You are here: Home / Archives for Courier Services

How to get your freight delivered on time

June 6, 2011 By

Imagine a day where you are not dealing with late delivery complaints.

For us that is every day.

boxes for Freight delivery

Sick of late freight?

As providers of courier services we know how tough it is to get your freight delivered on time. We are fortunate though – we have a process that we are going to share with you and if you follow these steps your freight will always reach it’s destination intact and when it should.  The day you cease to have customers calling about late deliveries is now a few steps closer.

1. When a customer wants a delivery double check their location details

Sometimes a customer calls from one location (that you have on your database) but they want their pallets delivered to a different destination. They don’t tell you but they do tell the warehouse. This means when you schedule the delivery their isn’t enough time for subsequent deliveries because you are routing to the wrong delivery address. A quick check at the booking stage can save your business hours.

2. Manage your clients delivery expectations from the outset

If your client calls at 8am and want their pallets in Birmingham at 10am that is not a problem providing you are also in Birmingham. However if you are in Edinburgh or London you will not be able to get the pallets to their destination in 3 hours. Not even documents using a motorbike could get delivered in that time frame. If you manage your clients expectations openly and honestly then you will have less phone calls hassling you.

3. When outsourcing to a courier service check that they have all the customer details…

… and that those details are correct. Email the courier the correct delivery addresses, phone numbers and details of service areas (especially if they haven’t delivered for you before). If there are issues parking at the delivery destination tell them now. The better prepared they are the more likely they are to be on time with your consignments.

4. Named contacts

Inform your courier service of the person ordering the job at collection and delivery points. If the job is a “special” or “screamer” then sometimes the general warehouse staff are not aware of it. Make the loading and unloading process faster by providing points of contact with phone numbers. A good courier company will ask for these at the time of booking.

5. Documentation

Most hold-ups at collection points involve the documents travelling with your freight. Call the warehouse and prepare them in advance for urgent collections and make the office staff aware of that days deliveries and who is collecting them. Without the correct documents a warehouse won’t release the freight and this will make the delivery late. A few minutes here can save you an hour and you avoid paying waiting time.

If you run through the 5 steps every time you outsource a delivery you will rarely have a problem getting your freight delivered on time.

Sarah

Email
Filed Under: Courier Business, Courier Services Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A day in the life of your parcel

November 26, 2010 By

Each day we are lucky enough to gain new customers looking for dedicated courier services. They are customers that are sick to death of replacing items damaged or lost by the parcel system and when looking at alternatives that start to understand the value of a same day courier. In this blog post we thought we would explain a ‘typical day’ for the parcel itself. If you understand how the parcel is interacted with you can prepare for safer delivery.

The day in a life of a parcel

The item is wrapped and the courier is booked. (one pair of hands).

The parcel is collected and loaded into the delivery vehicle (one pair of hands, one potential drop). The driver may notice if you have labeled the package with instructions.

The parcel is in the van whilst other packages are collected and loaded in (potential damage in transit, possible damage from other packages).

The delivery van arrives at the depot and the van is unloaded (several pairs of hands, potential throws, potential drops and potential kick the parcel across the room).

The parcel are then sorted into cages by hand, or on a conveyor belt and then picked off by the sorting teams.

Each team collects the parcels for their area and they are thrown into the cages or vans. (More hands)

These vans then deliver to the local warehouses and they are again sorted local routes and the parcels encounter another set of hands. (A few more hands)

The packages are now delivered locally and it is at this point that the driver will definitely notice if there are labels saying “Fragile” or “this way up”. That may be a little too late for the fragile ornament you are sending aunt Agnes for Christmas.

As you can see from the breakdown of the parcels ‘day’ many people touch and interact with the parcel.

The delivery system has to be as fast as possible and that may be it’s faster to throw a small box than walk it across the room. The sorters are under a lot of pressure and many are conscientious workers. As in all jobs you will find there are people who take short cuts, and there is nothing we can do about them, it’s down to the delivery company to pay proper rates to their workers and to value them.

What can you do to prevent parcel breakages?

Package with care.

  • Strong outer boxes
  • Polystyrene chips (or similar) to absorb impact
  • Tape the seams of the box with parcel tape

Understand the way that the parcel travels and you can factor in the packaging to make it stronger and more robust.  A robust package is more likely to arrive intact. If you find you are spending so much money on packaging that it’s no longer cost effective to deliver then have a look at hiring a same day courier for the day. Less hands, more efficient delivery.

Sarah
PS if you need packing advice, have a search around the blog, we share lots of advice.

Email
Filed Under: Courier Services, Packing for transportation Tagged With: ,

How to recommend a same day courier service

May 6, 2010 By

Often you see ‘asks’ or ‘requests’ for a same day courier on twitter or in forums. Then a flurry of tweets that recommend suitable couriers to the person that asked.

Normally the person doesn’t specify the type of courier they require and say “same day courier” because they want the items to get their the same day, then squeak at the cost. I shall address the pricing issue in a moment.

There are a huge range of courier services available, just take a look at some of the ones that we do -

Same day courier

Overnight Courier

Two man delivery teams

High value delivery

Airfreight couriers

Parcel courier

Time critical delivery

Quite a few! So when you are crowd sourcing your courier it helps to be specific about what needs to be moved -

  • “I need a courier to collect and deliver a sideboard”
  • “I need a courier to collect and deliver office equipment”
  • “I need a courier to deliver documents today”

They will all get you the right kind of courier, providing that the person recommending knows what type of courier you actually are.

Also remember, different items need different size vehicles so recommending a courier service that only has transit vans will cost more than a courier service with a mixed fleet or small vans.

Courier pricing, this always gets a sharp intake of breath as people compare the cost of a courier to the cost of posting something by the Royal Mail. If it can go by post and isn’t that urgent and it doesn’t matter if it’s lost or delayed, then sending it by Royal Mail will always be the cheapest option. If you have regular items for mail, you can get a franking machine or smartpost and save a few pence per stamp.

If an item has to be delivered halfway across the country, 5 hours driving and a tank of fuel don’t expect it to cost £20 to  be delivered.

Seriously, think twice before trying to work out what you courier will cost. Get a few quotes for courier services and decide which one best fits your needs, and that may not be the cheapest and it may not be the all singing all dancing version. If you absolutely insist on trying to calculate roughly how much it would be you need to factor in

  • Drivers time at at least minimum wage
  • Fuel
  • Time spent loading and unloading
  • How many people are required to complete the delivery
  • How long you are prepared to wait for the item to arrive

Then you may get a ball park figure, remember to add in some profit as well, you don’t work for nothing so don’t expect your courier company too!

When calculating the fuel remember that a commercial vehicle is heavier than most domestic vehicles, so the fuel consumption is greater.

Phew! Quite a lot to consider and you only wanted a courier service recommendation didn’t you!

Bear this in mind and next time you see a forum post asking for one or a tweet with someone looking for one, a few questions may be in order to find the right kind of courier service for the person.

Sarah

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Email
Filed Under: Sameday Courier Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Where’s the marketing in your delivery?

January 7, 2010 By

When you have a product delivered to your customers, it can be the first physical impression they have of your company. Often if selling goods that need delivering, the customer may not meet the business, it’s owner or  a salesperson until a sale has taken place. Back to impressions – You need to make sure it is the right one. You also need to make sure it is consistent with your marketing message. If you brand your business as a premium product or service, how do you look if you use a second rate courier service? or even send the item with ‘a mate who is going your way…’

Parkins Independent Trading Co
Image by gregwake via Flickr

If your products, that you carefully make, are collected and then delivered in a scruffy, battered van, then you can imagine what your customers will think when they see it. Then we have the driver. If the driver is scruffy, unkempt and cannot recall when they last had a bath, they are not creating a good impression of your company. The delivery aspect is so often overlooked, but if a customer is paying a premium for your product, you are not very likely to gain repeat business by having it delivered by someone who couldn’t care less.

Whats more worrying is if the courier service in question doesn’t care about their own image, how can you be sure they will care about your product? If your goods are fragile, how will you know they are looking after them? You may not think this matters as your business gave the customer great service, and a great item that they needed. Many people will have helped make the sale, and now one scruffy driver, who couldn’t care less has blown it for you.

If you are less than confident in the courier service that is completing your deliveries, then you may find you are calling them more often to find out what is going on, where they are and how long they will be. You may find that you worry more about the delivery than the work you should be doing, because the trust just isn’t there.

If you are sending items to high calibre businesses you need a courier service that understands what this means. You will need one with smart, tidy vans and drivers that are motivated and well treated. They are the drivers that will deliver your items as you intended them to be delivered, with courtesy and respect. They are the ones that will be polite and well mannered to the receptionist of your clients company. They are the ones that will make sure the right person signs for the item, and will carry out your instructions so that the delivery is reflective of the overall service that you provide. They will continue to see your marketing message and brand values are delivered in a manner that reflects positively on your business.

Knowing how much it costs to win a client, can you afford to use a courier service who delivers less than what it should?

Sarah

0844 884 3331

Enhanced by Zemanta
Email
Filed Under: Courier Services Tagged With: , , , ,

Outsourced deliveries without fear

January 6, 2010 By

Companies can outsource many parts of their business and to great success.  It enables them to focus on growth, sales and promoting their business without the worries.Transport is one area where it can go incredibly well and save you money or extremely badly and be a complete waste of time for all involved.

When you look at outsourcing your deliveries, what else do you look at? For many, they only look at the costs they save. They miss the costs saved with becoming greener.

recycled plastic boxes
Image via Wikipedia

An example of this comes from one of our blue chip clients. They regularly deliver into the warehouses where their goods are sorted and loaded to the correct vehicles. Driver are trained to bring back the packaging and do so. At the end of the week all the packaging is delivered to the central warehouse to be reused.

The company didnt expect this to be part of the service and we calculated the recycled packaging that could be reused saved them £8k a month! for them it was an incredible bonus to come from outsourcing their transport.

When looking at providers you need to be honest with amounts. Yes, you get discounts with bigger quantities but how does it reflect on your company if you start to lie about the amounts that need delivering? You look less trustworthy. Give examples of deliveries from ‘this time last year’ based on your actual sales figures for the previous year. Again, you need to be honest with the weights of the items and their fragility. Remember, two man teams, safer delivery techniques are not a substitute for good packaging.

Companies in the past when outsourcing also decide to make the false economy of cutting back their packaging,increasing the likelihood of returns.

Talk to your sales team and make sure your delivery data is ‘clean’. Companies move floors, move two doors along and round the corner all the time. Make sure the sales team update the delivery data, adding notes about where delivery entrances are. A good delivery company will call to get the correct details anyway, but it makes life easier for everyone if the data is correct in the first place. Again the correct data helps to eliminate the need for returns and decreases the likelihood of failed deliveries.

Talk to more than one company when looking to outsource your transport but remember if you buy solely on price, you will lose out on many added benefits and run the risk of having no insurance cover or being underinsured.

Sarah

Enhanced by Zemanta
Email
Filed Under: Courier Business, Courier Services Tagged With: , , ,
« Older Posts