This article is about Actionable Insights and the different recommendations found on the platform.
The Actionable Insights found on some of the VitalFactors™ page identify potential areas that you can take action on, that would positively impact your RPI score and overall VitalFactors™. This is additional potential savings on top of our Audit Recovery and Contract Negotiation services.
To view details on a specific Actionable Insight, click on the dropdown arrow. Here you will see the $ impact of the insight and you can generate a detailed report in excel format.
Detailed desciption below are the different intelligent insights you can find on each of the VitalFactors™ pages.
Service Spend VitalFactors™
| Actionable Insights | Description |
| Service Level Optimization Air -> Ground |
These are packages sent using Air/Express services that could've been sent via Ground services and still arrived the same day. |
| Service Level Optimization Int'l Priority -> Int'l Economy |
These packages were sent using International Priority (Express), which could have been shipped using International Economy. For some fantastic savings, think about utilizing the delayed international service. |
| Service Level Optimization Overnight Priority -> Overnight Standard |
These are packages sent utilizing the Overnight Priority service when Overnight Standard would have been a better/cheaper option. Sending the packages using Overnight Standard will still deliver the package the next day for less cost if they don't need to be there in the morning. |
| Service Level Optimization FedEx Ground -> Home Delivery |
These are packages that should have been dispatched by FedEx Home Delivery but were instead sent via FedEx Ground for a lower Residential Surcharge cost. |
|
Service Level Optimization Heavy USPS Final Mile -> Home Delivery |
These are packages with over 9lbs sent using USPS Final Mile. Note that rates for this service increase sharply on 10lbs and up. You may want to ship these packages using Ground Residential instead. |
| Early AM Usage | Overnight Early AM is guaranteed at 8 am. This service is incredibly pricey. If it's not necessary for it to arrive by 8 am, think about selecting one of the other overnight delivery options for some great savings. |
| Service Spend Outliers | We use statistical analysis that detects fraud, and flags possible errors or just sudden change in your service spend that you can work on to lower costs. Carrier invoices have thousands of lines of shipping data, while our Actionable Insights are powered by AI tools to find out errors and other things that human beings can't in an economical way. |
Surcharge Spend VitalFactors™
| Actionable Insights | Description |
| Recurring Address Corrections | These are shipments made to the same incorrect address more than once. To avoid continuously paying the costly extra fee, you may update your CRM/database as needed. |
| Oversize Box Fees | These are shipments with package's dimensions exceeded the limits set by the carriers. The published charge for this fee ranges from $100 to $145. |
| Unauthorized Package (FedEx) / Over Maximum Limits (UPS) | These are the packages for which the Over Maximum Limits surcharge was applied. Many individuals are unaware that the listed charge for this is $920 and is the most expensive surcharge available. This happened as a result of the package's weight exceeding 150 lbs. or its dimensions going over the carriers' maximums. |
| Surcharge Spend Outliers | We're giving you visibility for these outliers so you can be aware of the high hitters on week-over-week surcharge spend. |
Weight
| Actionable Insight | Description |
| High Weight Detection | This alerts you to high-weight packages that are outside your normal shipping behavior. |
Avg Zone
| Actionable Insight | Description |
| Zone Outliers | This gives you visibility on the sudden change in zones for a certain week that could cause a sudden increase in your transportation cost. By identifying these outliers, you can review and potentially optimize your shipping logic. |
Q: Why do the Actionable insights from the Service Spend VitalFactors™ suggest to downgrade the 1-day priority service (or other higher cost service) to Ground service, even when ground service can take up to 5 days?
A: Besides the cost that will lead to lower expenses, Carriers have pretty much improved their ground services recently. So if the packages are going to nearby zones, then they should have the same delivery timeline as with the higher cost services such as 1-day priority or 1-day standard. Our Reveel platform has identified that some of the packages that our clients shipped are just going to nearby zones so we are suggesting an opportunity for our clients to save cost and packages should still arrive as fast as 1 day even when the services are just ground commercial or ground residential.