ShipManager™ FAQ

Here are some of the questions we’re asked most often. If you have questions that aren’t answered below, please contact us: [email protected]

Is Urban Dispatch a courier company?

Strictly speaking, no. Although users of ShipManager use it to order all courier shipments (local, national and international), Urban Dispatch does not employ couriers itself. Rather, it manages a network of courier companies in each city in which it operates and finds the best carrier for each and every delivery placed within the ShipManager system and offers the customer improved efficiency, accountability and visibility of it courier expense line.

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What makes ShipManager different from standard messenger services?

ShipManager is different in at least three ways.

It allows you to save the cost of managing your courier services internally. That cost is frequently 2 to 3 times over and above the amount you see you’re spending in actual courier expenses. This hidden cost is eliminated with ShipManager.

Secondly, the process is streamlined internally. No more manual waybills, duplicated effort, or complicated business rules for the administrative assistants and other users to remember. ShipManager features an easy 4-click order screen for all packages, from all sites, to all destinations.

Thirdly, your courier expenses are provided daily and available for entry into your accounting system. Customers have better visibility and control of their expenses and can attach charges to client accounts within billing cycles without messy reconciliations afterward.

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What are the hidden costs of managing all my courier services myself?

Administrative assistants spend unnecessary time in manual ordering processes, tracking, interacting with the mailroom and other activities associated with getting a package to its destination. In most cases this is 5% of their day that is eliminated when using ShipManager.

The mail room itself is inefficient when managing a network of couriers and dealing with the administrative assistants placing delivery orders. Hundreds of square feet of space dedicated to this function can be eliminated or reallocated and in many cases, the same is true for staff dedicated to managing this element of mailroom operations.

Courier expenses are frequently misallocated when entered manually from a variety of vendors. Further, the data entry time is expensive to the organization when the bookkeeping staff’s time is factored in. Daily file uploads from ShipManager™ eliminate virtually all of these costs.

Finally, for professional services firms that bill their clients for courier expense incurred, nearly one third of these are not billed because they are not entered in the accounting system in time for the billing cycle cut-off, are misallocated, or lost. ShipManager lets those customers bill all courier charges back on bills.

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How does Urban Dispatch make money?

Urban Dispatch provides steady, reliable volumes of deliveries to the companies in its carrier network. This combined with the volume these deliveries represent, allow UDL to negotiate discounts with those carriers that it keeps while still charging its customers competitive rates.

In addition, we are able to tailor our operations and our service to meet the specific needs of each customer, and in so doing, save money for ourselves and the customer.

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Can I ship outside my city with ShipManager?

Yes. In addition to same-day local service, you use ShipManager to order deliveries across the country and around the world. You use the same order screen for every order, and we do the rest.

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What parts of my mailroom can I effectively outsource to Urban Dispatch?

By switching to ShipManager, customers no longer have to manage local, national and international courier deliveries themselves (e.g., entering orders, writing waybills, tracking shipments). ShipManager service can also be configured to include postal and next-day local services in some markets upon special request.

Receiving of courier deliveries is still maintained by the mailroom, but ShipManager can be used to notify administrative assistants of a courier packages’ arrival.

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Does ShipManager’s daily report integrate with my accounting system?

Yes. We provide the daily reconcile report to you in a universal flat file format and can customize it to meet your specific data format requirements.

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Do I need to change much in my IT environment to use ShipManager?

No. There is no software to download or install. No software to maintain. Users connect to ShipManager using their web browser (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari) to order, track and manage all their deliveries. In some cases, customers have to change their browser settings to allow pop-ups from the ShipManager website for the system to work correctly, but that's it.

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Who do I call if I have a problem with a shipment?

Call 403-474-4211 and the customer service representative assigned to your account will resolve your issue immediately.

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