How to Slash Freight Claims and Chargebacks for Enriched Shipping Transactions

Introduction

Freight claims and charge books are too common in a dynamic shipping business. These can eat away your substantial profits if you are not vigilant about your supplies or fail to comply with various procedures. So, whenever a retailer or a carrier disputes a shipment, you end up paying huge amounts of money, while spoiling your goodwill and precious time. But what if we say, there’s a way out to mitigate these challenges easily, ensuring peace of mind in every shipping transaction? That’s where the concept of digital documentation comes into picture that is powered by the Propel Apps’ ShipProof feature of mobile supply chain solution.

Hence this blog talks about some of the typical challenges of freight claims, and how ShipProof’s feature helps overcome these challenges, providing a digital approach to each and every shipping transaction.

The True Cost of Freight Claims

A single claim can trigger a slew of challenges, which is not just a simple line item on your balance sheet. Some of the key challenges include:

• Lost revenue: With lack of proper evidence, unsubstantiated claims often go uncontested, meaning you end up losing precious revenue.

• Cumbersome effort: When your staff spend hours searching for scattered and scrambled documentation, it leads to fatigue and operational drag.

• Losing goodwill: When disputes become too frequent, it will wipe off your trust with retailers and the carriers that you have built over the years – an event which you can’t afford to happen.

• Low morale: Employees tend to lose their morale and confidence, while becoming frustrated by dealing with recurring, manual tasks.

A 2024 Gartner report found that companies with robust digital documentation reduced claim-related losses by up to 65% compared to those using paper-based systems.

Digital solution – your reliable friend in your shipping transactions to create a positive impact

As already discussed before, paper-based and manual processes no longer work in a fast-paced logistic environment where even a small lapse or mistake can cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars. So, it’s time to go digital - the right way.

Though there are a couple of digital solutions that stand out in the market, one such feature within a robust supply chain management solution that is trustworthy is ShipProof. This is one of the several value-added features within the Propel Apps’ mobile supply chain solution that can help mitigate the challenges encountered due to paper-based and manual processes, ending up in huge freight claims and chargebacks.

Let’s understand how you can mitigate claims and chargebacks using the ShipProof feature:

• High-resolution, time-stamped photos and videos: Capture high-resolution photos and videos at every shipment milestone – from packing to delivery.

• Secure, centralized documentation: Store all files in a secure, centralized platform that acts as a searchable cloud repository.

• Automated exception tracking: Record damages, shortages, or delays using supporting documentation, and trigger instant alerts.

• Quick sharing: Provide solid proof to partners, when needed, drastically reducing dispute period.

Let’s appreciate the real benefits of ShipProof using a live case study shown below:

Live Case Study

A global electronics distributor faced huge chargebacks from a major retailer, often due to alleged damages in their shipping transactions. With scrambled documentation or sometimes lacking proof, the client decided to go digital and hence evaluated a couple of options including Propel Apps’ mobile supply chain management solution. After evaluating the ShipProof feature that was in perfect sync with its shipping transactions, the client adopted this solution and experienced tangible benefits as follows:

• Every outbound shipment was properly photographed and logged.

• Whenever there was a claim, the distributor had an opportunity to submit digital proof within minutes, showcasing the shipment’s condition at every stage.

• All these helped the retailer to minimize claims by more than 70%, while the distributor could recover over $1.5 million in disputed revenue within a year.

Top Benefits of ShipProof

• View event documentation up to the granular level: Drill down to the minute details and items – a unique feature of ShipProof.

• Enjoy contactless digital PoD: This has become all too common in a post pandemic world to ensure speed and safety, particularly in high-volume environments across each shipping transaction.

• ERP integration: This feature perfectly integrates with SAP S4 HANA, Oracle SCM Cloud or Oracle EBS, providing last mile transparency across all your shipping transactions.

Ready to prevent profit leaks from frequent freight claims and chargebacks? It’s time to go digital – embrace ShipProof today and see the magic! To learn more about this feature and how it can add value to every shipping transaction you process, schedule a free demo today.

Final Thoughts

Digital documentation is no longer a luxury. With growing documentation complexities in the shipping industry, coupled with strict legal compliances, it has become a part and parcel of every business to earnestly embrace and move ahead. Digital documentation fosters a culture of accountability, while protecting your bottom line. Your workforce knows what action is logged, partners have faith in your data, and customers enjoy high-level transparency. This is what every organization dreams of, and that’s what ShipProof promises to offer.