# Keyan Bazargan

Keyan Bazargan advises e-commerce brands on parcel shipping and fulfillment, including carrier selection, shipping costs, and delivery data.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/keyan-bazargan/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keyan-bazargan
- LinkedIn followers: 2,289
- Topics: artificial-intelligence, ecommerce, supply-chain, ecommerce-fulfillment
- Based on 20 dated posts, latest 2026-10-05

## Summary

Keyan Bazargan is useful for ecommerce brands weighing parcel shipping, carrier, and 3PL decisions.

- Best for: A DTC ecommerce brand with material parcel spend and an open carrier or 3PL decision.
- Not for: Brands seeking paid media, sponsored content, or guaranteed savings without sharing data.
- Check first: Ask for recent audience data, impressions, engagement rates, and follower demographics.

### Takeaways

- Brands manage shipping cost on a reduced copy of their own data.
- The last-mile market is fragmented, so brands should run an RFP instead of defaulting.
- Where a 3PL sits on the map is a cost decision, not a preference.

## Main ideas

- **Brands manage shipping cost on a reduced copy of their own data**: Bazargan argues that when a brand ships through a 3PL or a TMS, the carrier holds the full charge-level record and everyone above it sees less and less. The provider gets a reduced version; the rate card handed to the brand is reduced again. They call this managing cost and service on a summary of a summary. Their reasoning is that this used to be an acceptable tradeoff because most teams could not use a full carrier feed. But modeling, software, and AI increasingly reward data completeness, making a partner that cannot give a brand full access to its own shipping data a supply chain risk rather than a minor inconvenience. They make a parallel argument about reporting: 3PLs vary widely, from detailed reporting and API access to PDF invoices with no real cost breakdown. The old case for withholding data in the name of simplicity has weakened because brands can now process it.
- **The last-mile market is fragmented, so brands should run an RFP instead of defaulting**: Bazargan maps U.S. last-mile delivery into layers: the four national carriers with the largest networks (UPS, FedEx, USPS, Amazon); venture-backed regional carriers that cherry-pick metro zips and certain parcel sizes rather than serving everything; consolidators and resellers that handle part of the journey; and 3PLs and label-printing platforms such as Shopify that negotiate group rates and take a cut of shipping revenue. They conclude that the choice set is genuinely large and confusing, and that without a dedicated RFP process a brand is very likely to overpay or end up with partners that do not match its shipping profile.
- **Where a 3PL sits on the map is a cost decision, not a preference**: Bazargan groups 3PLs into coastal, midway, and central, laying out the trade each one makes rather than recommending a single best location. Coastal sites (Los Angeles, Savannah) are close to ports for cheaper inbound costs but carry higher average final-delivery distance and more expensive real estate and operating costs. Midway sites (Utah, Tennessee) cost slightly more inbound but run cheaper and ship shorter final miles. Central sites (Kansas) have the highest inbound costs, the cheapest operations, and the shortest final delivery distances.
- **Delay in a carrier RFP has a measurable daily price**: Bazargan argues that the industry default is to accept a meeting next week when the real blocker could be cleared in a short email or call. Their team pushes to identify and clear the blocker immediately. The reasoning is arithmetic: savings only start once the program is live, so every week of scheduling slack is profit the client never collects, and the effect compounds across the hundreds of touchpoints in an engagement. They are explicit that this is not a case for recklessness.
- **An honest fulfillment evaluation can end in no change**: Bazargan says their job is to empower brands with information, and they only want to work with brands when it makes sense for both sides—which includes recommending that a brand keep what it has. They consider a fulfillment and delivery evaluation worthwhile regardless of the answer, because it either finds money or confirms the current setup is sound.
- **Cost reduction should be run as a coordinated program, not one rate cut**: Bazargan treats cost of goods sold as a flywheel: more profit funds inventory, product development, and marketing, supporting the next round of cost work. They argue for reviewing several levers together instead of chasing a single saving, and group them into 3PL fulfillment, manufacturing, and last mile.
- **Carrier choice should be judged by repeat buying, not just shipment metrics**: Bazargan says almost no one measures customer lifetime value by carrier, even though carrier performance can quietly affect whether a customer comes back. Speed, cost, and claims describe the shipment, while complaints capture only customers angry enough to write in. The silent detractor is more common than the angry customer, ordering less often or never again without saying why. They argue that measurement is feasible if a brand connects the right datasets, and that the post-purchase experience is part of the delivery decision, not a separate concern.

## Work to read

- [How the last-mile delivery market is structured](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_the-last-mile-delivery-industry-in-the-united-activity-7429938089009102848-35o1)
- [Why your shipping rate data may be a summary of a summary](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_if-you-ship-through-a-3pl-or-a-tms-the-rate-activity-7467968606073462784-6coE)
- [DHL’s $10B USPS exclusive and the cost of optionality](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_what-dhls-10b-usps-exclusive-means-for-activity-7466149448226902016-C59v)
- [Coastal, midway, or central: how 3PL location changes the cost stack](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_3pls-are-most-commonly-coastal-or-central-activity-7415065485467254784-ATD_)
- [The daily cost of a slow carrier RFP](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_carrier-rfps-drag-the-default-move-in-activity-7458984376320806912-XAC0)
- [Data transparency separates 3PLs](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_some-3pls-give-brands-full-data-transparency-activity-7490066805315756032-nPzJ)
- [Measuring lifetime value by carrier](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_almost-no-one-measures-lifetime-value-by-activity-7475609052132311040-y5b8)
- [When an evaluation says not to switch](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_brands-benefit-from-a-fulfillment-delivery-activity-7495494593216401409-xfhY)
- [Why parcel shippers pay above market value](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_through-personal-brand-side-experience-and-activity-7445447068078419968-_tt7)
- [COGS flywheel and 2026 operations levers](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_reducing-cogs-enables-a-flywheel-effect-activity-7413973263221026816-R92Q)
- [A tracking app for a consistent multi-carrier customer experience](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/keyan-bazargan_we-made-a-tracking-app-why-many-of-our-activity-7497658040888795136-OZuv)

## Brand relationships

- **Iron Margin** (disclosed_partnership)
- **Shopify** (mention)

## Partnerships

Keyan Bazargan's posts describe a service relationship, not media sponsorship. They work with e-commerce brands and fulfillment operations on parcel shipping and delivery costs, running delivery-cost audits, supporting carrier RFPs, and advising on 3PL selection. A brand's plan depends on supplying its shipping data and being willing to change carriers or contracts. One published product, a multi-carrier tracking app on the Shopify App store, supports a consistent customer tracking experience across carriers.

## Alternatives

- Anthony Robinson: A DTC brand whose parcel cost problem is rate mechanics and unrecovered carrier money, not 3PL markup. Robinson walks through a carrier general rate increase that is not the headline number: FedEx published 5.9% for 2027, but five of seven domestic services rose faster, accessorials average 6.79%, and 1–5 lb ground parcels are up 6.49%. The same roundup explains a geography change, with roughly 2,500 zips moved from Extended to Remote and the residential surcharge going from $8.80 to $17.75, and notes UPS zip tiers matching almost exactly. Robinson also documents claims recovery at volume: a national retailer captured more than $470,000 in loss-and-damage payments in sixteen weeks, about $29,000 a week, after more than 13,000 claims were filed across USPS, FedEx, and UPS in a quarter. If the need is "our effective rate is not the headline rate and we are leaving carrier money unclaimed," this is closer to that decision than a carrier-fit and 3PL audit.
- Divey Gulati: A brand weighing a move to an outsourced fulfillment operator, or looking for a clear account of fuel surcharge mechanics. Gulati shows how diesel moves parcel and freight costs: FedEx Ground fuel surcharge rising from about 21.75% at $3.71 per gallon to about 25% at $4.86 per gallon, and freight fuel going from about $0.51 to $0.74 per mile, roughly $230 more on a 1,000-mile load. Gulati also describes operating-side capabilities, including ShipBob AI, an MCP connector verified in Claude with read and write access, and an in-dashboard agent. These details help brands assess a 3PL's technology and operating depth alongside cost.
- Joe Amalfitano, CPSP: A brand whose cost problem is cross-border rather than domestic. Amalfitano works through tariff and customs data: Canada's counter-tariffs on C$27.6 billion of US goods at 15%, 25% or 50% depending on product, with no USMCA/CUSMA exemption and a transit window before the deadline; and the EU's €3 duty on low-value parcels applied per tariff heading, plus the EU Customs Data Hub becoming mandatory for e-commerce on 1 July 2028. For landed cost, duty exposure, HS classification accuracy, DDP pricing into Canada and the EU, or customs queries, this is the better match.

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AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/