When customers order products or materials of any kind, they expect them to be delivered on time, and in good condition. As a company who sells and ships products, you need to ensure that you hold up your end of the bargain.
If your shipments are delayed or delivered damaged, your customers will be unhappy and you could lose them altogether. Not only that, but they may tell others about their poor experience, which could hurt the future growth of your business.
Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to make sure all of your shipments are delivered safely and timely, and this guide is going to take a closer look at a few of them.
Use a Reliable Delivery Service
While some companies will handle their own deliveries with their own vehicles or machinery, this isn’t always possible. It takes a lot of capital to purchase the vehicles and other equipment required to make large shipments completely in-house.
Plenty of businesses require the help of companies and services like Jansson LLC and others like them to haul their goods for them. But if you are going to use a shipping or delivery service, make sure they are reliable and have a strong track record. Remember, they are representing you and your company, and you want to ensure they do a good job.
Different companies will also have different specialties too, so keep that in mind. Some will prefer to haul and ship large machines or heavy equipment/materials, while others may only work with lighter loads.
Ensure Everything is Properly Labeled and Placed
There is no doubting the importance of labeling in the warehouse when it comes to ensure deliveries are done without delays or hiccups. If you cannot quickly identify what a box or pile or items are, it can slow down how quickly you can deliver those packages.
Ensure every item and piece of material is in the right spot and labeled appropriately. Sure, this takes time and effort, but will ensure that your packaging and shipping process can be as streamlined and easy as possible.
Be Prepared for Bad Weather
One of the many reasons for shipping delays is bad weather. Rain, snow, hurricanes, and other types of extreme weather conditions can be dangerous for vehicles, people, and the products being shipped. As a result, delays will often occur to keep everyone safe.
While you cannot control the weather, you can certainly plan for what you will do if it delays your shipments. Be sure everyone involved has knowledge of your plans, and ensure you have enough capital to handle the additional costs that weather delays can lead to.
Optimize the Loading of Trucks
A big part of making deliveries on time and without issue is making sure you load the trucks or flatbeds carefully. If you load things improperly, it can dramatically slow down the unloading process, or force you to unload certain things to get to items behind them.
Always have a plan when loading the trucks, to make unloading as simple and quick as possible. Ensure different batches and deliveries are separate from one another, and that all the right items go onto the right truck. Doing this manually can be challenging at times, so consider using a tool or piece of software to help.
Package the Shipments Well
While getting the deliveries to the right place is important, you also need to get them there in one piece. It’s no use getting materials or items to a customer incredibly quickly, only for them to find that they have been damaged along the way. Do all you can to ensure anything you ship is protected during the journey.
Part of this comes down to how the drive goes and how careful everyone is, but how the shipments are packaged and protected for the journey can also have an impact. Ensure all items are loaded and packaged in a way that ensures they are protected from things like impact and being scratched.
Utilize Order Tracking if Possible
Something else that can help ensure that your deliveries go off without a hitch is using some form of order tracking. In fact, many customers today expect to be able to track the progress of their package and get notified when its status changes. Order tracking makes sure that you always know when a package has been successfully delivered, and how long of a journey it took. It keeps customers in the loop and can prevent delivery-related misunderstandings.
We hope that this guide has been able to help you learn a couple of great ways to make sure your shipments are always delivered safely and timely.
Submitted by Author: Ashley Lipman https://www.janssonllc.com/services/
(photo via: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/delivery-truck-handshake-concept-4102583/)
