4 Tips to Skyrocket Your Courier Business’ Profitability
The courier industry saw tremendous growth in 2020, aided by the global pandemic that introduced stay-at-home measures for many countries and thus increased demand for courier delivery services as well.
Being able to adapt to the market’s increased demand will surely boost your courier business’ bottom line, but it’s not so simple as delivering more items. There is strategic planning involved, and in this article, we’re going to share some helpful tips on skyrocketing your courier business’ profitability.
Streaming your dispatch process with courier dispatch software
A growing delivery company can face a number of complicated issues, which include:
- Increased labour and fuel costs.
- An increased number of recipient inquiries.
- Failed deliveries and missing packages.
- Increased sorting complexity and delivery lists.
Courier dispatch and delivery software can efficiently streamline the dispatch process, which has a benefit on all of those complicated issues. Optimized delivery routes mean reduced fuel consumption and increase the number of deliveries your courier drivers can make each day, as well as reducing the amount of time driving between deliveries.
Real-time courier tracking and proof of delivery functionality will address problems with failed deliveries and missing packages, and automated recipient updates mean that less time will be spent hunting down packages a customer is waiting for.
Prevent fleet problems with regular maintenance
Regular fleet maintenance can go a long way towards saving your courier business money down the road. Performing regular maintenance on vehicles keeps them running optimally and efficiently, and is especially important for vehicles that spend the entire day driving between deliveries.
It may seem like you spend a little more on routine maintenance, it helps to prevent even more expensive repairs. Furthermore, problems with your delivery vehicles can equal to paying for lost time and deliveries.
For example, rush delivery items being loaded on a vehicle that breaks down in the middle of a route. If those items aren’t delivered on time, you may need to compensate customers for their rush delivery payment.
Introduce flexible rush delivery schedules
Customers are sometimes in a bind when it comes to accepting packages. If it’s an important item that they don’t want to be left on their porch step, for example, they may prefer to request that they personally sign for a package. But not knowing exactly when a package will be delivered can also make things difficult for the customer, as they may need to arrange time off from work to accept the package at home.
For those reasons and others, it can enhance your courier business’ profitability by offering flexible rush delivery schedules. Since customers generally have a sense of immediacy about receiving their packages, it will serve both parties well if your business is able to offer flexible rush delivery schedules.
Rush delivery is typically considered 2 days, but you can also offer same-day delivery for local deliveries, as well as giving the customer the option of choosing delivery hours (morning, afternoon). You can even offer night courier services, giving the customer even greater flexibility for receiving their package.
Consider each driver individually
When considering your entire courier fleet, whether big or small, it’s easy to look at the whole picture but not the finer details. While you may look at the total revenue and expenses incurred, it helps to boil things down a bit further and look at each driver individually, making note of things like:
- How much revenue each driver generates.
- Expenses incurred by individual drivers.
The reason being is that you may notice patterns or potential areas of improvement. If a particular driver is fueling up more than average, then it’s a sign of increased fuel consumption which could either be related to a lack of efficient fuel-saving techniques, unoptimized driving routes, etc.
With a large fleet, you can get a clearer picture of outgoing expenses by considering each driver more thoroughly.
