Just about every kind of business, indeed every kind of household, depends from time to time upon the use of weights and measures. Whether it is to determine the correct amount of cous cous for the evening meal or the weight of a suitcase being loaded onto an airplane, scales are rolled out into action so as to determine just how accurate the estimate we had inevitably made turned out to be. At the supermarket the cost of our meat or loose vegetables is similarly determined using the same process.

Weights and measuring equipment are an industry in their very own right. From the smallest kitchen scale used to measure portions to large industrial pieces quantifying  large importable items the principle is entirely the same. In the United States the Weights and Measures Division promotes uniformity in laws, regulations and standards to achieve fairness in the process of buying and selling and authenticates figures provided in commercial transactions.

Drop Shipping Measuring and Weighing Equipment

The demand for scales and balances for commercial use offers an opening for small businesses wishing to enter the supply chain. Unless the trader has sufficient starting capital to purchase supplies and the necessary space for storage it is likely that a drop shipping arrangement would be the preferred business model whereby the entrepreneur acts merely as a middle man, facilitating the shipment from a supplier such as https://www.johnsonscale.com direct to the purchaser.

In this way the small business may have an online presence advertising the whole range of available products, possibly using a “skin” from the supplier itself or else its own design, but does not actively store them. When an order is placed the supplier is notified and the shipment is made directly, with a commission being paid to the intermediary who instigated the transaction.

Ancillary Services for Measuring Equipment

Of course when dealing with intricate or complex machinery provision is only one aspect of a broader operation. Weighing scales and measuring equipment do sometimes malfunction, and are of sufficient value to justify the customer entering into a service agreement rather than simply replacing the items. If the small intermediary is the point of contact for the customer then it will be that person whom the latter will be in touch with in order to arrange service or repair.

Thus it is that a drop shipping arrangement in the case of such items cannot be restricted solely to supply. At the very least the small business at the center of the transaction will continue to act as an intermediary between a supplier who also provides technical support, and the client at the opposite end of the transaction. However such an arrangement also provides for the possibility of the drop shipper actively performing repair and service, or indeed for another small business to become involved at this stage of the process.

Opportunities for SMEs thereby present themselves at several points along the way, whether through supply or service, or indeed both.