Ground shipping is the cheapest and the best transportation option for domestic deliveries. It takes more time than other shipping methods, but its reliability is excellent. The following article familiarizes you with how ground shipping works, the time it takes, its comparison with other shipping options, benefits, and other useful details.
What is Ground Shipping?
Ground shipping uses rail or road as the major transportation mode, hence the name. It is a cost-effective shipping method to ship various products from e-commerce stores to customers. It is perhaps the best available shipping solution for domestic shipping.
Usually, for new e-commerce stores, it is challenging to provide free shipping on sold items. However, the new e-commerce stores can easily counterbalance their costs and offer free shipping by using a cost-effective method like ground shipping. Presently, ground shipping is no longer regarded as a delayed shipping option. You can accelerate ground shipping by using the appropriate strategies.
This shipping method is popular in the international context too. Within international delivery options, ground shipping is reasonable for last-mile shipping. This implies that after a shipment reaches the port, e-commerce stores can choose ground shipping to deliver packages to customers. In this way, ground shipping helps in reducing international shipping costs.
How Does It Work?
After understanding the meaning of ground shipping, it’s vital to understand how it works. The foremost step to make it work is by integrating various ground shipping services.
The questions may arise – will ground shipping fulfill all your domestic orders? Can it be used for last-mile delivery for international deliveries? To answer them, you must look at the targeted shipping destination and the item type you are selling. Subsequently, you can determine whether ground shipping is practical and if it can offer free or affordable shipping. After understanding these aspects, you can move on to choose the perfect shipping carrier.
How Long Does Ground Shipping Take?
Depending on the shipping destination, the ground shipping time ranges from 2-5 working days. The influencing factors are delivery speed, distance, weather, traffic condition, and final destination.
Most reliable carriers meet their stipulated delivery timeframe. However, delays can occur due to natural disasters, severe weather, or other occurrences that may close railways and roads.
Ground shipping takes 1-3 days when you directly ship a package to a state with a common border. Ground shipping time can be 5 or more days when shipping to distant states.
Why Choose Ground Shipping over Other Options?
Cheap cost is the most prominent reason behind choosing ground shipping over other options. But there are other reasons as well. One key reason why many organizations adopt this shipping method is to mail bulky or oversized packages. If you want to send something crossing the limits defined by ground shipping, you should use road freight services.
Ground-based shipping allows for sending any package. On the other hand, when sending shipments through the air, there are limitations for hazardous materials like batteries or aerosols.
Ground shipping is more cost-effective when the destination is in the same state or proximity. This shipping method has a few potential hassles where you don’t have to worry about many restrictions.
If you use fulfillment centers to decrease delivery time, you can hand over certain savings to customers. For example, certain companies that use fulfillment centers provide free shipping via ground for orders crossing a certain amount. Offers like these ensure customer satisfaction and help to retain their loyalty.
Ground Shipping Vs. Standard Shipping
Standard and ground shipping can be identical for many shipping carriers and e-commerce stores. Both of them are cost-effective shipping methods where the packages are delivered overground. Commonly, it is the cheapest option available.
Ground shipping tracking is always available so that you and your customers know where the package has reached. Standard shipping doesn’t offer this kind of tracking.
There are some significant differences between the two services owing to the different offerings from shipping carriers. Standard shipping is more expensive than ground shipping.
Methods of Shipment
Package shipments
Private firms offer package shipping services with options like next-business-day delivery, same-day delivery, and two-to-three-business-day delivery. Package shipments are best for shipping packages weighing 150 pounds or less. If the packages are heavier, you should consider freight shipping.
This shipment method provides additional services, including special handling, proof-of-delivery, and a package return system. Some companies provide a pickup and drop-off service for package shipments at an additional fee. So, customers can drop off packages at the closest company office instead. Factors like package weight, size, and destination affect package shipment fees.
Freight shipments
This method ships packages weighing more than 150 pounds. It can use a full truckload (FTL) or less than a truckload (FTL). Freight shipments take place via land, sea, or air based on the package weight or the customer’s preferences.
Customers select the shipment method depending on the cost of shipping the goods. Moreover, customers can opt for urgent, day-definite, or time-definite shipment options to guarantee goods delivery at a specific time or day.
Sea freight shipments
Sea freight is one of the most economical methods of sending freight to distant destinations. It helps send a huge volume of freight at an economically feasible cost. Moreover, customers can use it to ship personal possessions, bulk goods, vehicles, and huge furniture items.
The drawbacks of using this shipment method are:
- Slow speed,
- Inflexible routes and schedules,
What is the Difference Between Ground Mail and Air Mail?
In this digitally revolutionized world, many businesses and individuals still use the postal mail service to send documents, letters, and packages. The private shipping companies provide air and ground mail services. Understanding their differences helps you choose the optimal one depending on your mailing needs and budget.
Cost
Generally, air mail is costlier than ground mail due to the expenses involved in transporting packages by aircraft. The precise pricing widely differs based on the package size and destination.
Efficiency
Of these two, air mail provides quick and efficient delivery. Although costlier than ground mail, it guarantees the quick arrival of packages. Airmail is a recommended option for sending perishable items and urgent deliveries. On the other hand, ground mail service takes 1-5 business days, depending on the distance.
Transport Method
As the name suggests, air mail means parcels are loaded over airplanes that land at mail depots, where they get distributed to their destinations. For instance, companies like DHL have their aircraft to ship items nationally and globally.
Ground mail (also known as Surface Mail) transports parcels by land (via trucks and other vehicles). For instance, XDE Logistics has more than 1,000 vehicles in its fleet. It offers first, mid, and last-mile ground and multimodal freight for small parcels to a full truckload in the Philippines.
Destination
Ground mail is highly suitable for sending letters and packages with the help of APAC shipping carriers like DHL, Ninjavan, XDE, Lalamove, LBC, etc. The reason is that aerial transport covers huge distances in a short period. Although international ground shipping is available, it can take an excessive amount of time to send a package.
What are the Advantages of Ground Shipping?
With this discussion, you can understand the worth of ground shipping when you go through its advantages.
Economical
The ground shipping cost is significantly lower than shipping via sea or air. Additional charges can add up when using sea or air as the shipping method.
Common charges may include air-fuel expenses, air transit expenses, etc. All these additional charges are not included when using ground shipping. Therefore, it is a budget-friendly shipping method. The only charges included in the ground shipping method are loading and unloading charges and truck fare charges. From the cost perspective, ground shipping is the best and most reliable shipping method.
Not a slow shipping method
Ground shipping is commonly deemed as a delayed shipping option. But it can be faster than most people think. Ground shipping offers options like one-day delivery, same-day delivery, and more when domestic shipping is used. In this case, the customer’s location is close to your warehouse. These faster delivery options confirm that it is not a sluggish shipping method.
Now, how fast is ground shipping? Ground shipping depends on package volume, shipping zones, type of items to be shipped, etc. For instance, fragile items take longer to ship.
No size restrictions
Unlike shipping through the air, ground shipping has no weight or size restrictions. If no illegal elements are involved, e-commerce businesses can ship packages irrespective of size. So, ground shipping can ship as small as tickets to as huge as a cabinet. Through less-than-truckload (LTL) and full truckload (FTL) options, you can send fewer items or bulky shipments.
Environmentally sustainable
Plenty of e-commerce stores are adopting environment-friendly shipping methods. Generally, reliable e-commerce stores always choose a shipping method after assessing its impact on the environment. Ground shipping is an environmentally sustainable shipping method because it reduces carbon footprints. Hence, it is gradually becoming more and more prevalent.
Trustworthy tracking
Ground shipping offers zero delays. In most cases, zero delays help truck drivers to estimate how much time it takes to receive the package(s). Hence, ground shipping tracking is extremely reliable. Many shipping companies offer real-time ground shipment tracking based on the chosen courier. Reliable tracking helps customers see where their package reached.
Other benefits
- It allows you to send any products as far as it’s legal.
- It offers fewer delivery delays since the severe weather conditions don’t influence the service as much as it affects air freight.
- It’s the simplest method for local shipment.
- It provides pickup and drop-off facilities.
How Does Ground Shipping Work with a 3PL?
3PLs are not shipping carriers but manage inventory storage, picking, and packing orders. They discuss and confirm rates with the major carriers supporting ground shipping. These carriers then pick up the prepared packages from a 3PL warehouse. Finally, the packages are delivered to customers through road transport.
Conclusion
Ground shipping is the most suitable shipping method for shipping packages at affordable prices through road transport. Although slower than other shipping methods, it is worthwhile considering its benefits like cost-effectiveness, safe delivery, less environmental pollution, fewer delays, and no package size limitations.
FAQs
Is ground shipping the cheapest?
Ground shipping is one of the cheapest methods for sending packages globally. Since the shipment occurs through road transport, the packages are loaded on a truck and transported to the destination. Compared to sea and air transport, road transport is relatively cheaper. Although customers don’t benefit from express delivery time, ground shipping is economical for shipping big items that can be expensive to ship via air. Moreover, it is the best shipping method for sellers who provide free domestic shipping.
How is partnering with 3PL companies beneficial for ground shipping?
Partnering with 3PL companies helps retailers enjoy faster ground shipping deliveries. The reason is they use multiple warehouses. If you use fulfillment or warehousing services through a 3PL, you can divide your inventory into various areas strategically positioned around the nation or world. Whenever a customer orders, the fulfillment center nearest their destination handles the shipping. So this makes it more reasonable for many companies to provide ground shipping services to their customers.
What’s the difference between ground and economy shipping?
Ground shipping and economy shipping are identical in many ways. Ground shipping means a package shipped through land transportation (i.e., trucks and trains). Economy shipping provides the cheapest available shipping rates for shipping through trucks and trains.
What’s the difference between air freight and ground shipping?
Using air freight shipping offers a high scope of faster delivery. It is an extremely reliable service for international shipping. Contrastingly, ground shipping is more appropriate for domestic shipping and will have a delay, unlike air freight shippingThe shipping cost is a key concern for air freight shipping. Due to the addition of charges like transit costs, airfare, security charges, etc., air freight shipping is one of the priciest shipping modes. On the other hand, ground shipping is much more affordable. It benefits e-commerce stores with free shipping without negotiating on profit.
What are the advantages of working with a right-ground shipping partner?
The majority of the 3PL providers provide reasonable ground shipping rates. When working with a shipping partner, the hassles of new e-commerce retailers are considerably reduced.
Determining the best shipping method involves a learning curve. Most sellers don’t have enough time to learn the complexities because orders start coming in. Outsourcing order fulfillment to a 3PL company prominently streamlines the seller’s hassles. It helps the seller to focus on the organization’s revenue generation.
Outsourcing logistics is cost-effective. Retailers need not capitalize on workforce and equipment to retain logistics in-house. Moreover, logistics professionals are informed to offer discounted courier rates. Those sellers who collaborate with such ground shipping partners can avail of the discounts. Scaling becomes less challenging when working with a 3PL ground shipping partner.
