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The courier industry is has been growing so fast in the past few years. Many firms have joined the industry, but many more others have quit. If you are planning to get in to this lucrative industry, planning is the key to it all. Like any other business, there are challenges and opportunities. You need to identify the challenges and device ways of overcoming them. Entering the market blindly will lead to your dissolution not long after start up.
This article discusses the challenges and solutions to industry issues. This will give you an overview of the industry before you set up your firm. If you have your firm established already, this information can help you position yourself as a market leader in the industry.
a) Challenges
Parcel delivery companies experience a host of problems in their service delivery. These problems often end up increasing the cost of services, time wasting and poor service delivery. The goal of any firm is to make the most amount of money in the shortest time possible. However, for most courier companies, this objective is far from being accomplished.
i. Messaging service
There exists a general uncertainty about whether a document is delivered/ collected on time every time. Most delivery companies maintain their records in delivery books or files. This manual system of managing deliveries often results to poor coordination of deliveries and collections. Manual systems, apart from wasting a lot of time, lead to weak audit trails for deliveries.
Senders of parcels need to be notified of the status of their parcels. Recipients also should be notified when their parcels are due for delivery too. Lack of delivery notifications creates uncertainty among clients regarding your services. They are likely to seek services from other companies they can trust.
ii. Administration headaches
Most companies find it very hard to effectively monitor the tasks of their messengers. It is practically impossible to monitor the messengers time because of the variables involved- traffic jams, parking, identifying delivery points, waiting time for collections, vehicle breakdowns etc.
The other administration headache that most managers in the parcel delivery industry face include finding replacement messengers when routine messengers are on leave, off sick etc. This can greatly slow down service delivery and put off customers.
Maintaining personnel records for the messengers; pay, leave, overtime can also be challenging for new firms in the industry. Managers need to find better systems to help manage the companies records.
iii. Escalating overheads
There exists both direct and indirect overheads relating to document collections and deliveries are quite phenomenal. Some of those costs include: Salaries for messengers and drivers used in document collection and deliveries, direct transport costs for motor vehicles, fuel, insurance, repairs, taxis, postage costs for posting of letters within Nairobi.
Other overhead costs include the costs for messengers running personal errands for employees delivering mail, payment for utilities, delivery and collection of personal items, time costs for messengers waiting to collect documents or submit documents especially at government offices, embassies (for visas), etc. Overtime costs for deliveries after office hours.
b) The Solution
The above challenges should not put you off or make you want to quit the industry. There is hope. It all lies in technology. Finding the right technology and adopting it to customize your services will give you a greater step ahead in the industry.
With technology, you will be able to automate your services and do away with the manual system. This way, you will be able to increase the accuracy of your records, and most importantly, you will manage your time well.
There are several management systems that you can use to manage your records. D-trail is one of them. With this kind of systems, you can be able to send notifications to your clients about the status of their parcels automatically. With this technology, you will be able to deal with all the administrative issues highlighted above as well as reduce your overhead costs.
If you are planning to establish yourself in the parcel delivery industry, then technology has to be your best friend. Find the best applications that can give you a better hand in your business. You will be able to make the most amounts of profits within the shortest period of time possible.
