Boxes 4 U with Tanner Faulkner feature #48 of Together Talks

"Together Talks" feature # 48: Boxes 4 U presented by KLS, freight company

Some Background on Boxes 4 U

For today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the opportunity to interview Boxes 4 U and Tanner Faulkner, President of the company. Boxes 4 U continues to provide the business community of Dallas, Texas with shipping boxes of all types and sizes to ensure your customers get the products they ordered. Whether your business is a smaller retail outlet or an industrial manufacturer with a large warehouse, their supply of shipping and packaging materials covers everything you would ever need to efficiently deliver your products to customers. Any business that ships products regularly has expenditures in transportation fees, postage and other related costs. One way to cut those expenses is by using appropriately sized packages. With their extensive supply of materials, you can find the perfect sized container to reduce those extraneous shipping expenses.

Beyond providing the many profitable businesses of Dallas shipping boxes, Boxes 4 U also supplies related materials to ensure your products arrive intact, including: Bubble Mailers, Chipboard Mailers, Cardboard Sheets and MORE! They continually strive to uphold their founding principle of providing clients with friendly and professional customer service. Boxes 4 U understands how challenging moving to a new location can be, and they won’t add to the stress by making it any more difficult. They will do what they can to simplify your move by making sure you have access to the right materials and moving boxes in Dallas, TX. Whether you’re a business looking for packaging supplies to send products to far-off customers, or a brand new homeowner relocating your family to the area, their Dallas shipping boxes and large local inventory of related moving materials will make sure everything gets there safely and in one piece. Contact Boxes 4 U today to place your order now!

1st time transition

Boxes 4 U was created in 1991 and currently has 21 employees. However the company was recently purchased by a company called, Teamshares which buys small businesses from retiring owners and transitions them into an employee-owned businesses. Owners who are looking to move on from their business have found the Teamshares' model intriguing because it allows them to have a smoother transition out of the business while also taking care of their employees. Tanner, who started with Boxes 4 U about eight months ago, was a member of Teamshares, when his boss brought him this opportunity. While he had some initial reservations, ultimately he felt he could not pass up this opportunity.

Back to his roots

Tanner said for a few years he had considered owning or running a business, but always found a way to talk himself out of it. As he shared, "I thought I had to be much older or have many more years of experience. I just didn't think it was realistic. But when the CEO of Teamshares brought me this opportunity to me, along with some encouragement, I really had to consider it."

What were those words of encouragement? Tanner shared them with us, "You don't have to be 40 years old. You're smart, you're driven, you can do it." And this was the push he needed. Tanner told us one of the challenges Teamshares faces when finding a President, is the location of the businesses. Many are in smaller communities or rural areas. So what made Tanner accept this offer and make the move?

Home.

Unbelievably Tanner grew up about 15 minutes from the business. He went to school not too far from there. His family lives nearby. As he told us, "Everything just fell into place. If I was ever going to take a chance, it seemed like this was the perfect one."

Partner with KLS

KLS offers LTL and FTL for both dry and reefer transportation.

Our nationwide coverage provides companies a reliable, consistent, and dependable logistics partner to handle your trucking needs.

For more information on how we can help call our office today 708-980-0920 or reach us via our email quote request here!

Commitment to service

Tanner told us in the eight months he has been at Boxes 4 U, the most impressive aspect of the company is the people and the value they provide to their customers. Boxes 4 U predominately services businesses within the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but they also have nationwide customers. Their warehouse in Plano has about a 60 mile radius for deliveries. The company relies heavily on word-of-mouth advertising and referrals, which makes sense given their incredibly strong reviews on Google - 4.8 stars on 296 reviews! Tanner said this is something they take very seriously and are grateful for the positive feedback from customers.

The customer service at Boxes 4 U has stood out to Tanner. While he is learning this industry and all its intricacies, he told us one thing that transcends an industry is the way a team handles customers. He raved about his staff: "Our team goes above and beyond for our customers. They will track recent orders and if something is off they will contact the customer asking them to confirm. Often, we find the customer made an error on their order. Instead of receiving the wrong product because they mis-ordered, we avoid those delays ahead of time. That goes a long way to earn the trust of our customers and it's one reason why we have such great retention."

Tanner also shared that the company's ability to provide customers with materials next day, reinforces their top tier service. The key to success ass Tanner stated, are "accessibility and reliability". Being able to source anything a customer needs is a big component to delivering great service to customers, but so is the ability to simply listen. Tanner shared that often times simply by listening to and asking questions of customers, the Boxes 4 U team finds other aspects of the business they can help with and enhance their understanding of their customers' needs.

Employee Owned

Tanner's biggest goal is continuing to educate and inform the employees of the potential of their new structure, employee ownership. He told us his first goal is to build trust and create camaraderie by getting to know the team not just professionally, but also personally. Tanner's long-term tasks continue to be learning the ins and outs of this new industry which as he said, "I didn't have any idea how complex boxing and packaging can be." Tanner believes that with time as he learns the specifics, he will both further grasp and refine the flow of the business.

One example is they recently changed the hours of the warehouse. moving them up by two hours. Tanner said the biggest reason for the change was efficiency. Previously, the trucks sometimes wouldn't hit the road until 10 or 11 a.m., which meant each of their 4 trucks could only run 1 route. Fast forward to today and Tanner informed us that each truck can now run 2 routes daily. He explained, "Because of our growth, for the first time in a long time customers weren't able to call, order, and receive product same day. We instituted a new rule that orders received prior to 3PM are delivered the next day and anything after that will be scheduled 2 days out. Coupled with our new warehouse schedule, we are back to meeting almost every scheduled delivery which is our goal".

One challenge is continuing to grow the business. Tanner said there is a ton of competition with the DFW area booming, many companies are trying to get into the space. But Tanner wants his team to remain cohesive and grow together. A huge part of that is the new opportunity provided by employee ownership. Tanner is working on educating employees on the individual incentives that come along with the company doing well. Being able to present the possibilities to succeed financially through owning a piece of the pie has motivated employee owner buy-in even further.

Since the transaction closed in October and Tanner started in January, the company has able to give out their first dividend, his most enjoyable moment so far. He said they have given out a dividend every single month since that first in January, which he is incredibly proud of.

Buy from their website here and use the discount code below!

KLS10 for 10% off

Interested in being featured with "Together Talks"?

KLS is booking our upcoming schedule now!

Contact us as we would love to learn your story and share it amongst our audience.

Weekly we provide 2 companies our platform to expand their reach courtesy of our campaign. Let's collaborate!!!

In Closing

KLS wants to thank Tanner Faulkner, President of Boxes 4 U for today's "Together Talks" feature. Keep up to date with Boxes 4 U by following their blog on their website, here. Follow along for the Boxes 4 U journey with their social handles below!

LinkedIn / Instagram / Twitter / TikTok / Tanner's LinkedIn

Klimson Logistics Solutions - Together Talks with Boxes 4 U and President, Tanner Faulkner feature # 48

*Klimson Logistics Solutions is an Industry Leading Customer Service 3PL. Our focus and commitment to our clients has us striving to be the BEST customer service 3PL for LTL, FTL, Reefer, and Drayage in the country. KLS, freight company, is a 3PL providing nationwide logistics solutions. KLS shipping services include: LTL freight, FTL freight, Reefer LTL freight, Reefer FTL freight, and Drayage. Klimson Logistics Solutions thanks you for viewing our marketing campaign, "Together Talks". If you have any interest in being featured or questions regarding your freight operations please contact us today!

Why KLS?

Our precise and reliable effort.

We handle every shipment with the exact same process. It does not matter if you move one shipment a year or ten per day, you will receive the same level of customer service from us. When we started this company, we had one goal in mind, treat every shipment like it was our own. With our vast knowledge of the industry, we understood what a customer would want from a communication standpoint. We applied that process to be the standard here at KLS. Our reliability and being able to depend on our consistency is why we have such long-standing relationships with our clients.

Our Process?

Every shipment in our industry starts with a quote. We are firm believers that time is money, thus we strive to have quotes back in a 5-10 minute reply time for LTL and FTL, any FCL quotes are at the mercy of the carriers getting back to us. For LTL we have the flexibility to quote both off of NMFC and also Density depending on the carrier. Utilizing our services, you’re allowing us to use our expertise to class your freight accordingly to ensure we are providing the best rate we possibly can.

Once a quote has been submitted and a client chooses to proceed with KLS handling the arrangement of the shipment our full process begins. We create the BOL that will be used for the shipment. If it is a new location for our system, we will obtain all the important/special details (reference numbers, contact details, shipping hours, closed for lunch, dock/doors, etc.). We meticulously build every detail into our software for all future shipments involving that location. After we have both locations built and necessary reference numbers have been applied we will tender the shipment to the carrier. We use this method because it provides us a real time pickup number from the carrier to obtain updates prior to pickup. Our staff will either email the BOL directly to you or to the shipper (at your request) the minute after the tender has been accepted by the carrier. LTL carriers require a 2 hour window prior to close time in order to schedule it for a same-day pickup attempt.

The following morning you’ll receive an email from us. It will either provide the reason the pickup was missed (driver’s trailer filled up, driver missed the close time, truck broke down, shipper said no freight, etc.) or if the pickup was successful you will receive the PRO (tracking) number from us, along with the eta for delivery. Our staff will track it throughout the duration of transit and advise if anything happens that will alter the estimated delivery date. The day the shipment delivers we will email you with confirmation and the POD (Proof of Delivery), should you require it.

Your shipment has been quoted, scheduled, picked up, and delivered. The next step is waiting for the carrier to invoice us and make sure the rate matches up. If it does, we close out the invoice from the carrier in our system and automatically your invoice is created and sent to the requested party at your company. In the event the carrier has an additional charge on their invoice “Variance”, we will never send you an invoice with an additional charge without first identifying you of the charge.

Let us repeat, NEVER WILL WE JUST BILL OUT AN EXTRA CHARGE WITHOUT YOU BEING NOTIFIED.

You are our customer, we represent you. Should the carrier provide an extra charge on an invoice, “Lift gate, additional weight, reclass, detention, etc.) We notify you of the charge via email first. Second, within that email we identify what is required should you choose to dispute the charge. Again our goal is to honor your request, if you want to dispute, we will dispute. During a dispute we will provide you updates every step along the way. Once a dispute is closed out, whether it is approved or rejected, then we will invoice you as the invoice has been resolved.

For reference, our company only had 6.2% of all shipments go to dispute in 2022 and we successfully won 91% of those disputes on behalf of our customers.

This is our process for every single shipment you move with us. We don’t cut corners, we don’t hide from difficult situations. We believe in being available, honest, and transparent. We don’t ever want to tell you that a shipment is lost, damaged, misrouted, but it is our duty to notify you the second we find out something has gone wrong. We hate to present bad news, but it is part of the job. What you can guarantee is that we will work a shipment all the way through and turn over every stone until we get a resolution for our clients.

Services offered?

Our core business is LTL and FTL. Within these options we have options for both dry and refrigerated/frozen. We also offer FCL/Drayage options. Our company as a 3PL has nationwide options and services clients across the US.

Let’s breakdown our services more in-depth

LTL: Standard and Guaranteed CFS (Imports & Exports) Tradeshows Hazmat Anything that is on a pallet can be moved LTL. Typically LTL is up to 10 pallets, but the sweet spot for a carrier is 6-8 pallets at most for an individual shipment. LTL quotes are good between 5-30 days depending on the carrier. LTL can be quoted either via NMFC or density to determine the class (we do this for you).

Volume: Anything over 10-12’ of space in the truck is the technical rule for a volume shipment. When we run a quote for you we will determine if it qualifies for volume and provide you a rate if available. Volume moves allow you to get a reduced rate for larger shipments. The caveat to volume shipments it the quotes are only valid for 3-7 days and they move on capacity between terminals. If a terminal is backed up they will move their LTL freight first before the volume freight, which can lead to longer transit times for volume moves.

FTL/Dedicated/Expedited: 53’ Dry and Reefer 26’ Box trucks with lift gate Sprinter Van The main difference for FTL vs LTL is space and transit time. For standard pallets you can fit either 26 or 30 pallets in a 53’ dry van. The other main difference is transit time, for FTL each day counts in the transit time, whereas LTL does not count the day of pickup, weekends, or holidays in their transit time.

Reefer/Frozen: LTL and FTL We specialize working in the CPG space with food manufacturers. We regularly deliver to the following locations: Kehe UNFI Core Mark DPI Wegmans Cugini H.T. Hackney Netrition HEB ALDI Chambers and Owens EBY Brown Nassau Candy Harris Teeter Wakefern NU INC Long Distribution

What makes KLS different?

There are thousands for freight brokers and 3PL in our industry. Barrier to entry is rather easy and agents or owners will often hire sales people without any intention of properly training them. It results in high turnover for many freight companies and a forgettable experience for the client. We choose to operate differently through our consistency. We truly care about doing right by our clients and prospects too. While we would love to help provide our services to every company we speak with, that just isn’t realistic. We won’t always be the right fit for every company that moves freight and that is ok. Our authenticity as a shipping company sets us apart from the competition and that is backed up by our testimonials. We also run a marketing campaign bi-weekly called “Together Talks”. We interview, highlight, and promote two businesses every week. Our goal is to grow our network, make new connections, and learn something new with each collaboration. Check it out on our website and if you’re interested in being featured reach out.

Our company also runs a year long charity promotion. Book your first shipment through KLS and we donate to the charity of your choice in your name. Our way of thanking you for giving us an opportunity to show you the KLS way and what makes us one of a kind. This entire package is what we offer to every prospect and every client. Our goal is to help provide answers that customers may have when it comes to shipping. We want to always be available as a resource and will always offer a lending hand whenever we can.