When ordering from overseas how do I determine if it is more cost efficient to fill the container or send the container partially full?
What is the ‘cost’ of shipping ‘air’ versus the cost of carrying stock earlier than needed?
On the face of it, the decision can be reasonably simple. Evaluate the carrying cost of the stock that you have to bring forward to fill or partially fill the container and compare that with the savings in freight you can expect.
However is that the complete question?
But that then begs the question, when is the next container expected to ship? And how full will that be? And if it is full with bulky items is it better to keep your options open and ship some bulky items sooner? If you over-order now which products should you order and in what quantities? Does your supplier have a minimum order value? A set of discount breaks? Are you consolidating multiple suppliers into the one container? If you ship it now what effect might that have later?
Fortunately micq-if can help you balance all these decisions and the benefits could easily amount to thousands of dollars.