Competition in business looks very different from industry to industry, business to business. Everyone is trying to have a point of difference to have an advantage over their competitors. One such way, especially in the auto parts industry, is allowing their customers to have later cut off times in ordering their parts for the same day or the next AM delivery. However, these businesses don’t consider how they will be able to fulfil that delivery window.
As the freight industry grows at a rate of knots, unfortunately, the carriers within the freight industry are trying to keep up but finding it difficult to do this mainly due to the shortage of reliable, experienced drivers (which is a topic for another day). Without an abundance of drivers to pick up this freight within a 1-hour window we are finding that more and more parcels are being left behind to be collected the next day because the driver simply doesn’t have space or time to get to the pickup point. Or if the driver does have space and is restricted by the time, he can arrive at pick up due to a late pick-up time being required, the freight gets back to the depot late and therefore is despatched on a late linehaul vehicle to make its destination. This then results on late arrival the next day and possibly missing the local delivery driver. Better known as the butterfly effect when one small decision at the start of the chain creates a bigger problem further down the chain.
IF YOU’RE IN THIS POSITION, CONSIDER THIS;
The bigger time window you allow the better chance there is of your freight being picked up and making the subsequent checkpoints within the carrier depots. The minimum as a rule of thumb is a 2-hour time window from 2 pm onwards. Further to this is the consideration of the destination. Rural deliveries have tighter restrictions due to the remote areas and how often the onforwarding agents deliver to these areas. In some cases, once per week. Therefore, if a linehaul vehicle is missed, it could be another week before your freight is delivered.
The bigger time window you allow the better chance there is of your freight being picked up and making the subsequent check points within the carrier depots
There are a lot of what seem to be minor details when it comes to getting your freight moved around this expansive country of ours. However, taking advice from experts and getting them involved in the decision-making process early in the project can minimise and even eliminate the headaches and possible loss of newly acquired clients.
Customised Freight Solutions can help with this. Get in touch on 1300 795 956 to go into further detail about overcoming these potential issues.