Transcripts
Welcome back to Unboxing Logistics.
Speaker:I'm your host, Lori Boyer of EasyPost, and today we are gonna be talking
Speaker:about cross-border shipping, especially as it relates to peak season.
Speaker:That's coming up for 2025.
Speaker:This is one of the questions we get a lot from shippers
Speaker:out there, how to manage this.
Speaker:There's been a lot of challenges in this area, so by popular demand.
Speaker:I have brought back one of our favorites to work with, Jonathan Witt of Sendle.
Speaker:Why don't you go ahead.
Speaker:I like to call him Witty.
Speaker:So our, our dear Witty, he's the best.
Speaker:Why don't you introduce yourself a little bit, tell our audience your
Speaker:background, remind them who you are.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Well, thanks, Lori.
Speaker:Longtime listener by the way, so I'm pretty excited to, to be here.
Speaker:And yeah, as you mentioned, my you know, go-to nickname is Witty,
Speaker:so feel free to call me that.
Speaker:But yeah.
Speaker:My name's Jonathan Witt.
Speaker:As Lori mentioned, I'm the senior partnership manager here
Speaker:at Sendle for North America.
Speaker:I've been in the role for just over two years now.
Speaker:Really loving the work that we're doing at Sendle.
Speaker:You know, we're truly leveling the playing field for SMBs by making shipping
Speaker:simple, reliable, and affordable.
Speaker:You know, packed loads of, of business benefits in there, like
Speaker:free pickups, no lock contracts.
Speaker:24/7 customer support and we're a hundred percent carbon neutral.
Speaker:All great things, of course in today's day and age.
Speaker:But prior to that, I spent almost five and a half years
Speaker:at Shopify in various roles.
Speaker:It's actually where I developed a strong passion for shipping and logistics.
Speaker:Then it got me onto the logistics partnership team where you know, I spent
Speaker:time strengthening and developing our partnerships with a variety of carriers.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:That's what got me into into the role.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:And I also love hearing about how people get into this
Speaker:industry 'cause it's so unique.
Speaker:It's, oh, okay.
Speaker:I had to say, I do get some guests who are like, oh, I've been
Speaker:wanting to be in supply chain or in logistics since I was little.
Speaker:That is often the anomaly.
Speaker:It's, it is fun to see how people get in.
Speaker:But Witty is one of my favorites.
Speaker:He is so smart.
Speaker:He is so helpful, and so I think he is going to be the perfect
Speaker:one to help us walk through this challenge of what do we do?
Speaker:What are the best practices?
Speaker:What, you know, how can we make sure that we're not just bleeding money.
Speaker:But before we do that.
Speaker:Witty.
Speaker:If somebody asked me one of the people I admire in the industry, I would say
Speaker:you, Jonathan Witt, you are amazing.
Speaker:Love working with you.
Speaker:But for you, one of the things we've been asking our guests is
Speaker:just about somebody they admire.
Speaker:So who is someone that you really admire from the industry and why?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh my gosh, that's a great question.
Speaker:I mean, thanks for, for saying me, but
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I actually have to say, probably one of you know an EasyPost employee of yours.
Speaker:Bobbi Richardson.
Speaker:She and I worked at Shopify together.
Speaker:Really dove into a lot of you know, postal relationship
Speaker:stuff and partnership stuff.
Speaker:You know, my, my lead now Laura Hill has been a really instrumental
Speaker:part of my career development.
Speaker:So yeah, those, those two have just really, you know,
Speaker:allowed me to become kind of the partnership manager I am today.
Speaker:And I really love the space.
Speaker:I love how cross-functional the role is and just.
Speaker:Being able to really take a lot of different components of the business, from
Speaker:sales network, marketing, product, mixing it all into one, and then you're, you
Speaker:know, you're building collaboration pieces and, and relationships with partners.
Speaker:So yeah, I feel like it's, it's a role I've, I've really enjoyed and
Speaker:kind of am a good fit for and just keep learning so much every day.
Speaker:So, yeah, I I love it.
Speaker:Aw, that is so good.
Speaker:And giant shout out to Bobbi.
Speaker:I adore Bobbi.
Speaker:So Bobbi, she is wicked smart and she works so hard.
Speaker:No one works harder than Bobbi.
Speaker:So, love that.
Speaker:I also admire her so greatly, so I'm glad you brought her up.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Okay, let's try talk cross-border.
Speaker:cross-border shipping.
Speaker:I have a dear friend who runs an SMB and gets a lot of supplies from
Speaker:Canada, specifically, for this friend.
Speaker:And it's really been a struggle over the last year as we've had
Speaker:different tariffs and whatnot.
Speaker:She's constantly asking me for advice.
Speaker:I'm basically need to get smart people like you to tell me what that advice is.
Speaker:So what do you feel like, first to start, are the challenges you're seeing?
Speaker:What are, you know, some of the disruptions and issues going on
Speaker:in 2025 that people are facing?
Speaker:As you kind of said, 2025 seems to be the year of trade changes.
Speaker:As we all know, there's, there's new policies, new tariffs, new sanctions.
Speaker:All these things seem to sometimes, you know, change daily, if not weekly,
Speaker:monthly, all those things, right?
Speaker:So it's caused a, a lot of numerous shipping delays.
Speaker:It's increased the complexity in cross-border, for cross-border shippers.
Speaker:A lot of confusion both on the businesses side and the customer side.
Speaker:So just everyone's not really too sure what's going on.
Speaker:And, and businesses feel uncertain, right?
Speaker:They're, they're always wondering what new rule is gonna come next or
Speaker:what, new fee or something like that.
Speaker:But you know, what businesses must do, I think is obviously
Speaker:stay flexible, stay agile, right?
Speaker:So watch those global trade news really, really closely.
Speaker:Know your carrier shipping rules and requirements.
Speaker:So really, you know, study up on HS code stuff country of manufacturer, like where
Speaker:your item's actually being manufactured, your item value de minimis values, all
Speaker:of those things because that'll actually help avoid delays, surprise costs, and
Speaker:or any blocked or, you know, seized shipments at, at a border crossing, right?
Speaker:Another thing to really keep a top of mind for, for brands is the
Speaker:customer experience really is top priority for your international buyers.
Speaker:It's been a challenging year, obviously to build out a, a strategy
Speaker:to keep international conversions high and prices competitive with
Speaker:tariffs and all of those things.
Speaker:But it's good to be transparent and upfront about landed costs, right?
Speaker:So it gives the customers a peace of mind sets, clear expectations on what you may
Speaker:be paying and hopefully will obviously make it a better customer experience.
Speaker:Completely accurate.
Speaker:I love how you mentioned the uncertainty because I feel like that uncertainty is
Speaker:worse and almost harder to handle than knowing you have a hard thing, right?
Speaker:Like not knowing how to forecast, right.
Speaker:Not knowing what consumer intent is going to be.
Speaker:Not knowing what additional regulations.
Speaker:So you mentioned staying abreast of everything, making sure you're,
Speaker:you're staying in the loop.
Speaker:First off, I always like to say shout out to people who are listening.
Speaker:You obviously are trying to do your part to stay in the loop with things like this.
Speaker:But do you have other advice in general, Witty for people who want to stay?
Speaker:You know, are there good sources to go to?
Speaker:How, how do you stay in the loop?
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And it can be kind of hard to stay in the loop sometimes 'cause there's a
Speaker:lot of conflicting things out there.
Speaker:A lot of articles can be overwhelming, obviously a, you know, for, for folks.
Speaker:But going to your carrier's website is a really good source of information.
Speaker:Usually they have help documents or something like that online that'll kind
Speaker:of give you the latest and greatest of, especially of like what they're requiring
Speaker:as a carrier since you're using them.
Speaker:All of that sort of thing.
Speaker:You know, your news outlets to a certain extent obviously will kind of
Speaker:have the latest and greatest on all.
Speaker:There's a tariff here, tariff there.
Speaker:I actually signed up for some email you know, notifications to my inbox from
Speaker:like Supply Chain Drive and all them.
Speaker:They're a really great source of information and stuff like that.
Speaker:But yeah, if you wanna try to keep it simple, usually your carrier websites
Speaker:is, is kind of the first stop for me.
Speaker:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker:I think as well, you know, you kind of mentioned those sort of
Speaker:relationships, like reaching out to people, talking to your carriers,
Speaker:keeping those communications open.
Speaker:If you do see a news article about A, B, or C.
Speaker:You know, ask people, people are happy to help.
Speaker:So that, that's fantastic.
Speaker:So stay flexible, stay in the loop.
Speaker:Make sure that you're kind of knowing what's going on so you can anticipate
Speaker:and you don't feel quite as uncertain.
Speaker:Are you hearing any vibes that there might be, you know, regulations people
Speaker:should be aware of, or anything else coming up or that's happened recently
Speaker:that people need to know about?
Speaker:I think, you know obviously de minimis value has a big, been
Speaker:a big one for the U.S. Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And it's impending.
Speaker:In case somebody is just hearing de minimis for the first time.
Speaker:Will you explain what that is for them.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So de minimis value is basically the threshold that up to a certain
Speaker:dollar amount duties and taxes would, the good would be exempt from that.
Speaker:So let's use the U.S. for example.
Speaker:A good manufactured in Canada, right?
Speaker:So for example, I can ship a good to the, to the U.S., anything under
Speaker:$800 is exempt from duties and taxes.
Speaker:So obviously that's a great way for my ecommerce business to expand
Speaker:into the U.S. because my customers aren't gonna have to pay duties and
Speaker:taxes on anything that's below $800.
Speaker:On the flip side, coming to Canada, our de minimis value is only like $20.
Speaker:So expanding into Canada or us Canadians buying from the U.S. we're kind of like,
Speaker:you know, ah, yeah, duties and taxes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We'll probably get something, maybe sometimes not just depends.
Speaker:But yeah, so that's, that's one to kind of really watch closely especially
Speaker:if you are selling into the U.S. if you're an international shipper,
Speaker:just because that de minimis value might be going away or likely is you
Speaker:know, within the next year or two.
Speaker:So really watch that news closely and see obviously what, what changes are there.
Speaker:It also kind of opens the door for opportunities as well.
Speaker:So study up on different international markets and see what their de minimis
Speaker:values is because it might actually pivot yourself and be well, that de minimis
Speaker:value in that country is this amount, and we actually have a decent amount of
Speaker:store traffic coming from that country.
Speaker:So maybe it's a new market that you'd never explored and you know, 2025,
Speaker:2026 might be a good opportunity to, to, you know, expand your reach at and,
Speaker:and try to grab some more customers.
Speaker:Yeah, no, that's, that's a great point.
Speaker:We actually have a podcast episode all around de minimis,
Speaker:so if you do wanna learn more about de minimis, check that out.
Speaker:But absolutely.
Speaker:The U.S. has had historically a really high de minimis.
Speaker:That 800 is really high compared to most people, and as you said,
Speaker:that is one of those things that is likely going away at this point.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Keep, just keep abreast of all of that.
Speaker:Any other regulations or anything that you feel like people should
Speaker:be kind of keeping an eye on?
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:I think another big one was country of manufacturers.
Speaker:So where that item's actually manufactured.
Speaker:So for example, bringing into the U.S. anything from China or Hong Kong
Speaker:has additional tariffs onto that.
Speaker:If it was manufactured there and you're selling that, you know that product that
Speaker:was manufactured there, so you really want to just be aware of where your
Speaker:products are being made and, you know, can plan accordingly for those landed
Speaker:costs and whatever that looks like for your pricing model to your customers.
Speaker:So that's another big one to, to kind of keep in mind.
Speaker:And then any additional tariffs obviously, if depending on obviously
Speaker:what you're selling and what the news is this next week or, or whatnot.
Speaker:Trying to keep up with that exactly.
Speaker:Next hour.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And the next, you know, we, it is, this is kind of an era where we
Speaker:really need to keep our eyes on the news and, and what is happening more
Speaker:than often we'd need to in the past.
Speaker:So just keep a close eye on that.
Speaker:I love your advice of looking for opportunities though, because anytime
Speaker:there's, you know, changes like this that does open up different
Speaker:opportunities, so that's a great point.
Speaker:One of the things that, as I've talked to different people and different
Speaker:shippers, sometimes they end up getting surprised by some duties and fees.
Speaker:And I, I guess I'm, they're curious first, how do you not get surprised?
Speaker:How do you not get surprised?
Speaker:How do you not surprise customers?
Speaker:So sometimes our customers, those fees may get passed along to them.
Speaker:You know.
Speaker:What do you feel about DDP?
Speaker:What, what do we do about those, those fees and, and should
Speaker:we pass 'em to our customers?
Speaker:Should we not?
Speaker:What are best practices around that?
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:And that's a great one too.
Speaker:So making international shipping as easy as you can for your customers
Speaker:is all about transparency, you know, at the checkout level, right?
Speaker:So like you kind of mentioned, if the choice between a delivered duty paid, DDP,
Speaker:or a delivered duty unpaid, DDU, really depends on, you know, what, where you're
Speaker:selling from and to what the item is, the value, all of those sorts of things.
Speaker:So to unpack that a little bit further, like a DDP solution makes most sense.
Speaker:And it's actually been, you know, the service that's been mostly discussed
Speaker:obviously this year with all these changes, but essentially it's when
Speaker:the buyer or the receiver has to pay all the shipping costs and duties and
Speaker:taxes upfront at checkout, so there's no surprises when the package arrives.
Speaker:It does create a superior customer experience and a reduction
Speaker:in customer service inquiries.
Speaker:And it makes sense when the value of the item that you're selling is over
Speaker:the destination country's de minimis value or you're selling an object that
Speaker:is subject to additional tariffs, right?
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Being a little bit more transparent about, okay, these are the, you know,
Speaker:fully landed cost to you just makes a better customer experience and then they
Speaker:can kind of make that decision based on knowing the information all ahead of time.
Speaker:Where a DDU solution is, the buyer or receiver pays those duties and taxes
Speaker:when the package actually arrives to them.
Speaker:So that can obviously lead to some dreaded surprise fees and, and longer
Speaker:transit times just because it has to go through customs, look at everything
Speaker:and all those sorts of things.
Speaker:But the surprise fees, if a customer didn't know about duties
Speaker:and taxes or that it's gonna be this amount or something like that.
Speaker:Obviously it kind of leaves or can, can leave a, a bad customer experience.
Speaker:But it, a DDU solution does make sense if you're selling items that are, you
Speaker:know, under the de minimis value for the country that you're, you're shipping to
Speaker:or if your goods are exempt from duty.
Speaker:So it, it really boils down to what you're selling and stuff like that.
Speaker:But using a DDU solution or even DDP, it's, it's really about being
Speaker:transparent, you know, telling customers about the extra fees, like clearly
Speaker:at the checkout or the cart page.
Speaker:There's lots of things out there where you can actually show a breakdown
Speaker:or have a calculator on the checkout or the or the cart page at least.
Speaker:Or at least, you know, at the very least, put all the information on a dedicated
Speaker:info page on your, on your website.
Speaker:So that customer education is really key to help with those conversions.
Speaker:And again, just reduce the customer service inquiries and, and bad
Speaker:customer experience for your, for your international buyers.
Speaker:That really resonates with me.
Speaker:I know personally I would, you know, do not wanna be caught with some
Speaker:sort of surprise charge for anything.
Speaker:The fact that transparency and simply letting people know what they're getting
Speaker:so that they are available and, and able to pay and, and not be upset.
Speaker:Because it is pretty fast that people will say, wow, you know, sometimes
Speaker:we have the, we, if we choose to fly like the really cheap airlines, you're
Speaker:like, wow, this price looks amazing.
Speaker:But then there's like 6,942 fees and it ends up being really
Speaker:expensive and it's a bad experience.
Speaker:And so, yeah.
Speaker:I love your advice about transparency.
Speaker:I know as a consumer myself, that that is the key.
Speaker:I'm, if I choose to pay that, then I'm comfortable with it.
Speaker:So that's great advice.
Speaker:What about, one of the things that I've seen in specifically talking to
Speaker:a different friend he has a business where he had a bunch of stuff coming
Speaker:in to the U.S. from Canada and it got stuck and, and he ended up missing a
Speaker:couple of deadlines for some customers he had, shipment wise business
Speaker:customers, so they're kind of larger and he was really freaking out about it.
Speaker:Well, how do you avoid this as a shipper?
Speaker:How do you avoid your stuff getting stuck?
Speaker:Where are the places, I guess, that you know, are most likely
Speaker:that shipments will get stuck?
Speaker:Are there things people can do about it?
Speaker:What, what do we do in terms of making sure our, our goods flow through easily?
Speaker:Exactly, and I mean obviously customs clearance is probably the biggest delay
Speaker:and where things get bottled up the most.
Speaker:So why do shipments get stuck?
Speaker:Right, usually because of missing or wrong documents.
Speaker:So think your commercial invoice, which actually has all the
Speaker:product information on there.
Speaker:So it's an easy way for a custom border agent to look at what's in
Speaker:this package and obviously clear it.
Speaker:Put any duties and taxes if it's, you know, wasn't a DDP solution
Speaker:like we mentioned earlier.
Speaker:All that kind of stuff.
Speaker:But make sure that on the commercial invoice, obviously you're associating
Speaker:your products with the right HS code.
Speaker:Make sure that you're listing the country of origin correctly in case that package
Speaker:does get inspected and they're looking at it to see where it was manufactured.
Speaker:And another big one, if it's missing any health or safety notices.
Speaker:So shipping into the U.S., let's say, there's special FDA notices if I'm
Speaker:selling certain products like you know, supplements or cosmetics or something
Speaker:that falls in with those regulations.
Speaker:So you wanna make sure that you have all those things lined up ahead of time.
Speaker:And that'll really help to really expedite your shipments through
Speaker:the borders and get cleared and all that, all those sorts of things.
Speaker:There's tons of.
Speaker:I mean, there's multiple tools out there that can really help narrow down
Speaker:the correct HS codes for your products.
Speaker:So you can look those up super easily.
Speaker:You type in just like a description.
Speaker:Let's say I'm selling a white T-shirt.
Speaker:I can type in white T-shirt and I'll come up with the right code.
Speaker:You can look for other tools that'll help automate your shipping paperwork.
Speaker:So a lot of carriers will actually submit the commercial invoice electronically
Speaker:now, so it won't be another printout that you have to, like, stick on
Speaker:the box or anything like that.
Speaker:Sometimes it's still the case with carriers, but a lot of it's electronic
Speaker:now, which is all great for us.
Speaker:And you'll always wanna keep up to date on your carrier specific requirements.
Speaker:So again, looking at those help documents and stuff like that, it should
Speaker:list out all of your international requirements, maybe even down to
Speaker:the country level just depending if there's anything else that you may need.
Speaker:So, something that we kind of suggest here at Sendle as well to
Speaker:our customers is, again, those having those correct HS codes, all those
Speaker:FDA regulations if you need them.
Speaker:Consider what the de minimis value is for each country, like
Speaker:we were talking about earlier.
Speaker:So $800 to the U.S. but it's only $20 to Canada.
Speaker:It might only be 20 euros somewhere else.
Speaker:Like it just really depends.
Speaker:Commercial invoice, like we said, you want to double check again, manufacture where
Speaker:your products are actually being made.
Speaker:So all that information is ahead of time.
Speaker:And lastly, maybe this is a pretty actually important one as well,
Speaker:is to ensure that you have the receiver's contact information, so
Speaker:that phone number and email address.
Speaker:So ensure that you're capturing that information at your checkout as well.
Speaker:So it's included with the shipping label in case anything, you know,
Speaker:comes up with the shipment, the, the carrier will have the contact
Speaker:information for the receiver and it can make a, a, a better experience.
Speaker:Oh, those are all amazing.
Speaker:I, I have to say, Witty it seems like a lot.
Speaker:To remember.
Speaker:So I'm just gonna ask you honestly, like if you are using Sendle or
Speaker:something, do you help oversee all of the different things or, or you
Speaker:know, other technology or tools too?
Speaker:I mean, will they just flag and be like, hey, you're missing the receiver's
Speaker:information, or, I dunno, how do we automate all of that craziness?
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So a lot of your shipping, you know, tools, platforms, all that kind of stuff
Speaker:that you may be using, if you, let's say you're coming to Sendle directly as well.
Speaker:When you're filling in in the information, it will prompt you for
Speaker:that information, or it might not even let you go to the next step without it.
Speaker:So it's a really helpful reminder to be like, oh, input your HS
Speaker:code, like what's the country of manufacturer, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:So, you know, it definitely does sound like all these crazy steps for
Speaker:international shipping, but a lot of the, you know, platforms out there and
Speaker:softwares or carriers specifically will kind of prompt you for that
Speaker:information so that you don't forget anything that's, that's really critical.
Speaker:And you know, there obviously trying to set you up for success as well, so that
Speaker:you're so that the shipments aren't getting bottlenecked at customs either.
Speaker:But so yeah, just trying to make sure you're, you're going along with
Speaker:all the prompts and, and filling in the information correctly.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So if I start my own SMB, I'm definitely gonna use technology because I feel like
Speaker:I would never, if I was doing it manually, I would definitely be messing up.
Speaker:Let's talk carrier diversification.
Speaker:So this has been a huge move over voy, you know, it kind of, I think, kicked
Speaker:off with COVID and everybody was just desperate for carrier space anywhere,
Speaker:and, but it's actually been growing and just last year I saw a stat, a
Speaker:40 something percent growth in use of regional carriers or alternative carriers.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:People are starting to get kind of savvy about carrier diversification.
Speaker:So how, do you have recommendations when it comes to carrier diversification
Speaker:with risk, especially when you're doing cross-border shipping?
Speaker:What, what do you guys recommend?
Speaker:And you know, I, I absolutely love talking about this this topic, Lori.
Speaker:So it's, it's.
Speaker:And I love when you say a boat 'cause you're Canadian.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:For, for anyone that didn't know, they probably already got that, but.
Speaker:You're one of my favorite Canadians.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:It's so funny, like people say, I have a little bit of the, you
Speaker:know, Canadian accent if you will.
Speaker:I obviously don't hear it, but definitely at industry conferences
Speaker:and stuff, but no, I think this is it.
Speaker:It's really great.
Speaker:This topic I think it's one of the most critical parts of a
Speaker:brand shipping strategy really.
Speaker:And, and why do I think of that?
Speaker:It's just because you don't have to put all your eggs in one basket, right?
Speaker:Like every carrier has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Speaker:So why not?
Speaker:You know, a carrier might be the best for heavy items.
Speaker:Another one might be best for quick shipments across
Speaker:country or something like that.
Speaker:So it just makes sense to tap into the strengths of multiple
Speaker:carriers for the different types of shipments that you may have so you
Speaker:can optimize for both cost and speed.
Speaker:So, you know.
Speaker:Having a portfolio of carriers is really your ultimate risk
Speaker:mitigation tool as well, right?
Speaker:So we all see the headlines about labor disruption strikes or when
Speaker:a carrier hits, you know, capacity during, especially during peak season.
Speaker:When you're diversified, you can be agile and you can redirect
Speaker:that volume to another carrier.
Speaker:Your orders will be delivered, you know, on time in your SLAs and
Speaker:stuff like that to your customers.
Speaker:And you're really building in that resilience piece.
Speaker:So, you know, really now is the time to test out carriers, to rate up,
Speaker:to have conversations with carriers and really fine tune that carrier
Speaker:portfolio before heading into peak.
Speaker:Especially as, you know, we're talking about international.
Speaker:It might be good to have a, you know, a few on hand, just that maybe a carrier,
Speaker:you know, cuts a restriction off to a, a country for whatever reason, you can kind
Speaker:of go to carrier B and at least you still have volume flowing over to your customers
Speaker:in, in that country, for example.
Speaker:Or, you know, peak surcharges come into play with this carrier.
Speaker:This one, it's less so you can obviously optimize and go with that one for a
Speaker:reduced cost and operating, you know, shipping cost for, for your business.
Speaker:So it's it's super important.
Speaker:It just really builds in that, that resilience piece.
Speaker:And you can, you know, play a little bit more team mentality, if you will.
Speaker:Everyone has a strength on a team, so why not pick out the carriers that have
Speaker:the strengths and can save you time and money as a, as an as, SMB as well.
Speaker:I, I love that you talk about kind of your, your risk management there,
Speaker:because that is something, especially with, between, you know, all the natural
Speaker:disaster challenges we're having.
Speaker:Big storms out of nowhere.
Speaker:Or you know, all the geopolitical issues going on and tariffs and the stuff over in
Speaker:the Middle East and the Red Sea, and all of that can just be a, a sudden change.
Speaker:I think that's something you mentioned earlier was like
Speaker:changes are happening by the hour.
Speaker:And the ability to be flexible.
Speaker:It was really interesting.
Speaker:I've been doing a bunch of studying up on this new topic of micro surges, which
Speaker:is where it's kind of the new peak where you get these massive orders, you know,
Speaker:kicked off by a tikTok trend or buy a, a huge snowstorm and everybody's suddenly
Speaker:shopping and you didn't anticipate and, and carriers maybe max out their their
Speaker:ability to ship in a certain region.
Speaker:So that, to me, that just totally makes sense in terms of a risk management play
Speaker:that you want to be able to diversify you, you wanna be able to keep those SLAs.
Speaker:That's critical.
Speaker:I, I love, love, love that Witty.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Let's say if somebody's just thinking about cross-border, you know, maybe they,
Speaker:they would like to, they've tested out, maybe they had looked at the de minimis
Speaker:and said, hey, I, I think I have an opportunity here, or something like that.
Speaker:What is, what advice, what, what, what would you say that it's super important
Speaker:for them to have as they start out?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So I think first and foremost it's a really good idea to know where your
Speaker:products are made or manufactured.
Speaker:Especially.
Speaker:Times right now is shipping into the U.S. and stuff like that.
Speaker:So it's a really good one to kind of cross off the list early.
Speaker:Follow advice from your shipping providers.
Speaker:Again, kind of coming back to the help articles or specific requirements
Speaker:from carriers on their websites.
Speaker:So that's a really good place to start as well.
Speaker:Understand the transit times and communicate those to customers as well.
Speaker:So, you know, what's the typical transit time from, you know, the
Speaker:U.S. to the UK, for example, or something like that, and being able
Speaker:to communicate that to your customer sets the right expectations as well.
Speaker:Obviously what we've been mentioning stay across the changes in tariffs and
Speaker:de minims values and stuff like that.
Speaker:And as mentioned before, like this can be a really good opportunity for your
Speaker:business to, to, to look at other markets.
Speaker:Maybe you're seeing increased traffic on your website from a, a country and you've
Speaker:never really, you know, wanted to explore selling there or what that might take now
Speaker:might be the good time to expand that and, and grow the business internationally.
Speaker:So those are all kind of key things to know.
Speaker:And then if you haven't before, definitely look into the HS codes and start of, you
Speaker:know assigning them to your products, especially if you're selling online.
Speaker:A lot of the ecommerce platforms and stuff like that, nowadays will have
Speaker:a spot for an HS code that'll, you can put it in there, assign it to the
Speaker:product, and then you, you know, don't necessarily have to think about it again.
Speaker:'Cause it should pull in that information when you're generating
Speaker:the shipping label for it in some of the, the platforms and technology.
Speaker:So again, it can be automated and it's not as crazy as it sounds, but
Speaker:you're just making sure that you're having all the right information.
Speaker:So true.
Speaker:Have the right information, and then be really transparent with your customers
Speaker:about it so that they know what's going on and you know what's going on.
Speaker:And it's so great beyond just technology and automation.
Speaker:People in this industry are so good about helping each other and you know,
Speaker:it's one of the things I've loved this recently is being able to hear
Speaker:about people that you admire in the industry because people are really good.
Speaker:So there are so many different.
Speaker:You know, look at your, your different companies you work with,
Speaker:reach out and ask questions to them.
Speaker:If you're thinking of growing cross-border, I know here at
Speaker:EasyPost our CS team or our support team, they're so good.
Speaker:If people call and say, I'm thinking about doing this, does this even make sense?
Speaker:And they're completely happy to just talk you through it and look at your
Speaker:situation and, and, and do that.
Speaker:And I'm sure it's the same at Sendle.
Speaker:So reach out.
Speaker:Don't be afraid to ask.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And the same thing with our, you know, our customer support team's just fantastic.
Speaker:Like always pointing you to their right resources or answering questions.
Speaker:I mean, they're, they're happy to, right.
Speaker:So, you know, there, there are resources out there that, you know,
Speaker:even no, there's no stupid question.
Speaker:There's nothing like that.
Speaker:Like, don't write out a question, don't be afraid.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So now's the time.
Speaker:Yeah, that's perfect.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So when it comes to peak in general, are there any mistakes that you
Speaker:often see, you deal with a lot of people doing cross-border shipping.
Speaker:What are common mistakes?
Speaker:How do we avoid those?
Speaker:I think you know, common mistakes, again, missing information not setting
Speaker:expectations with customers especially when we're coming into peak, right?
Speaker:Like it's peak time at the border crossings as well.
Speaker:There's a lot of volume going back and forth.
Speaker:So allowing that extra time you know, and setting that expectation with your
Speaker:customer as well with those transit times.
Speaker:Every carrier's gonna provide like a shipping holiday cutoff calendar
Speaker:or maybe your shipping platform or technology does with all the
Speaker:different carriers, cutoff things.
Speaker:So yeah, really obviously, take all that in and, and communicate that
Speaker:back to your customers or put it on dedicated pages and stuff like that.
Speaker:Those usually come out in September or October every year when the carriers
Speaker:kind of finalize that information.
Speaker:Yeah, and really just, again, it kind of comes down to de minimis values
Speaker:and stuff like that because those are the, the, the main kind of components
Speaker:of what a duty and tax is based on.
Speaker:So just having all the right information and notices and all that kind of stuff
Speaker:ahead of time will just set you up for success and not, you know, a lot of
Speaker:stress about oh, where's my package?
Speaker:Or why is this stuck here?
Speaker:Was, is it being returned to me?
Speaker:Yeah, it's just no one wants to deal with those those things.
Speaker:Totally makes sense.
Speaker:And again, you know, making sure your customers know as well, those
Speaker:cut off dates, that you've got that on your website that people know,
Speaker:hey, if I, I need to purchase it by this day, or it's not gonna make it
Speaker:by Christmas, or it's not gonna make it by Hanukkah or whatever it is.
Speaker:People are aware, I know I'm, I'm a mom and I do a lot of online shopping.
Speaker:I know when I've maybe put it off a little too long, but making sure you have it
Speaker:there on your website is really critical.
Speaker:Being transparent about those dates and there's only so much you can do, so.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Okay, Witty this has been such a fun conversation.
Speaker:If there is one thing that you could recommend people go and do.
Speaker:I, I hate having conversations where people are not actually
Speaker:doing something after.
Speaker:So what is something you would recommend they go and do today, this week, just
Speaker:now to make sure that they are ready for this upcoming crazy peak 2025?
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And I think one thing you can do this week if you are selling
Speaker:internationally, like it's a great time obviously to check out everything's
Speaker:fallen in line, make sure there's no, issues with any shipments recently
Speaker:and, and kind of heading into peak.
Speaker:If you're just exploring international it might be a great idea to kind
Speaker:of dwindle down some countries that you're looking to expand and sell into.
Speaker:You don't have to ship everywhere.
Speaker:You don't have to sell globally.
Speaker:It's probably better that you are intentional and selective with
Speaker:countries that you want to sell to just because you wanna understand a
Speaker:customer base as well, and what all the requirements are, again, for shipping
Speaker:internationally and stuff like that too.
Speaker:So, you know, honing it in and being a little bit more intentional
Speaker:is actually probably gonna be more beneficial for your business.
Speaker:It'll help you obviously understand again, the transit times, do some
Speaker:tests, and really communicate to, to customers as well.
Speaker:It'll also help you know.
Speaker:You determine if you need a DDP or a DDU solution and what that
Speaker:might look like depending on the product and the, the item value that
Speaker:you're selling and stuff like that.
Speaker:So, you know, you don't have to take on the world all at once.
Speaker:Rome wasn't built in a day, but you can be selective with the with the
Speaker:country list that you're, you're wanting to explore or expand into.
Speaker:I love that advice.
Speaker:That is something I'm always saying is pick one.
Speaker:Pick two.
Speaker:Don't try to do everything because when you try to do everything, you do nothing.
Speaker:That's what really happens.
Speaker:You spread yourself too thin.
Speaker:So pick something, think a little bit about your cross-border shipping
Speaker:as it's coming up for peak season.
Speaker:Think about if now's the time that you maybe wanna expand into
Speaker:a country and and do a little testing through the holiday season.
Speaker:Super fun.
Speaker:So Witty, if people wanna connect with you or if they wanna learn more
Speaker:about Sendle how can they do that?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So for Sendle, sendle.com a great resource for everything Sendle for myself yeah
Speaker:on LinkedIn and stuff like that.
Speaker:So definitely connect with me there.
Speaker:Would love to have a chat if you need to or, or whatnot there.
Speaker:But yeah, I'm on all the socials, so.
Speaker:Okay, love it.
Speaker:Everybody get out there.
Speaker:Kill your cross-border shipping this peak.
Speaker:It's gonna be awesome.
Speaker:I know that it seems a little scary, but I think there are opportunities.
Speaker:So, awesome.
Speaker:Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker:Well, thanks so much again.
Speaker:Again, long time listener.
Speaker:Super happy to be here.
Speaker:And yeah, wishing everyone the best during this peak season and
Speaker:crazy international shipment time.
Speaker:So best of luck.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Thanks.
Speaker:We'll see you all next time.
