Negotiate Outbound Weights

If you ship catalogs, premiums or other heavy giveaways to a show, always try to negotiate a new outbound weight for your materials handling. For example, say your inbound shipment (exhibit, product, giveaways and other materials) weighs in at 20 CWT. By the end of the show, you know you have given away at least 2 CWT in catalogs; another 3 CWT in computer equipment you plan to ship back via FedEx.

Rather than using your original inbound weight, negotiate a new outbound weight of 15 CWT with the contractor. It's best to do your negotiating on the last day, when you have a good idea of how much product you have distributed over the course of the show. Potential savings: $300, at $60 per CWT. Link.

6 Things You Can Do to Avoid Forced Freight

The Official Show Contractor has to see to it that hundreds of exhibitors have their exhibits shipped out in a timely fashion after a trade show. If there are any hiccups along the way they will simply load your freight with the Official Carrier to insure that there are no bottlenecks in the process.

The carrier will then contact you to pay the shipping charges via Credit Card or they will put your exhibit in storage, further racking up your charges. Plus, it typically takes longer for your freight to return. If you need it for another show, that could further complicate matters. It truly can turn into a nightmare.

As trade show season heats up, be sure you know the proper way to work with your freight carriers to avoid this situation. No matter how much preparation and planning you invest in your trade show exhibit, small fires can always pop up. It’s the nature of the beast. If you aren’t careful, you can easily run into the costly, inconvenient problem of this “forced freight.” However, this is one problem that can easily be avoided. More.