a delivery fee is almost always charged.

3. What would your customer expect? In some cases, free shipping or delivery will not only entice a customer to buy your product, but it will also bring them back in the future.

4. Distance. If most of your shipping is done locally, then offering free shipping may be more affordable.

5. Evaluate your pricing strategy. Does your strategy leave room for your business to absorb the cost of shipping? Or will this greatly affect your profit? You may consider raising the price of the product in order to offer free shipping to customers.

If the shipping and delivery processes seem daunting and you are not sure where to start, research to see how other companies do it, and be sure to consult people in your network running similar businesses. Ask how they structure their shipping, what carrier they use, if they charge for shipping, and anything else you may want advice on.