How did your warehouse make it through the Christmas season? If you had the majority of your packages delivered on time, congratulations! You did way better than the industry did a couple years ago. In December of 2013, a package delivery crisis hit the United States just before Christmas. FedEx and UPS dropped the ball and nearly 2,000,000 packages were delivered late, leaving a lot of people disappointed on Christmas day.
For most warehouses, once the package leaves your dock door the delivery process is out of your hands. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that a late delivery doesn’t reflect poorly on your company. Even if you had the package ready to go out in plenty of time, your delivery services could end up dragging their feet or becoming overwhelmed by demand like they did in 2013. Companies and consumers are both demanding that delivery services get orders there safely and sooner. So what’s preventing another 2013 disaster from happening again?
More seasonal workers
UPS and other delivery services hire thousands of seasonal workers during the Christmas period to help with the increased package flow. These seasonal workers help keep the system moving and packages going out on time.
More automation in package processing
It’s not just the human labor force that’s helping, either. Delivery services are using more automation in their warehouses to ensure that packages are being sorted quickly to get them onto trucks faster than ever.
People ordering earlier.
Consumers learned their lesson, too. Consumers have learned that if they want their packages to be there in time for Christmas, they need to plan ahead. People are ordering their items sooner so they know they’ll be there under the tree on Christmas day.
This is all great news for warehouses. When packages are delivered on time, you end up with more happy customers. But is there anything that you can do in order to ensure those deliveries make it on time?
Work with a reputable company.
Working with a bigger, more reputable company can help you get packages out the door sooner. These companies have the resources required to deliver to customers all over the world as quickly as possible.
Pick orders as quickly as possible.
The sooner you pick and process an order, the sooner it can get out the door. Don’t discount the benefits of an accurately, quickly picked order.
Know the schedules.
If you know an order is supposed to be there by Christmas but it’s not going to make it standard delivery, it might be worth the effort to call the customer and let them know or upgrade their shipping. It can go a long way to building repeat business.
Did you experience issues in your warehouse during the holidays? We can help. Talk to the RMH Systems warehouse consultants and we’ll help you find solutions to seasonal problems. We’ll make sure that next year is your best Christmas season yet! Get in touch with us by giving us a call or contacting us through our website today.
