JoeTaxpayer

Today, I have a special guest post from my dog, Scooter –

When my family feeds me, I know I’m special. I don’t kid myself though, I know that there are people who go to bed hungry each night in this country. I know that if I were hungry and saw this, I’d be very sad.

I wanted to make sure that my friends all tell their families about a special group of people that are raising money to help feed those who don’t have enough to eat. It’s called Walk For Hunger and if you click on the link it will take you to a family friend’s page where Stephanie is helping to fight hunger. Her team’s name is Tired Dogs which is what made me think that even though I am just a puppy, I can help too. I asked my family to set aside a few dollars each week when they buy me food. Now, they have money they’d like to donate to this cause, and to help make this money go even further, they’re going to offer a matching challenge –

Before going to bed last night, they saw how much the Tired Dogs have raised so far and it was $545. Next Sunday night, they will check the total again and match up to $250 of the money you donated this week. So, when you read this, just be as generous as you can, and your donation will be matched this week. After all, I hope that we treat other people at least as well as we treat me, and I know I’m never hungry!

This week Michael Kitces wrote about The Taxation Of Social Security Benefits As A Marginal Tax Rate Increase? A great take on the Phantom Tax Rate Zone I discussed at Rothmania. It’s great to see this discussed by others as I believe it’s one of the financial timebombs waiting to catch people who are unaware how it will affect them.

At Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance, Barb tells us why we should not be Victims of Mental Accounting. You know what it is, it’s when you treat that Christmas bonus as found money, or perhaps when we treat found money as any less important than money we’ve earned.

Don’t Just Complain. At I Pick Up Pennies, a bit of advice on looking at the positive customer service experiences you might have and stopping to acknowledge it now and then.

Financial Finesse Blog broke the news of Another Celebrity Bankruptcy… It’s a shame when anyone’s finances are so bad they need to file bankruptcy, but when it’s a celebrity who had a great career, it’s doubly sad, years of bad money management.

Neal Frankle wrote What is the Average Retirement Age….and a Surprise. It’s more than just an answer to this average, Neil offers advice on the four questions you must answer to know what your retirement goals are.

Last – a look ahead – Stephanie the Blogger is raising money in the annual Walk for Hunger, and tomorrow, I’ll introduce it with a special guest post and matching challenge.

One of the more visible casualties of Sequestration is the closing of 149 air traffic control towers. This may be a radical thought, but we have separation of church and state, correct? No federal money is set aside to build a church or temple.  Why aren’t these jobs funded from the airlines, an add-on to the ticket cost? Why were my taxes going to this in the first place?

A Guest Post, of interest to my readers who run an online store or small business –

During the process of running a small business, there are many different factors that must be taken in consideration when reviewing the way you do business. When you’re selling online, one of the factors that must be evaluated is the type of shipping that you offer. Many small businesses try to offer as many different shipping options as possible. While choices are sometimes good, when it comes to offering shipping options for your small business customers, more is not always better.

Here are a few reasons why you must re-consider the number of options that you provide to your customers for shipping.

Offering Multiple Carriers
In the shipping industry today, there are a plethora of options for you to consider when it comes to choosing a carrier to work with. Many small businesses offer their customers the option of shipping with the United States Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, DHL, or a specialty carrier. Ultimately, you’re just trying to get a product from your place of business to the customer. Do you really need all of these options available for your customer? In most cases, you would be better served to choose one or possibly two carriers and offer those choices to your customer.

Why Narrow the Options?
Why should you go through the trouble to narrow your shipping options? When you have so many different options for shipping, you have to know all of their shipping policies and procedures. You may have to deal with multiple appointments from delivery drivers every day. You have to get the packages for UPS ready by one time, the packages for DHL ready by a different time, and so on. This adds extra work for you and your employees, and it adds to the confusion.

Whom to Choose
There is not necessarily a right or wrong answer as to which company you should choose to handle your shipping needs for your small business. Look for a company that is most dynamic when it comes to working with businesses and offering the services that you need. Look at what you really need and then try to determine which company is best for that. For instance, you may need access to real-time tracking on the Internet, or overnight shipping, one carrier might be able to handle these areas better than another.

Depending on where you need to ship your products, you may also need to choose one company over another. For instance, if you do a lot of international shipping, then you would want to work with a company that has a good reputation of being able to deliver around the world- even more so in the specific countries you work with a lot. If you are shipping products within the United States, then another company that has a great delivery network across states might be better suited to help you.

Rates
One of the most important factors that you need to take into consideration is the rates that these companies charge. Ultimately, you want to make sure that your shipping rates are competitive and affordable for your customers. In some cases, if you are competing against other online businesses that sell the same products, customers will choose the one with the cheapest shipping. This means that you need to figure out who offers the best prices on shipping and then come up with a relative pricing structure for your own shipping rates. If you mark up the shipping and end up charging too much, it could turn a lot of your customers away.

It’s not always easy to create a flat rate shipping policy for your customers, but you may be able to integrate a shipping calculator into your website. Some shipping providers offer access to a free shipping calculator for your website. This is another factor to look at when you are choosing which company to go with for your shipping needs.

Shopping Around
When you are reviewing your shipping procedures, it is a good idea to shop around a bit. Talk to an account representative for each of the major shipping companies that you are considering using. When you get an account representative, you will be able to get a feel for what type of customer service you should expect. You’ll also be able to get price quotes based on how much you’re going to be shipping. In some cases, your representative will be able to give you a price break.

Overall, shipping is a pretty big part of your small business. Take the time to review it and find the best options to offer your small business customers.

Tim Smith is a blogger with NextTruckOnline.com, a website that allows you to sell new or used freightliner trucks and other commercial trucks.