Courier service deteriorating...what to do?
October 15, 2021 7:23 AM Subscribe
I've been shipping for a small business that sells custom recreational gear, high dollar value items. We've shipped normally using the two domestic couriers for many years with nary a glitch. In the past quarter, that's changed dramatically.
Because the couriers' track record was so stable and predictable, our policy was to not insure packages and that worked well pre-pandemic, as in zero losses from missing packages. That's changed rapidly as we're seeing our shipments go missing, be delayed, or get routed incorrectly with disturbing regularity.
Basically we hand off our packages to a guy in a purple or brown outfit and now hope it gets to its destination rather than have any real certainty that this going to happen. Failed drop offs, forged signatures, lost entirely en route....it's all up for grabs now it seems.
The whole process is fraught with uncertainty. As a small business, my company doesn't have the resources to build a global tracking system to ensure delivery or at least know the outcome.
The couriers apparently do not have any real investment in guaranteeing delivery. If your package goes missing, you get little in the way of notification beyond 'package delayed' or 'exception' emails.
What resources could I access that could help me wrap my head around better ways to do this: groups, forums, reddit, consultants, training courses. Surely there must be a better way to get a package from point A to B without losing track of it entirely due to a courier's system failure, theft, or other mishap that we have no real idea of why that occurred. Insurance is a must now, what other systems or methods might help this situation improve?
Because the couriers' track record was so stable and predictable, our policy was to not insure packages and that worked well pre-pandemic, as in zero losses from missing packages. That's changed rapidly as we're seeing our shipments go missing, be delayed, or get routed incorrectly with disturbing regularity.
Basically we hand off our packages to a guy in a purple or brown outfit and now hope it gets to its destination rather than have any real certainty that this going to happen. Failed drop offs, forged signatures, lost entirely en route....it's all up for grabs now it seems.
The whole process is fraught with uncertainty. As a small business, my company doesn't have the resources to build a global tracking system to ensure delivery or at least know the outcome.
The couriers apparently do not have any real investment in guaranteeing delivery. If your package goes missing, you get little in the way of notification beyond 'package delayed' or 'exception' emails.
What resources could I access that could help me wrap my head around better ways to do this: groups, forums, reddit, consultants, training courses. Surely there must be a better way to get a package from point A to B without losing track of it entirely due to a courier's system failure, theft, or other mishap that we have no real idea of why that occurred. Insurance is a must now, what other systems or methods might help this situation improve?
Are you in the U.S., or elsewhere? In the U.S., I think of couriers as a same-day service, versus shippers who will do overnight or longer. All shippers offer some sort of tracking.
Are there other couriers that you could switch to?
posted by hydra77 at 9:35 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Are there other couriers that you could switch to?
posted by hydra77 at 9:35 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
From the outfits you describe, it sounds like you're not using a courier service but a standard shipping service. If so, they have tracking options and insurance options; sounds like you'll need to start using them. If I'm wrong about that and you're actually using a courier service (where a person takes your parcel and goes on whatever journey is needed to deliver it to the person at the other end), then that will be a very different question.
posted by gideonfrog at 9:40 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by gideonfrog at 9:40 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
I also recommend trying US Postal Service with tracking. I ship cell phones every day with USPS, and it's very rare that I have a problem (like one issue per year with over a thousand shipments per year). For added peace of mind, you can pay a couple dollars extra for signature confirmation. I gave up on the other carriers years ago for exactly the reasons you describe, and I haven't looked back. It's tough enough to run a business as it is. You don't need a shipping partner abusing, neglecting, or stealing your packages.
posted by yaquina27 at 10:03 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by yaquina27 at 10:03 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Don't offer uninsured shipping for goods over a value that either you or the customer can afford. The mail order company I work for provides an uninsured option, but it comes with a click-through that the buyer must accept that if it doesn't arrive, we can't track it. A surprising number of people take this option, and try to ask if it can be applied to more expensive orders (says "Nope" in Customer Service).
We also offer Route on top of regular courier/postal service tracking. A surprising number of people take this option, too.
posted by scruss at 10:53 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
We also offer Route on top of regular courier/postal service tracking. A surprising number of people take this option, too.
posted by scruss at 10:53 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Do you have a representative at ups or fedex or etc? For one of our companies our representative gave us reduced rates at fedex because of the amount of overnight mail we do. At another of our (now defunct) companies, our rep was able to give us reduced rates at ups based on the anticipated volume ( which turned out to be much lower). It might help to get a rep at whatever company you deal with who is in charge of your account and can do things for you that the regular customer service people cannot.
posted by one4themoment at 4:49 PM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by one4themoment at 4:49 PM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
(And this included for us investigating things like packages being delivered late in the day and so the product was no longer viable, which was a big deal for us because we sent some things that were delivered unusable, and the rep was able to advocate on our behalf)
posted by one4themoment at 4:52 PM on October 15, 2021
posted by one4themoment at 4:52 PM on October 15, 2021
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:30 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]