You may ask yourself; if an agent does not usually have all their own delivery resources then why not go direct to one of the large courier networks and get a better price? it may be slightly counter intuitive but an agent is actually more often than not better placed to negotiate rates than an end user. Think of it in terms of volumes, if an agent has 100 clients each shipping roughly the same amount of parcels as you are, then they will have 100 times the buying power to use to negotiate the rates. When the cost price for a large international courier network is in the region of 1% of the price they sell to individual users, there is a hefty margin that can be turned into a potential discount. In addition to that its more than likely that an agent will already have a good relationship with the UPS, DHL and TNT’s of this world, making their chance of getting a better deal more certain. Bulk discounts is only part of the story however.
The other main consideration is that a broker can chose supplier on your behalf using their greeter experience of both the market and your individual requirements. Why not let an expert make the choice of carrier for you based on cost, delivery time, destination and a whole host of other variables that you may not even be aware of. For example, some carriers have excellent connections to main cities in a destination country but their networks done extend to the smaller more provincial destinations. A freight agent can select from their network of local agents in situ to arrange a local delivery that could not only save a day or two as compared to a major courier but could also potentially save on costs. With the esoteric customs arrangements of some countries it is also very useful to have a local agent that will have daily dealings on a personal level with the local officials, often making the difference between an export being held up for weeks by customs and a smooth delivery to the your client in a matter of days. This is the kind of assistance that we are here to offer, you will not find this by calling your local office of global international couriers!