You will never know when you will have to make a last-minute delivery. It can be a personal last-minute delivery or a business-related last-minute delivery. Either way, your time to make the delivery is limited.
With that said, the obvious thing to do is hire a professional courier service to make the delivery for you. Although this seems like the obvious choice, you need to consider some other factors first as well.
Here, we will be looking at the steps that you need to take in case you come face to face with a last-minute delivery.
1. Examine the scenario
It is very easy to panic in a such situation. The very first thing you should do is take a deep breath, ease your mind, and examine the scenario. How urgent is the delivery? Can the delivery time be adjusted to something that is more convenient like a next-day delivery or does it require immediate delivery right then and there? Also, be very specific with the time frame.
By getting a clear grasp of the situation, you are able to take decisions much more effectively such as the type of courier service you need.
2. Contact and talk to the delivery receiver
The second step that you should take is to contact the delivery recipient and check on him or her of the delivery. There may be instances where the recipient will not be able to accept the delivery at late hours and will require you to deliver it the next day. Also, there can be instances where the recipient may request you to deliver it to another location due to the last-minute delivery or late hours. This also helps in choosing the correct type of courier service in regard to the situation. If the recipient requests the delivery to be made tomorrow, you can opt into a next-day delivery service or a same-day delivery service if the delivery has to be made immediately.
Therefore, it is better to get in contact with the recipient and discuss the issue so that both you the sender, and the receiver are aware of the situation and the process that will be implemented to make the delivery.
3. Find a local courier service company
The next step is to find a good local courier service. The reason we say to find a “local courier service” is because they are able to pick up your delivery much faster than a courier in some other location. Remember, you are in a time crunch here. Most big reputable courier companies such as AAWI Enterprise LTD usually have branches or stand-by couriers set up in almost every city.
When you are approaching a courier service company, make sure to check their online reviews and also check if they offer the courier services you want as some couriers don’t offer same-day delivery services or next-day delivery services.
Another important thing to look for in a courier service company is their flexibility in service. There can be more surprises on the way. For example, if the recipient suddenly changes their drop-off location in the middle of delivery. In such cases, the courier service company must be flexible enough to adapt to that new change in destination. You might think that this will never happen, but trust us, it happens more often than you think.
The best advice we can give you is to have effective initial communication with the courier company. Although you are very limited on time, having an effective first interaction where you ask all the required questions and get all the information will save you a lot more time in case any issues later on during the delivery due to lack of communication.
4. Start packing your delivery
Since you are in a time crunch, you should directly jump into packing the delivery after you place an order with the courier company. There are some courier companies that offer to pack your delivery on behalf of you but in this situation, it will take more time. Therefore, it is better to pack the delivery yourself. Also, make sure to pack the delivery really well especially if you are delivering something fragile as urgent deliveries require courier drivers to drive fast and there is an increased risk of goods being damaged if they are not properly packaged.
5. Hand over the delivery to the courier company
The final step is to hand over the packed delivery to the courier company. If you opt-in to an urgent delivery option, the courier company is most likely to come and pick up the delivery from you. There will be no need for you to go and hand over the delivery to the courier company. Make sure to discuss that in the initial phone call with the courier company as well.
After the delivery is picked up, it will be delivered to the destination and you will receive a notification when the delivery is completed.
There you go, 5 simple steps that you can take in case you have to make a last-minute delivery. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and we will answer the questions for you as soon as possible. Also, if you found value in this article, make sure to share it so that it reaches more people.