From a retailer's perspective, how do you think this year's peak season shipping might be different from years past?

This year, there are a lot more variables outside the normal holiday rush. Fuel costs remain elevated, geopolitical disruptions are affecting shipping routes and transit times and carriers have a number of ways to manage capacity and keep rates firm.

For e-commerce and retail brands, that means don’t assume you'll have the same availability, transit times or shipping costs you had last peak season. If you're waiting until demand hits to figure out how you're going to move product, you're probably already behind.

Fortunately, retailers can give themselves options. Look for opportunities to consolidate shipments, know which transportation modes and carriers you can shift to if needed and keep a close eye on inventory. The more decisions you can make ahead of time, the less likely you'll be forced into an expensive shipping decision at the last minute.

In which ways do you typically see small business retailers overspend on transportation? Where/what are the hidden costs that add up?

A lot of e-commerce and retail brands look at the base freight rate first because it's the easiest number to compare. But that often misses where real money leaks.

Fuel surcharges, residential delivery fees, address corrections, redelivery charges and oversized or poorly packaged shipments can add up quickly. Returns and failed deliveries cost money too, even though they may not jump out when you're looking at your transportation spend.

The other thing to remember is that a great discount doesn't automatically mean you're getting a great deal. Carrier list rates and surcharges change over time, so a contract that looked competitive when you signed it may not be as competitive today.

I'd encourage brands to look at what they're actually paying per shipment, including all the fees, rather than judging their transportation costs based on the negotiated rate alone.

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UPS recently announced higher surcharges starting late September. How should small retailers factor that into their plans?

First, understand which of the new charges actually apply to your business. Don't see a headline about higher UPS surcharges and automatically assume your costs are going up by the same amount.

Then look at your shipping data. What types of packages are you sending? Which services are you using? Are oversized boxes triggering additional handling charges? Are you paying for air service when ground would still meet the customer's delivery expectation?

That's where brands have more control than they might think. You can't control what UPS charges, but you can control how you package orders, which service you select and, in some cases, which carrier handles the shipment.

Peak season is a good time to tighten those rules internally because seemingly small decisions become much more expensive when additional holiday surcharges start stacking up.

How can retail executives, who are busy running their businesses, allocate time to ensure freight contracts and invoices are correct?

An executive shouldn’t be reviewing freight invoices line by line. The better approach is to have a process that flags the things that actually need someone's attention.

There are tools that can automatically compare invoices against your contracts and identify billing errors, unexpected charges or service failures. Then someone on the operations team can handle the day-to-day review and bring larger issues to leadership.

I'd also put transportation contracts on the calendar for a regular review instead of waiting until they're up for renewal. Look at them when carriers announce annual rate increases and again before peak season. Has your shipping profile changed? Are new fees showing up? Are you still getting the value you negotiated?

The goal is to catch those changes early, before a small issue gets repeated across thousands of shipments.

For a small retailer that can't negotiate large volumes with logistics providers, how can they keep transportation costs down?

I wouldn't assume being small means you have no leverage. You may not have the volume of a national retailer, but knowing exactly how you ship gives you a much better position when you're talking to a carrier.

Understand where your customers are, what your average package looks like, which services you use most and how quickly orders actually need to arrive. Then make sure you're not paying for more service than the customer needs.

I'd also look beyond the largest national carriers. Depending on where you're shipping, regional carriers or different pricing programs may make sense for part of your volume.

And plan ahead whenever you can. One of the easiest ways to overspend is to turn a normal shipment into an expedited one because inventory or transportation wasn't planned early enough.

What's one step an independent retailer could take today to be better prepared for the holiday season?

Get your holiday forecast in front of your carriers or 3PL now.

Tell them what you expect to ship, when you expect volume to increase and where that volume is going. The earlier they understand what you're planning, the more time you have to work through potential capacity, timing or cost issues together.

I'd also build some breathing room into your plan. If inventory arrives late or a shipment gets bumped, you don't want your only option to be paying a premium to expedite it.

You won't predict holiday demand perfectly. Nobody does. But having a reasonable forecast and sharing it early gives you options. Waiting until the orders are already coming in usually means fewer choices and higher costs.