Obtaining an accurate, competitive shipping quote is essential to finding the most economical method for your shipping needs. To do this, one must invest a little time and effort to investigate the many shipping solutions available. This is true for both personal and professional shipping needs. From logistical assistance to web quoting, comparison shopping for shipping rates will be worth the investment of their time.

For business solutions, a logistics specialist or company will do most of the work for the shipping client. They will review current business practices relating to storage of product, shipping databases, reviewing shipping contracts, shipping materials, tracking of packages and monitoring of freight rates. Many things go into determining the actual cost to ship a piece of freight from one location to the next location. If a company over spends or wastefully uses resources in one area of the supply chain, even if they are frugal in actual freight rate, they are still losing money. Every dollar should be spent carefully. One important responsibility of a logistics team is to get several shipping quotes so that they can establish relationships with those transportation specialists that will be the most economical in a long term relationship. By examining each of these areas, a logistics manager can serve as a highly trained shipping solution expert.

Some companies do not process or manufacture enough products to justify the added expense of a logistics team. When this is the case, the company may choose to train an individual or shipping clerk specialist to oversee the shipping responsibilities. These supply managers can be just effective as a specialized logistical team expert for small businesses. Pre-loaded rating software and online shipping and freight companies can both be used to get accurate, information and quotes for shopping.

Likewise, online shipping solutions are wonderful tools for individual use. While many people do not have to ship large items often, the need does occasionally arise. Being prepared to know how to obtain the best quote will could save a person thousands off dollars. One common reason that an individual may need to ship a large amount of freight is when they are relocating out of state. Transporting a large truckload of belongings can be very expensive. There are many companies that allow people to pack and load a trailer with their stuff when moving and then the trucking company transports the items to the new location. This option is more affordable for some than having a moving company come and pack up their personal property. Obtaining various shipping quotes can help the person navigate through the cost to find the most economical choice for their needs. Shipping a vehicle either across country or overseas is also very expensive for an individual.

There are large price differences when comparing companies to do this type of freight shipping. It is imperative to spend time researching the various shipping and trucking companies in order to be prudent with one's shipping budget. With various shipping solutions available, it is also easy to find one that will suit nearly every need.

While there have been many advances in logistical technology, the explosion of companies specializing in L.T.L. logistics on the World Wide Web has been staggering. New companies are constantly improving and offering a variety of services and products. These L.T.L. logistic companies and software services have strived to provide the small and moderate sized companies many of the advantages of large logistics companies.



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A few weeks ago I was surprised but pleasantly amused by a letter sent to Andy Rooney on CBS' 60 minutes. As you may or may not know Rooney has been doing a short wrap up commentary on the TV news magazine show for nearly four decades. What you may not have noticed though is the desk Rooney sits at. He has a beautiful desk and says he made it from a fallen tree he found in the woods behind his backyard.

The long-time commentator is coming pretty close to the end of his reporting days, which has not gone unnoticed by the man who wrote the letter. In the letter, the man asks Rooney about the desk and then finishes by asking if he can have the desk after Rooney has passed on. The man's request may have been of poor taste but he illustrates one important concept: almost everyone likes to find and own quality old stuff.

Unfortunately, in the last three years many companies have closed there doors. This means they had to sell off or give away there office furniture. Now, most of that furniture is stock piled in overly stuffed warehouses just waiting to be picked up for a deep discount. Amongst the vast amounts of pre-owned and recycled items are veritable treasures like old style executive desks, high quality ergonomic chairs, and pristine conference tables. For those brave enough to wade into the recesses of the large warehouses, these treasures can be had at a fraction of their original cost.



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As a business broker that specializes in smaller deals (total deal size between $2,000,000 and $20,000,000) I often see companies at or below the smaller end of our range that have trouble attracting interest from Private Equity Groups. Generally a Private Equity Group wants to invest in companies at least $5,000,000 and to borrow a substantial portion of the purchase price. Even PEGs with lots of money to invest want to leverage the deal.

So, why would a PEG that will happily do a $5MM deal with half borrow from a bank not be interested in doing a $2.5MM deal. Clearly they have the money to do the deal and there is more room to grow the smaller company. Furthermore, the unleveraged company is less risky.

To understand the PEGs motivations you need to look at it from their perspective. Let's say that a hypothetical PEG has three employees each paid $200,000 a year that will look at deals and oversee the companies that they buy and $400,000 a year in overhead for rent, travel, receptionists, etc. The total amount needed to run the PEG may be $1,000,000 a year.

Let's assume that our PEG can comfortably oversee 5 companies at a time while also looking for new acquisitions and exiting mature investments. If they buy 5 companies for $2.5MM in year one they have invested 12.5MM. Most of the profits of those companies will be absorbed in the operating cost of the PEG or be re-invested into the operating companies to grow them so if they double the value of those companies over 5 years they have generated a return of 14.8%. That's not an acceptable rate of return given the risks of Private Equity. Investors in a PEG understand that they are taking large risks in illiquid investments and demand returns commensurate with that risk.

On the other hand, if our PEG buys companies worth $25MM, but borrows $12.5MM and doubles the value of each company over a 5 year period, their return on equity more than doubles to 32%, a far better return. (12.5MM X 1.32^5 = 50MM) Of course the companies will have the additional interest expense and principal repayment as they retire the loan, but the larger companies should generate enough cash to more than cover that expense.

So, to produce a reasonable rate of return the PEG wants to buy larger companies and use leverage to magnify their returns.

There are exceptions to this generalization. Some PEGs specialize in turn-around situations, where they buy companies that are in trouble. These companies can be less expensive and are harder to leverage because banks will not loan against cash flow when there is no cash flow. Most PEGs will consider smaller deals as add-ons to an existing platform company, especially if the company allows them to expand their product offerings or geographic coverage. Finally, PEGs will sometimes buy several smaller companies and merge them in a roll-up. This allows them to cut expenses at the companies, achieve economies of scale, and end up with a stronger company at a lower multiple of EBITDA.



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