• Use data to your advantage. Shipping and billing data are very complex. Spend the time to become knowledgeable about this information, or outsource its management to firms that specialize in these areas. Nearly every shipper I have met is overpaying for freight: they’re not monitoring shipments to make sure that all charges are accurate, paying for shipments that don’t arrive in the guaranteed delivery time, not routing shipments using the correct products or service levels, or simply paying more than they should based on the rates they have negotiated. The more retailers understand their unique shipping profiles and can coherently discuss them, the more likely they are to pay less.