We live in a time when society, regulatory authorities, and the global economic situation place ever greater demands on courier businesses. To ensure a secure future, these profound changes require sustainable positioning – not only with energy and environmental issues, but also with financial, technological, and personnel issues. That’s why it’s more fundamental than ever to strengthen your courier management processes and demonstrate their effectiveness to customers, business partners, and society.
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Sustainability in Courier Services
This delivery method prioritizes environmental preservation when using packaging to store food and other products. Furthermore, many companies go beyond just focusing on packaging and adopt an entire environmentally friendly delivery process, using non-polluting transport, such as electric vehicles, bicycles, and similar means. Also called Eco Delivery, this process is another aspect of business social and ecological responsibility.
How Important is it to Invest in Sustainable Delivery?
According to the DSVdirect article, from an environmental perspective, investing in eco-friendly courier services directly benefits the environment, helping to preserve nature and reducing the damage that your courier company can cause to the planet. However, in addition to this aspect, delivery done responsibly also adds value to your brand, winning over your audience in a conscious way.
From a corporate point of view, aiming at courier business benefits, and not just the environmental proposal, delivery considered ecological is also very advantageous for courier companies. Your relationship with your courier business’s target audience changes completely, as customers have valued, and opted for, courier companies that position themselves to take sustainable issues into consideration.
How to Improve Sustainability in Courier Service?
Making more sustainable deliveries requires a reformulation of the way your business operations carry out deliveries. However, despite seeming like a lot of effort, this process is simpler than many entrepreneurs imagine. Changing from the traditional format to the ecological one, in deliveries and in the acquisition of packaging, can be done through simple practices that do not weigh on the company’s pocket.
Make deliveries using non-polluting transport:
- Drones;
- Scooters;
- Bike deliveries;
- Use of bicycles and electric motorcycles;
- Do reverse logistics;
- Look for partnerships with recycling cooperatives in your region;
- Ask your customers how many disposables they want per order, reducing waste.
Furthermore, the most impactful way to practice ecological delivery, without a doubt, is to abandon plastic packaging, and to replace traditional packaging with paper or cardboard options.
Don’t Forget About Sustainable Marketing
For your courier business to also benefit from this change, communicating to your audience the measures adopted so that the company has a more sustainable stance is also essential. Use social media and your courier company’s profiles to promote this new phase of your company, engaging the public with sustainable issues.
Benefits of Electric Vehicles for Sustainable Delivery
1. Minimization of unexpected damages
In electric vehicles, the occasions when the business remains immobilized are fewer (as fewer parts = less unexpected damages). Thus, electric drivers can implement their daily schedules with full consistency, without unexpected practical issues that will cost the business money and time.
2. Reduced maintenance costs
As we have said, a vehicle consisting of an electric drive system has fewer moving parts than there are in a system with an internal combustion engine. Since there are fewer parts, there will be less need for inspection and repairs, resulting in significant savings in maintenance work.
There are also economic benefits since the cost of charging is much more economical than the cost of fuel, which has now increased considerably. Also the maintenance cost is much more economical, and finally, the subsidies and some other privileges given by the state make it a tempting option.
Some other benefits related to technology are that electric cars have high engine efficiency and very fast acceleration, they are extremely quiet significantly reducing noise pollution and they usually have very good safety and connectivity systems.
3. They will fit everywhere, no matter what!
The consolidation of restricted mobility zones, and prohibition of the passage or parking of certain vehicles is a phenomenon.
In European countries, we meet clean air zones in which only electric vehicles are allowed to pass without any cost, while many countries impose restrictions and extra costs on vehicles with internal combustion engines when they enter certain areas.
Thus, electric delivery vehicles will display another fundamental, practical parameter that will allow businesses to advance in the delivery of services and products, and save money and above all time.
4. They contribute to the productivity of their driver
No lies, electric vehicles are the most practical and comfortable form of parcel delivery within an urban landscape. The single-ratio automatic transmission combined with the immediate torque and horsepower offered by an electric motor makes urban driving an overall much more enjoyable process.
All this, combined with reduced noise pollution and a calm driving environment make the driver more productive and help reduce the risk of potential accidents.
5. Zero pollution
Electric vehicles are also a much more environmentally friendly form of delivery, since they almost eliminate the release of pollutants and leave a green footprint on the urban landscape.
There are many environmental benefits that are so fundamental for a better life in the long run such as zero emissions reducing air pollution. Especially in big cities, where thousands of cars circulate every day, the change in air quality will change and be felt by everyone.
Also, carbon dioxide is what creates the greenhouse effect and less emissions of this will help with climate change. Finally, fossil fuels are dramatically reduced, and electric delivery cars do not need them as renewable energy sources can be used to charge them.
6. Sustainable development
Investment in delivery is usually justified as the movement of goods, services, and workers is the vital fuel of the economy’s engine. In a sustainable delivery, needs are reduced through better urban design and planning, and the disruptive effects of economic growth are reduced through the provision of high-quality and low-carbon delivery.
7. Employment
Courier service is an essential element for economic performance and also a key part in creating employment, from manufacturing vehicles in factories to refining fuel, managing delivery services, and developing and maintaining infrastructure. In fact, sustainable delivery workers include all those who work in companies and institutions that actively strive to achieve the goals of sustainable delivery and create a sustainable courier system.
How to Implement Green Logistics into Practice
Green logistics is based on several different aspects. Combining these solutions into one can create a sustainable, ecological development strategy. Green logistics includes, among others, ecological transport, green warehouses, ecological packaging of parcels, or the use of a post office box system. What characterizes ecology in logistics?
Ecology in logistics – green transport
This is an aspect partially forced by restrictions on car traffic in city centers. Such actions have led companies to reach for more ecological solutions in order to ensure efficient deliveries, especially within the so-called last mile. Many entrepreneurs are investing in fleet modernization, gradually introducing electric cars into use, which are more environmentally friendly and can move in zones inaccessible to traditional combustion cars.
Another solution for green last mile transport is to hire couriers who travel on bicycles. This significantly reduces both costs and CO2 emissions.
Ecological warehouses
Another aspect of green logistics is the so-called ecological warehouses. What is a green warehouse? It is a facility that uses various technological solutions that guarantee the achievement of energy self-sufficiency. This includes the use of renewable energy sources, as well as a waste management strategy or the selection of other energy-saving, ecological warehouse solutions.
Ecological packaging of parcels
Logistics processes are often associated with a huge amount of waste – foils, tapes, and other types of plastic used to pack parcels are a huge environmental problem. Using ecological solutions such as paper fillers for parcels or paper packaging tapes can significantly reduce the amount of waste produced. It is worth paying attention to the fact that all products for packing parcels are biodegradable and friendly to the natural environment.
Using Courier Management Software for Sustainability
A key starting point is Onro’s courier management software. It combines several management systems in a common framework. Such software is extremely productive for your courier business and extremely positive for your courier company’s reputation. Above all, it demonstrates that your sustainability measures are coherent, correlated and mutual, both internally and externally.
With Onro, you can optimally use real-time tracking, simplify documentation, create more transparency, and save time and effort. Take advantage of this opportunity to create efficient courier operations, increase your competitiveness and reduce costs. Onro significantly improves your courier company’s performance and will even help you exceed your delivery business goals.
Mobility and delivery of goods are both part of the problem and part of the solution when the world is to meet sustainability goals. The courier systems of the future must reinforce their positive contributions and reduce their negative ones. Smart digital solutions, intelligent transport solutions, innovation, data, and artificial intelligence are key elements for future courier systems to be safe, efficient, and sustainable.
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Conclusion
So, we understood the importance of sustainability in courier services. Reducing the carbon footprint is currently not only a trend resulting from social pressure, but above all the obligation of every entrepreneur.
