564: Discover Why Peak Season Is A Margin-Making Event, Not An Ops Event, with Shipium

Why peak planning conversations are almost always about capacity, labor, carrier commitments – but much less often about margins.

People, systems, or carriers – the first thing that breaks on your worst peak day.

What you can still influence in October, and what’s already locked in.

When you hit peak, the network runs hot and volume triples, the cost per parcel that changes first, and what often surprises people.

Managing demand surcharges, and what cost can look like at different times of year.

How you can determine whether you’re making money during peak, instead of waiting to find out in February.

The signals to look at in the first week of peak that tell you whether the network is still economically healthy, rather than just keeping up with volume.

How much a ‘good’ routing or rating decision matters when you’re processing millions of parcels, and what happens when that decision gets slower or less accurate.

The peak decisions Dean would simulate now before committing to them, rather than discovering the answer later down the line.

The operational improvement that has had the biggest measurable impact on cost per parcel at ODW, and how they identified it.

What last peak taught Dean that changed ODW’s network design.

Which parts of last year’s peak network Geoff and Dean would redesign today with everything they know now. “Understanding exactly how the carrier volumes and mix plays into the peak surcharge, and how it’s calculated. Last year we didn’t have all the same tools we have available today, so we’re in a better place now with Shipium as a partner.”