Courier delivery time issue

[AndrewFH]

Hi there. We run a small independent shop and we are having a problem with deliveries from a courier.

We have a loyalty scheme with a manufacturer and the delivery is reimbursement of products we have given away as part of the scheme. We have a delivery about every fortnight and the delivery can be 30kg+.

We open at 9am but the courier delivers before then and knows our opening times so our business neighbours accept the delivery and we end up having to carry it round to our shop. Neither of us is getting any younger and we have raised this issue many times and last week I complained again and pursued it a bit further than I have previously.

Basically, the manufacturers have said its down to the courier and the courier firm has said they can't alter their schedule. I have offered a compromise whereby if they give us a delivery slot time, I will arrive at the shop earlier to accept the delivery. We have never been sent an advance email/text of a delivery in the past, but yesterday they promised a text would be sent giving us a 2 hour delivery window. Needless to say the text never arrived and the courier has been and not left the products.

I know couriers don't have an easy job but all the others we deal with send advance texts or emails and respect our opening times. We are open for 9 hours during the day and I don't think its unreasonable to expect our delivery during business hours. Or am I wrong?

We don't have a safe place where it can be left either.

Any thoughts or opinions welcome.

 

[Mr D]

If courier can't deliver it, can you pick it up from depot at a more suitable time?

Trouble you have is the courier is covering a massive area - may well need to offload a chunk of stuff in your area early on then move on to other areas - taking an hour or two out of the day to travel back to do one delivery isn't feasible.

Can you take smaller boxes with you and repack before taking back to your shop? 30kg is a heavy load for most people, 3 x 10kg loads are more walking but easier to carry.

Or invest in a trolley / sack truck to move the items?

 

[Mitch3473]

Silly question but...if it's your business, cant you be there when the courier is due, would save a load of grief all round. Couriers have hundreds of drops just like yours, someone's bound to be dissapointed, sometimes you've just got to bend a little.

 

[MBE2017]

Used to make deliveries as a courier, and NEVER delivered to an address outside it’s working hours in over ten years. Surprised they cannot accommodate you in some way, I would suggest you ask the company to use a courier that delivers when you are open. They should have access to many competitors, talk to their rep if not and see if he can drop the goods in personally.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Andrew this is totally unacceptable I have come across this before but not too often .
You really need to find the depot or area manager and talk to him or her about it .
If your business is open between 9 and 1730 then you have fulfilled your side of the deal within business hours !

Silly question but...if it's your business, cant you be there when the courier is due, would save a load of grief all round. Couriers have hundreds of drops just like yours, someone's bound to be dissapointed, sometimes you've just got to bend a little.

Strongly disagree with this . It is a very difficult game in this industry and I should know but if a person or an organisation can not be flexible within reason Then they should not be trading or if this issue that the OP has is down to an individual then this person is not suitable for employment in this industry.
I think it is a big mistake to assume that anybody could be a multidrop courier. The ones that are good at it deserve some respect and a bit more pay !

 

[Alison Moore]

I ran a high street shop for years and the couriers always delivered during our opening hours, however certain areas have restrictions limiting when couriers can deliver. Surely your supplier/manufacturer can give you a consignment no and you can track the progress and get into work early when the delivery is due?

 

[MBE2017]

I think it is a big mistake to assume that anybody could be a multidrop courier. The ones that are good at it deserve some respect and a bit more pay !

Totally agree, I used to get a lot of business for turning up on time, delivering when promised no excuses, always kept in contact via txt message to allow people to go out if they wanted too, and always sent a POD to the sender of the goods when the goods had been signed for. I also provided tracking data so people could watch myself on the deliveries on a computer screen, Amazon do this today for some of their deliveries.

I was doing all that ten to twenty years ago, allowing myself to gain a good reputation but more importantly top paid work. The courier industry relies on quality staff more and companies than any other. I would only trust my reputation to approx ten other companies, so rarely subbed any business to others. Loads of cheap idiots working in the courier industry, you get what you pay for.

 

[HFE Signs]

If your delivery is just once a fortnight - wouldn't it be easier to make an early start on that day and ensure you are there to receive the goods?

 

[AndrewFH]

Silly question but...if it's your business, cant you be there when the courier is due, would save a load of grief all round. Couriers have hundreds of drops just like yours, someone's bound to be dissapointed, sometimes you've just got to bend a little.

Hi there

We have offered to be there earlier if they will give us notification of the day the delivery will be made. At present we get no notification from this particular courier, from others we get a 1 hour time slot.

They did say they would send us a notification but on the first trial of doing so, we never received anything, therefore we didn't know the delivery was due.

 

[AndrewFH]

If your delivery is just once a fortnight - wouldn't it be easier to make an early start on that day and ensure you are there to receive the goods?

Hi there

The delivery is not on a set day. We have offered to be there early if they tell us what day it is arriving on but they seem to be the only courier that doesn't send out notifications.

 

[AndrewFH]

Many thanks for your replies and thoughts and apologies for not responding sooner.

One of the deliveries we had contained a damaged item. When we reported it to the manufacturer, the same courier driver returned later the same day to collect it!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Why not ask your supplier to use a different coutier for you even if you have to pay a higher price and then you can use one with a timed delivery slot system

On the other hand if its just the weight which is the main problem as your getting on then maybe the purchase of a hand truck may solve the problem https://www.screwfix.com/p/shovel-h...Vl4jVCh2gbQT6EAQYAiABEgJXbvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[AndrewFH]

I ran a high street shop for years and the couriers always delivered during our opening hours, however certain areas have restrictions limiting when couriers can deliver. Surely your supplier/manufacturer can give you a consignment no and you can track the progress and get into work early when the delivery is due?

Hi there
We have asked both the manufacturer and courier to do this as they have all of our contact details but the first time it was tried, it never happened. Apparently the couriers system is not set up to send notifications.

 

[Mr D]

Hi there

We have offered to be there earlier if they will give us notification of the day the delivery will be made. At present we get no notification from this particular courier, from others we get a 1 hour time slot.

They did say they would send us a notification but on the first trial of doing so, we never received anything, therefore we didn't know the delivery was due.

So ask the sender for the day of delivery.

Or calculate it from when you know it was sent - presumably on previous occasions you know it was sent on a particular day and 2 days later or whatever time period the delivery was done?

Any time I get pallet delivery the supplier manages to book the day of delivery - no matter which supplier - in advance with me.
Can your supplier do a courtesy phone call in advance when sending item to tell you?

 

[jurassicaffirm]

It's a long shot, but maybe you could ask the delivery company for the courier number so that you could talk with him/her? Perhaps they just simply forgot since they have some everyday routines. Or just speak with the company again, maybe there was a miscommunication somewhere.