Transportation is sometimes to blame for a company’s inability to properly serve customers. Late deliveries can be the source of service problems and complaints. Products might also incur damage while in transit, or warehouse workers might load the wrong items at a shipping location. Such over, short, or damaged (called OS&D) shipments can frustrate customers, too, leading to dissatisfaction and the decision to buy from a competitor for future purchases.
However, when a company performs on time with complete and undamaged deliveries consistently, this can instill customer confidence and gain business for the company. When a company instills confidence in service performance, it can make customers more reluctant to succumb to competitors’ bids to steal business away through clever promotions and reduced prices.
Aside from its service ramifications, transportation can also represent a substantial cost for the business. The cost of transportation can sometimes determine whether a customer transaction results in a profit or a loss for the business, depending on the expense incurred in providing transportation for a customer’s order. Faster modes of transportation generally cost more than slower modes. So although shipping an order overseas by airplane is much faster than transporting by ship, it can cost as much as
20 times more. Such a cost difference might not justify the use of the faster way of transporting the goods. Supply chain managers must therefore carefully consider the cost of transporting goods when determining whether to move product and how to move product in the most economical manner.

Logistics is defined as “that part of supply chain management that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services and related information from the point of origin to the point of