The Roots of Fairness / Commodity Trading / What is Fair? / Spot Prices
As an experienced professional purchaser, you have price-sensitive choices.
You know that you neither want to, nor have to, pay too much…
But you also know that you want to avoid the consequences of paying too little.
You need a fair price: Copper Run will quote you that fair price. Always.
What does Copper Run’s fair price strategy mean to you as a purchaser, as you compare quotes?
- Copper Run’s price may not be the lowest
- But when our quote is the lowest, it signals that we believe we can offer our uncompromising value-rich service standards and relentless attention to detail at a very attractive price.
- Copper Run’s price may sometimes be the highest
- When our quote is high, that means that we have identified elements of the requested service package that we think are essential, yet costly, and we have forthrightly included the costs of those necessary elements in our quote.
- Copper Run’s price is benchmarked to be, on average, approximately 5% below the market mid-range
- We believe that providing well-above-average service for a slightly-below-average price is a very fair proposition. It is a win-win-win pricing strategy.
Price is all about value and values
Copper Run is in business for the long haul. Which means that we have to provide:
- Reliably good service
- Competitive pricing
- Service stability
We have to price high enough to be able to provide reliable service that is modestly profitable in the medium and long term, and yet low enough to be competitive day-to-day in a busy marketplace. That is why we only quote fair prices.
Price is also all about stability
At Copper Run, we think that one of the most important components of our fair pricing, and an important element of our value-rich service, is to provide pricing to our customers that smooths the daily and weekly ups and downs inherent in the marketplace rates, and that supports realistic freight transportation cost planning.
Price Increases
Our prices increase only when an increase is necessary to maintain reliable service. Your price will not increase just because it is January 1st, or somebody’s fiscal year end, or some other arbitrary date, when a pre-planned arbitrary price increase is scheduled to be pushed through.
When our prices do increase, they increase only because marketplace rates have increased, and only by the amount that is necessary to continue to be able to access and provide reliable service. We don’t use some industry or government chart or index of past price histories to calculate how much it will cost us to move your next shipment.
Price Decreases
Rates don’t always go up – freight transportation price is a continuously dynamic balance between supply and demand. So sometimes rates go down, and when they do, so do our prices. And they go down automatically, without you having to ask for a reduction.
If you have been a regular Copper Run customer, you have probably already been pleasantly surprised by falling prices in response to softening market conditions. You didn’t even ask for the break!
Here’s how it works
- Because we monitor costs continuously, we know when price adjustments may be necessary to ensure available capacity and reliable service. But more importantly than the ‘when’ of adjustments, we know the ‘how much’ of adjustments.
- If costs are rising or capacity is becoming tight, we are able to pin-point the individual lanes where price increases may be necessary. We are thereby able to avoid across-the-board price increases, and we are able to restrict the amount of increases to just enough to ensure our continuing reliable value-rich service.
- If costs are falling, we are able to determine whether it is a fleeting decrease, or whether it is a trend. If you are a regular Copper Run customer, you will see our prices fall when market conditions soften, and we will give you that decrease without you even asking for it.
- We understand the impact of seasonal demand fluctuations, mostly caused by produce harvests, on shipping prices, and we advise our customers about those fluctuations in our quotes and in our conversations.
As a result
Despite market forces that may push prices up almost across-the-board, Copper Run has established prices in place and in active use that have not changed in 4, 5, or more, years.
Copper Run also has established prices in place and in active use that are lower than they were 4 years ago.
That is how Copper Run offers fair pricing in a competitive marketplace.