It is pretty surprising how many people make the same mistakes over and over again in some business endeavors. Moreover, despite the fact that these mistakes have happened in the past to many other persons, some business neophytes still commit the same mistakes. It is therefore very important to know the most common mistakes that most businessmen commit and how to avoid them. In other words, if there are things that you should know and do in starting up a business, there are also some things that you should avoid.

In the import export business, there are many factors to consider. Aside from the fact that unlike other types of businesses which just deal with the selling of products, the import and export business buys products as well. Thus, the nature of buying and selling should both be studied critically in the import export business. For those who are just starting out in this type of business, as equally important with the things that you should do, are the things that you should avoid. Thus, in order to avoid the common mistakes that other businessmen have committed, it is important to note the things that should be avoided.

First and foremost, if it can be helped, avoid third party vendors. This may sound a bit harsh, but third party vendors usually have hidden fees that will not only make your products appear more expensive, but will hinder these products from being sold. This is so because third party vendors have the tendency to insert hidden fees for them to profit more. However, if it cannot be avoided, you can employ third party vendors that are credible and reliable. There are online sites that offer the third party vendor services. In browsing through these sites though, you should be very cautious and discerning.

Second is talk directly to the producers for imported products. Beware of agents who represent importers because these will just add to the cost of the products. As much as possible, in importing products, make sure that you deal with the producers, or main suppliers of the product. This would not only eliminate unnecessary third party fees, but will also make transactions clearer and faster.

The third thing to avoid is delay in deliveries. In the import export business, time is one of the most important factors to consider. In importing products, the delivery process starts as soon as you buy the product and bring it to your warehouse or store. The time spent for these operations should be considered critically in order to avoid delays and extra expenses on the handling of these products. In the same manner, in exporting products to other countries, the delivery process starts as soon as you send the products to the receiving party. The delivery process is only concluded when the receiving party receives the products. Thus, any delay in the delivery process would mean extra handling expenses.

The Treaty of Rome, the agreement establishing the structure of what is today the EU, recognized the important role that transport policy could play in developing a European common market. The Treaty called for the development of a common transport policy that would provide a framework within which member countries could develop their own transport networks, while at the same time improving the performance
characteristics of the European transport system as a whole. By providing well-matched system improvements whose benefits will assist any individual country, the EU was targeting strategic investments whose net impact would be of benefit to the entire EU. Given that national transport networks serve as the foundation for the prospective European network, it is not surprising that one of the initial challenges facing the EU in the transport sector was establishing the interconnection of services and infrastructure for trans-European travel.

Europe is now facing a problem of managing en ever growing stream of good and freights coming in and going out of the countries inside the UE as well as in international sector when trading with foreign countries. Most problems however are caused by the elimination of the borders inside Europe, which led to tourists’ boom, what caused a problem though was not tourists, but the increasing number of freight hauling throughout all of Europe. At that time Europe was not ready for such a huge change in cargo transportation. Currently European government which comprises of many countries is trying to implement changes that would help distribute evenly the amount of cargo. The Common Transport Policy which was introduced a couple of years ago mainly focused on the transport safety, rail, roads, maritime and aviation systems; all of the constituents had also to be made interoperable and it was essential to make much better use of what already existed at the time. For Europeans the issue was to reduce the use of the roads which was overcrowded due to the borders elimination and to continue on the inland water ways and railroads. The solution to this problem would also resolve another matter of energy conservation which is a vital concern of modern Europe. This Common

Transport Policy is aimed at lowering risks of those transporting goods as well, as the new system assumes that there will be no bottleneck in a newly structured scheme. According to the approximate figures with the use of the new policy, transporting by railroads and inland waters ways will grow by 15%, and the pressure on the roads will reduce by 12% which would lead to a better coordinated work without congestions and storing of goods for days without moving. Concluding all of the said above, Europe has found a way to solve their transportation problems, although it still needs a lot of work it definitely will pay back soon with an economic growth and happier citizens.

What America faces now is a real transportation crisis. It is a matter of passenger carrying as well as freight transportation. Although the
statistics show that international trade has been growing steadily in the United States, there are issues that can not be neglected. The UE
example shows that a critical role for multinational efforts is to foster open competition and open borders (for instance between Canada and the

US, or Japan and US). Free access allows the market to take advantage of productivity economies and results in market-reflective decisions, which will boost American and other countries economies and result in overall improvement. The European experience suggests that there might have to be different market incentives and rules for different segments of the transportation system (e.g., inter modal terminals, national rail service, inland water, etc.). The US having a lot of land unused contrary to the Europe or Japan, has to make the most of what is has, thus developing railroad infrastructure and inland water ways, through rivers and canals. Too much weight has been put on the roads in the US these days and they have been damaged severely by trucks hauling tones and tones of goods each day. This weight has to be distributed more evenly between the transportation channels.

Another important issue in the American transportation system s lack of trained personnel. In case of Europe, it has incorporated human
resource development and training as an important component of any public and private initiative aimed at improving freight movements. This
training has been done primarily to raise the quality of life of the communities that are affected by freight facilities and operations. Consequently is people working in this business have a better life, it will result in a better performance.

Overall investigation of both American and European (international) transportation systems showed that they need thorough improvements. First there needs to be some general strategy identified, and then it should be implemented in regard to the national economic/infrastructure factors and international trends.