From door to door delivery to air and ocean logistics, our world depends on the jobs that purchasing agents perform. From finding the right supplier to making sure that deliveries arrive on time, purchasing agent duties are essential to companies of all sizes. Whether you are waiting for a small box of makeup that you have ordered your daughter or you are planning to order prepared ingredients for meals to be delivered to your home every week, the delivery of the goods that you order is important.
What Is a Purchasing Agent’s Role in a Small Company?
In a small company, a purchasing agent may have a pretty wide range of tasks. From finding vendors to ordering supplies, some purchasing agents in smaller companies may even be in charge of overseeing the deliveries themselves. In a small company that handles food, the purchasing agent may even be in charge of scheduling time sesitive deliveries. For instance, when shipping perishable food a combination of dry ice and insulated packaging can preserve food for as long as 24 to 48 hours.
What Is a Purchasing Agent’s Role in a Large Company?
In the largest of companies, a team of purchasing agents often divide tasks. While one group may be in charge of focusing on buying products, items, and services just in the Virgin Islands market, another team might be charged with the task of point-to-point express deliveries. From air and ocean cargo logistic solutions to capitalizing on inbound and outbound deliveries, the largest of companies have to divide the tasks among a large team of purchasing agents.
Consider some of these facts about the role of purchasing agents in companies of all sizes:
- Using direct cargo transportation services allows cargo to be transfered in a fashion that is more environmentally friendly because a decrease in stops and time.
- 30% of the total worldwide shipment value is with the air cargo industry represents an estimated.
- Because they are extremely time sensitive, air freight services eercise tighter control over cargo shipping processes.
- Cargo only aircraft handle an estimated 60% of global air-freight shipments in the year 2012, according to the plane maker Boeing.
- The air cargo industry generated an estimated $75.4 billion in the year 2013.
- Overnight or two day delivery can be as much as 50% or more than the usual delivery fee.
The holidays are just around the corner and with the upcoming celebrations of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas many Americans will be relying on the role of purchasing agents and other logistics personnel to make sure that the items that they order will arrive on time. Understanding what is a purchasing agent is the key to understanding the logistics processes that we all depend upon.