Increase Chances of a Courier Collection
Written by Phil Loynes
Increase Chances of a Courier Collection
When you’ve made the sale and your customer has paid, it’s a great feeling! What you want then is for the courier to collect your parcel and deliver it swiftly to the receiver. What you don’t want is for the customer to start to chase you up, asking questions about why they haven’t seen any tracking to show their parcel is on the way, only for you to have to tell them that it hasn’t even been collected yet.
Getting parcels collected by couriers shouldn’t be difficult, but there can be an art to it. If you have a daily collection booked in with a courier, then you likely don’t face this issue as often, but for companies that don’t send out as many parcels on a daily basis, it is more likely you are requesting collections from couriers on an ad-hoc basis.
Here are some tips on how to increase the chances of getting a collection first time with the courier of your choice.
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Book before the cut-off time. Couriers have cut-off times for collections the same day, and these can vary depending on the courier and your distance to their depot. Couriers typically send their collection vehicles out to the furthest edges of their collection zone and have them collect parcels as they make their way back to the collection depot. Because of this, you may find that if you happen to have a courier with a depot very close to your collection address, you could have a later cut-off time for requesting a same day collection. This is because even though it may be later in the day, the vehicle that will be assigned to collect from you hasn’t gone passed your collection address on their way back to the depot yet. Likewise, if you are further away from a courier’s collection depot, you may need to book before a much earlier cut-off time, as the vehicle will likely be near your collection address much earlier in the day, and will be out of your area later in the day, as they get closer to returning to the depot.
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A handy trick is to make sure that you have at least one parcel booked in with a courier, and then even if you are past the cut-off time, you can keep getting shipping labels ready for your other parcels and just hand them all to the driver when they come for the booked in parcel if they have room for them.
Book your collection in advance. Some couriers will have limitations on how much they are able to collect from any one collection point in one day. A lot of the fast parcel couriers will have a consignment weight limit of around 70kg for a same day collection request, with consignments exceeding that requiring the sender to give the courier at least 24 hours notice to enable them to assign the collection to a vehicle of an appropriate size. If you don’t do this, you run the risk of the driver refusing to collect, or simply not having enough space or weight allowance left on their vehicle when they arrive to collect from you.
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From experience I would recommend giving the heavyweight collection pre-alert to the courier the day before, and not too lateen the day, to allow it to be allocated before the courier is winding down for the day and the vehicles have already been allocated for the following day’s routes. I would also recommend that you don’t book in a heavyweight collection earlier than one or two days before it needs to be collected, as any earlier seems to cause confusion or the couriers seem to forget.
Provide accurate details. When you book your collection, you will need to provide the courier with accurate details of: your address, the size and weight of your parcel, any special requirements, such as the need for a tail lift or pump truck for loading. This will help them to plan their route and ensure that they have the correct equipment for collection. Giving accurate information at the point of booking enables your parcels to be planned for by the courier, and also has the added benefit of you not receiving any surprises on your bill if you have under declared the weight or dimensions.
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If your address is not easy to find, or if the specific collection point is not immediately obvious, you should give the courier a location point is at the back of the building on another road, you will want to explain that to the courier. As a rule of thumb, if you were to give your collection point address to a friend or family member who had never been there, would they be able to find it easily without additional directions
Make friends with the driver. Once you have found a courier that works for you and have settled on them. To ensure that you get collections when you need them, sometimes nothing beats having a personal relationship with your regular driver. While they are given routes and need to work to the schedule that they are given, if a driver knows you, it increases the chance that they will make more of an effort to come to you when their vehicle is almost full.
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From experience, if you manage to get the personal mobile number of your regular driver, you may be able to get them to come to you even after your cut-off time, if they are still in the area. It is always worth having a little treat for your driver, whether it is a drink or a biscuit for them to take with them. It isn’t just Santa who appreciates a treat while on their route!
Choose the right courier service. There are many different courier services available, so it's important to choose one that is reliable and has a good reputation. You can read online reviews, use your own experience, or ask for recommendations from us. We will always be happy to help advise you on the best courier to meet your needs, based on the product you ship, your location, your service level requirements, etc.
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