In order to handle misdeliveries and lost packages at all stages of the delivery management, it is important to clearly formulate business objectives, better calculate options, and correctly evaluate your own resources, plan everything in advance by using a delivery management software and not be limited to some usual solutions.
78% of the consumers had problems with courier companies. In this group, almost 80 percent respondents received a parcel with a long delay at least once. More than half claim that couriers have lost parcels sent or addressed to them.13 percent respondents had problems with payments in settlements with courier companies. Respondents claim that couriers destroyed parcels, stole goods and forged notices. As we found out, in some cases companies even notified the police about the crime.
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Lack of Delivery Control for Handling Misdelivery and Lost Packages
Logistics today is tied to a good platform and stable algorithms. This is a very large but important expense item. However, businesses are not always ready to seriously invest in technical tools like Onro or do not understand what they should be due to insufficient experience.
As a result, the processes are poorly established, and this creates misdelivery and lost packages. In particular, in interaction with the courier. His/her movement becomes clear only from conventional chat messages or calls: he/she accepted the order, went to the client, got to the client, and is on his way back.
However, in a message or call, the performer can always lie: for example, say that he/she has already reached the client, when in fact he/she is still on the way and there are not 1-2 minutes left until the final point. And if any problems arise, the company will not be able to understand who is wrong – the customer complaining and blaming the courier for the delay, or the courier objecting that he arrived on time and the client made it all up to himself.
In addition, control over the movement of the contractor is important both for the correct calculation of routes (and therefore for ensuring maximum delivery speed) and for checking the responsibility of the courier. Therefore, it would still be a good idea to invest money in technical tools – these expenses will pay for themselves in the long run.
Ideally, consider the possibility of such control over delivery for the client himself/herself. Especially when delivery is expected not in a narrow time interval, but during the day. For the client, the inability to understand where the courier is, who “left” and “should arrive within 2 hours” is not a very comfortable wait. Especially if the client would like to spend these 2 hours usefully: to work, to do some things that cannot be distracted from in a few seconds, it is important that the courier’s call does not come as a complete surprise.
Poorly Organized Order Transfer System
According to the Code work article, the reluctance to invest resources in technological tools like to manage delivery also leads to losses due to misdeliveries and lost packages. If it is not automated enough, sometimes even done manually, when a conventional manager in a restaurant must form each order separately and send it to a partner service or directly to the courier, the business wastes time.
The client receives the order later than he could, and speed is one of the key criteria for the client. The business fulfills fewer orders than it could and faces lost profits. The courier also delivers fewer orders – and receives less money per shift.
The better a business automates all processes related to customer service, including logistics management, the more money it will save and receive in the long run.
Organizing Delivery Through Only One Format
It is not always true that a business can deliver exclusively through an aggregator or only on its own – through its staff of couriers. Firstly, there are several phenomenal ways to attract a client and work with him. Secondly, there is no ideal delivery format, and often, in order to get maximum economic benefits, it is better to combine them.
For example, a company decides to do everything on its own, recruits couriers, trains them, allocates money for equipment and transport, and it significantly saves on commissions to the aggregator. If at some point, due to reasons beyond the business’s control, it begins to experience strong fluctuations in demand for delivery, some couriers are, one way or another, idle for periods. And it makes more sense from the point of view of optimizing budgets to reduce staff to a basic minimum and attract external couriers during periods of peak demand.
Wrong Delivery Format
Each method of organizing delivery instructions has pros and cons, but for one business, the pros will be more significant, and for another – less. And the economic efficiency of delivery as an option directly depends on this.
For example, if a newly opened business decides to launch delivery for the first time, it has a small audience, little traffic on the website and in the application, and few buyers, an aggregator will be more relevant for it than its own staff. On the one hand, he/she will give away almost a third of the revenue from delivery, which is very noticeable at the start. But on the other hand, he/she will have to invest a lot of money in marketing to promote the delivery and brand, while an aggregator can drive a lot of traffic for a commission.
At the same time, for a large and well-known business with a large audience and a constant influx of new consumers, it may be more effective to form its own courier staff, since attracting traffic is no longer at the forefront. At the same time, a business may not refuse to cooperate with delivery services – simply place less emphasis on them and try to promote its own delivery to customers: through its website, application, and so on.
Mistakes in the Approach to Hiring Employees
A good courier is not one who can be hired at a minimum rate and who will be ready to deliver many orders. First of all, a good courier is responsible. This is someone who will not suddenly decide, in the process of fulfilling an order, to drop a friend somewhere by car, drop by for coffee, turn 5 km off the route for this and therefore increase the order fulfillment time, and so on.
Partly, the responsibility of the courier and his/her precise execution of tasks can be managed through the already mentioned traffic control. When the courier understands that the manager is able to track drivers in real-time, he/she is less likely to deviate from the route. However, in many ways, everything depends directly on the person himself/herself.
Therefore, it is very fundamental to take a serious approach to hiring performers – not to formally review the questionnaire, but to conduct at least short tests and interviews. Not just find out the knowledge of the city and previous work experience, but also his/her personal qualities: commitment, responsibility, punctuality, and so on.
Poor Training of Couriers Can Cause Misdelivery and Lost Packages
The level of quality of last-mile logistics directly depends on the actions of couriers, and here, in addition to competent hiring, the training of performers also plays an important role. This problem is especially relevant for those companies that are organizing delivery for the first time.
Poor preparation leads, for example, to a decrease in the speed of order transportation, because the courier has poor orientation in the area to which he is assigned. Or damage to the goods during delivery – because the courier has not learned how to properly handle packages, that can cause misdelivery.
On average, you need to budget about a week for high-quality training of couriers, but this is the optimal period – when the program has been worked out several times. If it has just been compiled and is starting to be tested, it is better to double the time: there will be a chance to see which issues are not covered deeply enough, and to work on them more thoroughly before releasing the performers “into the field.”
Lack of Motivation for Couriers
It’s good when couriers do the bare minimum, but it’s much better for business when they can do a little more—when they’re ready to help out (for example, replace a colleague), promptly get involved, or go out on a shift that’s not theirs. This depends not only on the person’s responsibility, but also on his involvement in what he does, on loyalty to the company, and on interest in the quality of his work. It would be a good idea to evaluate these points during the interview.
And also make sure that the company has a good motivation system. It can be either material (standard cash bonuses) or intangible: like internal ratings (the only important thing is that they provide some “goodies”), opportunities for self-development, partnership offers, and so on. The main thing is to determine together with the couriers what exactly will be important to them. A good motivation system will not allow them to work “sloppy” or cheat, because this could cause them to lose something valuable to themselves.
Inadequate Equipment and Transport for Couriers
One of the worst ways to save on organizing delivery is to not think through the issues of equipment and transport for the courier. The problem most often concerns companies that have tackled the delivery problem for the first time and either want to get by with little money or are not experienced enough. Because of this, it turns out, for example, that the courier delivers the goods in a low-quality thermal bag with poor temperature retention or receives a rental vehicle that cannot be used on a specific route: like a scooter for uneven terrain.
All this creates the risk that the courier may deliver an order that is not salable, which will reduce customer loyalty and ultimately lead to business losses. And in the case of incorrectly selected transport, the likelihood of injury increases – and this is either a negative response from the courier, or the contractor’s “crash” or his refusal to further cooperate and the costs of finding a new one.
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Conclusion
Handling misdeliveries and lost packages is fundamental. You shouldn’t be afraid of experimentation because you just need to carry them out meaningfully, after careful analysis. And despite the fact that budget optimization is now a priority for businesses, you cannot save on technical capabilities, couriers, and their equipment, because business losses can be much greater.
