In the world of business, we spend a long time thinking about how we can deliver products to our customers. We take time deciding between things like outsourced couriers or in-house options. We toss and turn about whether it’d be worth offering same day delivery. But, through all these deliberations, we tend to neglect a much more pressing aspect of the delivery debacle.
Shutterstock Licensed Photo – By Koson
We are, of course, talking about how products arrive with you in the first place. Unlike the chicken and the egg, how your products get to you should very much come first. Otherwise, you won’t have anything to ship to your customers. Even if you make your products, you’ll rely on deliveries of things like materials. Either way; they’re sure to come knocking at some stage.
Sadly, right now, delivery days are a shamble in your workplace. They’re such an afterthought that any delivery which does arrive seems to take decades to unload. It stresses you out, it damages productivity, and you don’t like it. Which is why you should consider dealing with your current delivery issues in the following ways.
Keep everything you need on-site
Make sure that you’re supplying everything your team needs to unload deliveries in a safe and timely way. That could mean looking out for sack trucks and forklifts which can speed up these processes no end. You may also want to search for pallets for sale so that you’re able to take each delivery straight off the van to where they need to go. This may seem like a small measure, but it can both half the time deliveries take to unload and keep everyone that bit safer.
More hands make light work
Admittedly, this next point very much depends on your workplace. If you run a retail unit, for example, the chances are that you have a designated warehouse team. But, if you work in an environment where deliveries don’t fall under one role, it’s also worth remembering that more hands make lighter work. If you only designate one or two people to each delivery, it’s no wonder they’re away from their work stations for a while. By comparison, assigning at least four people to the task could see everyone back to work sooner. That way, there’d be someone to take care of everything from signing paperwork to organizing in the warehouse. And, your whole enterprise could become more efficient as a result.
It’s all about timing
It’s also well worth making sure that you plan all your deliveries for the same day if possible. Again, this largely depends on your business. A supermarket, for example, needs fresh deliveries every day. But, if you only get two or three deliveries a week, timing them for the same day can work wonders. Of course, you want to avoid their arriving at the same time. But, planning these about an hour apart, you’ll get deliveries out the way all at once. That frees up the rest of the week for uninterrupted working.
