Glossary
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- 3D Process: VeriShip’s objective, data-driven platform that includes parcel audit (Data), parcel intelligence (Diagnosis), and parcel logistics engineering (Design)
- 3PL or TPL: An acronym for third-party logistics. In logistics and supply chain management, this is a company’s use of third-party businesses to outsource elements of the company’s distribution and fulfillment services. VeriShip is not a 3PL firm.
A
- Accessorial Charges: Extra services ordered for a shipment or extra items required to ensure delivery (e.g. destination charge or a fee for handling hazardous materials). Also referred to as value-added service charges, these are extra services you can add to your shipping selection to meet a complete range of shipping needs.
- Advanced Shipping Notice: Detailed shipping information transmitted to a customer prior to delivery, detailing the contents and nature of the shipment. It may also include shipment specifics, such as time of shipment and expected time of arrival.
- Aggregate Shipment: Multiple shipments from different sellers to a single person, which are consolidated by the carrier into a single shipment.
- Arrival Notice: Notification provided by the carrier when a shipment reaches its consignee.
- Audit: See parcel audit
B
- Big Data: Large, complex data sets, and the technology that allows processing against that data.
- Bill of Lading (BOL): A transportation document that acts as the contract of carriage, containing terms and conditions between the carrier and shipper.
- Blanket Rate: A rate that doesn’t change based on distance a package is shipped.
- Business Intelligence: Actionable intelligence that closes the loop and makes data usable for decision-makers.
C
- Carrier: Shipping provide.
- Carrier Agreements or Carrier Contracts: Optimized service agreements/contracts between carrier and shipper.
- Carrier Invoice: Invoice issued by carrier to shipper for services rendered.
- Cargo: Any goods being transported, regardless of the mode of transportation.
- Cash on Delivery: The sale of goods in which payment is made upon delivery, as opposed to in advance.
- Certificate of Inspection: A document certifying that the product is in good condition prior to being shipped.
- Certificate of Origin: An international document that certifies the country of origin of the shipment.
- Claim: A demand made by a customer to a carrier for payment to compensate for lost or damaged goods.
- Commercial Delivery: Delivery to a commercial address. Carriers often have specific definitions for what constitutes a commercial address versus a residential one.
- Commercial Invoice: A document that is used to indicate the name and address of the buyer and seller, the product being shipped, and its value. It’s created by the seller, and is used for customs, insurance or other purposes.
- Commodity: Any commercial good that is shipped.
- Concealed Loss or Concealed Damage: Shortage of damaged goods shipped that is not immediately obvious upon delivery.
- Connecting Carrier: A carrier that serves as an intermediary between two or more other carriers.
- Consignee: The importer of record for your shipment. They are also responsible for paying duties and any additional freight charges.
- Consignor: The exporter of record for your shipment.
- Contract: A legally binding agreement between two parties.
- Logistics Engineering (CE) or Parcel Logistics Engineering: VeriShip service to effectively optimize client-specific carrier agreements.
- Consignee: The person to whom a shipment will be delivered.
- Courier: Carrier employee tasked with completing delivery
D
- Dangerous Goods: A shipment may contain dangerous goods if they are corrosive, flammable, toxic, explosive, poisonous, etc. Shipping dangerous goods may require special documentation.
- Dangerous Goods Declaration: A document produced by an exporter that provides details on the dangerous goods in their shipment.
- Declared Value: The value of goods, declared by the shipper on a bill of lading. The purpose is to determine a freight rate or the limit of the carrier’s liability. It’s also used by customs as the basis for calculating duties, etc.
- Delivery Receipt: A document signed by the consignee confirming receipt of goods.
- Destination Control Statement: A legal statement put on a shipping document that requires goods to be transferred to the ultimate consignee only and no other party.
- DHL: Germany-based carrier, owned by Deutsche Post, that recently reentered the US market.
- Dimensional (DIM) Weight Pricing: Pricing technique for commercial freight transport (including courier and postal services) to calculate weight based on scanned dimensions (length, width, and height) of a package.
- Drop Ship: A fulfillment strategy where products are shipped from the manufacturer to the customer or distributor, bypassing the retail or secondary distribution location. It’s intended to expedite delivery and reduce handling costs.
E
- Effective Discounts: Actual, realized discount applied to a package, frequently different from the amount listed in the contract’s discount matrix. Effective discounts are the discounts that matter and depend heavily on factors such as minimum package charges, weekly average spend, package count commitments, the use of electronic billing, etc.
F
- FBA Commission: A fee paid for each order which is a percentage of the total price the unit sold for (% is based on category and everyone pays this, even if not using FBA)
- FBA Fee: A fee paid for each order placed by a customer ( based on dimensions and weight categories, updated each year in Feb)
- FBA Storage: A fee paid on avg amount of sq ft sellers products take up in Amazon per month. Prices in Q1-Q3 are the same, Q4 they increase a lot.
- Fuel Surcharge: An index-based surcharge adjusted regularly (such as weekly).
G
- General Rate Increase (GRI): Annual net average rate increase across a carrier’s service offerings that informs rates for services published in carrier service guides.
- Guaranteed Service Refund (GSR) Waiver: Many companies are misled into believing they must sign these, but these waivers prohibit companies who sign them from utilizing an independent parcel auditor to recover money owed to them for late deliveries, incorrect parcel sizes, and other carrier mistakes.
H
I
J
K
L
- Landed Cost: Total cost of delivering a package, including all accessorials, surcharges, value-added services, etc., typically fully known after delivery (“landing”).
- Last-Mile Delivery: Describes the part of the supply chain in which packages move from the hub or fulfillment center to the final destination.
- Logistics: The management of products as they are transported from their point of origin to their final destination.
- LTL (less than truckload): Type of freight shipping in which the shipment takes up less than the entire space or weight limit of a trailer.
M
- Minimum Package Charge (minimum spend): Minimum amount a carrier will charge a shipper. This floor reflects the absolute lowest billed cost of a package, even despite any offered discount.
N
- NPOD: No Proof of Delivery
O
- Origin: The location where a shipment begins its journey.
P
- Package: See parcel
- Packing List: A document that accompanies a shipment. Also called a packing slip, this lists the products within a shipment, along with packaging information.
- Pallet: A platform on which packages are loaded to make transporting them easier.
- Parcel: Item to be shipped. Typically a small package below 150 pounds. Also referred to as package, piece, or shipment.
- Parcel Audit: Service offered by VeriShip whereby carrier invoices are examined and refunds are secured for the client.
- Parcel Lockers: Secure location, often larger than a standard mailbox, for delivery packages to as opposed to doorstep or other leave-behind delivery.
- Parcel Spend: Cost of total volume of parcel shipping, typically as an annual value (e.g. $200k yearly parcel spend).
- Piece: See parcel
- Postal Induction: Description of service provided by carriers that uses USPS for delivery.
- Predictive Analytics: In data science, what’s likely to occur based on the data story. Build on descriptive analytics.
Q
R
- Rate Sheet: See: carrier service guide
- Re-rate: See: contract rerate.
- Residential Delivery: Sometimes segmented as home delivery residential or ground residential. Residential delivery costs more than commercial delivery and may include a surcharge. Carriers often have specific definitions for what constitutes a residential address.
- Return Service: The inclusion of a shipping label that enables the customer to return a package to the sender.
- Reverse Logistics: A type of logistics focused on the movement and management of products after the sale and delivery to the customer (includes returns for repair and/or credit).
- Rush Delivery: Quick-turnaround delivery service type offered by carriers.
S
- Self-Service Lockers: See parcel lockers
- Service Type: Specific carrier service offering (e.g. ground, air, next day, hundredweight, etc.)
- Shipment: Single or, more likely, multiple parcel(s), piece(s), package(s) to be shipped.
- Shipper: Company or person engaging in parcel shipping via a carrier
- Shipping Profile: Overview of type of shipper – volume, preferred service types, geographic distribution, etc.
- Service Guide: See: carrier service guide
- Supply Chain: Describes the network connecting the organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in moving a product from supplier to customer.
- Surcharge: An extra fee added to the regular cost of shipment. (e.g. fuel, peak season, residential delivery, etc.)
- Surtax: An extra or additional tax.
T
- Threshold: The line differentiating one price point, level of service, size, etc.
- TPL (third-party logistics): See 3PL
- TL (truckload) or FTL (full truckload): Type of freight shipping in which the shipment takes up the entire space or weight limit of a trailer.
U
- Unit Load: Packages loaded onto a pallet, in a crate or another way that allows for them to be handled as a single unit.
V
- Value-Added Service: Additional, extra-cost options on top of the price associated with specific service types.
- VeriShip Intelligence Platform (VIP): VeriShip’s subscription-based, client-specific service that provides visibility and functionality into their parcel shipping trends and analysis. VIP Premium includes the full suite of key performance indicators (KPIs), charts, reports, monitoring, and alerts. Provides client with summary and detailed views of realized and potential savings realized from VeriShip services.
W
- Warehouse: A place for storage, consolidation and distribution of goods.
X
Y
Z
- Zone: Carrier-defined area/region