If you have noticed that the cost of everything has jumped since 2021, you’re not the only one.
As reported by the ABC, “Economists are predicting the official measure of price rises (CPI) will hit 5 per cent next quarter.”
This is due to a factors including:
- Supply chain delays as a result of COVID
- Recent floods in NSW, Qld and the South Australian/West Australian outback
- Conflict between Russia and Ukraine adding pressure to prices by threatening global fuel and wheat supplies.
- Fuel shortages in Australia that are driving costs skywards.
There is also the cost of labour; with a lack of qualified drivers in Australia right now, anyone who earns a living by steering heavy machinery across the country has been demanding higher wages than ever to do so.
It isn’t known yet if inflated prices are temporary or set to stay. There may be some light at the end of the tunnel when, for example, international workers return to Australia and take up jobs in the freight industry.
Even if there is an end in sight, if you’re a retailer or if you ship goods to clients, you are no doubt feeling the pinch.
How to rise above inflation
Right now is an excellent time to review efficiency in your workplace and identify the places where you could be saving money. With prices expected to jump by 5%, you need to find ways to reduce costs without sacrificing the quality of your goods or services.
Technology provides one opportunity to automate and reduce costs. For example, if your team is manually handling orders, handwriting addresses and updating systems keystroke by keystroke, it’s time to invest in automation. This may require some upfront costs but you’ll be able to reduce your team’s workloads by creating online order pages that ‘talk’ to your printers so labels are automatically generated.
If you can reduce manual processes, you’ll be able to increase efficiency and assign your staff to more productive tasks.
There are a number of ways to automate your labelling and shipping processes; talk to us for advice and recommendations.
Take a combined approach to reducing costs
Improving automation is one way to minimise your expenses. You can also conduct a thorough expense analysis to ensure you aren’t paying above benchmark prices and check if you can get a better deal on things like office supplies or small items like labels, boxes and packaging supplies. These costs may seem insignificant but they can add up to have a big impact, even for small businesses.
It’s worth noting that the cost of freight and transport has been very cheap for the last decade or so. People have become used to paying very little for these services but there have been a couple jumps in the cost of freight over the last six months, for all the reasons listed above.
We have written previously about covering the rising cost of shipping by:
- Adding a ‘premium’ cost for clients who want fast delivery
- Exploring more cost-effective ‘click and collect’ options
- Introducing a shipping cost that clients have the option to offset by, for example, referring a friend or exceeding a minimum spend
It’s also important to reduce costs by working with the best freight companies. Even if you have been using the same provider for many years, they may not be giving you the best deal. With prices going up and up, now’s the time to spend some time investigating your freight provider solutions to ensure you’re not paying more than you should be.
Get help to minimise the cost of freight in 2022. Contact EFS today.
