40% of Their Swag Budget Went to Shipping. Here’s How We Fixed It
How Kotis saved a Fortune 100 company $326k on shipping swag
Michael Edelson | March 11, 2026
Key Takeaways
- With rate-shopping tech, address validation, economy DDP in +48 countries, dimensional weight optimization, and zero pick and pack fees, Kotis saved $326k annually in shipping charges when a Fortune 100 switched from a competitor. When a Fortune 100 switched to Kotis, we saved them $326k annually in shipping charges.
- Running a side-by-side shipping analysis using actual shipping costs with the same products shipping to the same locations at volume, the client spent a considerable amount less on domestic and global shipping with Kotis.
- Kotis continues to reduce shipping costs by expanding fulfillment internationally. New operations in the UK, India, and China mean swag gets made, stored, and shipped locally, cutting out cross-border costs entirely.
Why “Company A” was spending 40% of its budget on shipping with a competitor?
Due to an NDA, we can’t write who this company is. For the sake of the case study, we’ll call them “Company A.”
This company runs a large-scale partner gifting program, shipping branded merchandise across the US and around the world. Their previous distributor, a top 5 industry vendor, outsourced fulfillment to a third-party logistics provider (3PL). The packages went out. The invoices got paid. Nobody questioned the numbers.
The reality? $400,000 a year was going to shipping. Every dollar overspent on carriers was a dollar that could’ve gone to better products or bigger launches.
How Kotis saves your shipping budget?
When Company A switched to Kotis, they immediately saw big savings. This is what we do to help our clients save:
- Rate-shopping technology. Every package routes to the optimal carrier (UPS, FedEx, or eCommerce equivalent) based on destination, weight, and cost
- Address validation. Catching errors before the label prints. You’ll see how that comes in play later with Company A’s shipments to Australia.
- Economy DDP to 48+ countries. Duties and taxes are baked into the quoted price, cutting out any surprises.
- Box size optimization. Right-sized packaging means lower dimensional weight charges.
- No pick and pack fees. Competitors can charge up to $9 per order to pull and package items for shipping. For Standard to Enterprise platform clients, this is always free.
Learn more about how we ship swag better.
Our shipping analysis that proves the savings
We ran a comparison using actual orders that shipped around the globe.
International shipping rates (UPS Expedited, per 1.8lb package):
| Country | Previous Vendor | Kotis | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | $54.43 | $27.45 | 50% |
| UK | $60.97 | $26.55 | 56% |
| Brazil | $72.78 | $34.79 | 52% |
| Australia | $121.31 | $34.78 | 71% |
The previous vendor’s 3PL was paying roughly 33% of UPS published rates. Kotis came in at about 17%. That’s roughly half the cost at baseline, before surcharges even enter the picture.
Those surcharges made the gap worse. The Australia shipment carried an estimated $54 in extra fees: residential delivery charges, likely address corrections, and oversized packaging triggering higher dimensional weight. These are the kinds of costs that compound across thousands of shipments when nobody’s actively managing them.
Domestic shipping told a similar story: Kotis was 53% cheaper on average across 415 US shipments.
One more thing nobody was watching: the previous vendor charged a $7-9 pick-and-pack fee per order. Across 4,748 annual shipments, that’s $31,000+ in fees Kotis doesn’t charge at this spend level.
The grand total savings
| Category | Annual Savings |
|---|---|
| International shipping (4,333 shipments) | $289,223 |
| Domestic shipping (415 shipments) | $6,375 |
| Pick-and-pack fee elimination (4,748 orders) | $31,011 |
| Total annual savings | $326,608+ |
Bonus – Average ship times also improved by a full day.
The real win: that $326K went back into the swag program. Better merchandise. Bigger launches. Higher-quality gifts that actually strengthen the partner relationships the program was built for.
Looking forward: how our global fulfillment centers are lowering costs even more
Every shipment in this analysis still originated in the US. Every international package crossed a border, went through customs, and traveled thousands of miles.
Kotis has now expanded operations to the UK, India, and China, with swag manufactured, warehoused, and shipped to end users within the same country. No customs. No cross-border surcharges. No multi-week delivery windows.
For global companies with offices in these regions, the savings from this case study get even bigger when you skip the border crossing entirely. A UK shipment that cost $26.55 from the US drops dramatically when fulfilled locally.
We’re continuing to expand into more regions, building a global fulfillment network that lets your swag program grow with your company’s footprint.
Read our expansion announcement for more details.
Is your shipping budget hiding the same problem?
Most companies don’t audit their swag shipping costs at this level. The invoices get paid, the packages arrive, and nobody asks if 40% of the budget going to carriers is normal.
It’s not.
We can spot check your shipping charges. Send us your shipping data and we’ll show you where the money is going. No commitment, just the math.
