DCI Department Spotlight: Shipping
Who’s on the DCI Shipping Team? How many years of combined experience does the team have? (team members from left to right)
- Tarren Van Trojen – 6 years international shipping, 5 at DCI
- Ali Hirayama – 1 year international shipping
- Tim Tea – 2 years international shipping at DCI
- Vince Brock – 25+ Years international shipping for DCI
Combined experience: 34+ years of international shipping
What are some challenges the team regularly faces, and how do you overcome them?
Available time to ship. Carriers only come by once a day for pickup and we cannot dictate how late they arrive. We just keep our heads down and try to get everything done as fast as we can, while maintaining accuracy.
The biggest challenge we face is international trade regulation. Every country has different preferences and restrictions for importing goods. One mis-typed word or a bit of information out of place on a commercial invoice could be the difference between our customer receiving their product in a timely manner or not at all. There is much coordination with customers centered around orientation of commercial invoices for their goods.
Is end of year the toughest time for the team? Or is it consistent year-round?
The end of the year is certainly the toughest time in terms of consistent product for us to ship. The end of the year push is always a fun one back in shipping.
For the most part, we stay busy all year. We have our up and down days like any department but always find ourselves scrambling to get everything done for the end of the year. It is one of the times where we are ultra-focused on getting all shipments out of the door since we end up taking an extended break to close out the calendar year.
Any secret shipping tips? Things the major carriers don’t want us to know?
The carriers only real secret is not much of one. All carriers would love for you to use their services without any cost comparison. If you look around at the different carriers available you can often find better pricing from one of them for your shipment. Most people do not want to put the time and effort into researching their own cost of shipment and will ship with the carrier whose facility they ended up in (or whoever they like best). You can always quote your shipment on any carriers website (FedEx, UPS, DHL or USPS) to evaluate cost from each, you will need the dimensions of your package(s) as well as the weight and destination.
Where is the weirdest place a piece of DCI equipment has been shipped?
Malta, Kuwait, Trinidad are the first three that come to mind. Typically these are noteworthy because not only do we seldomly ship to them but there are usually special rules and regulations to follow when shipping to countries that import less goods than others.
*Honorable mention*
Puerto Rico – While being a United States territory, you must follow the standard practices for shipping to an international country. Not necessarily difficult, but odd.