The 5 Mistakes Businesses Make When Doing Last-Mile Deliveries

The final stage in logistics is the last mile. That means, delivery from the store, dark store or seller’s warehouse to the buyer's delivery point. Businesses outsource couriers or logistics services, which is the only physical contact with the buyer. But, although they work with a last-mile service partner, they constantly tend to make the same mistakes, creating a much harder process with financial costs. Identify these five popular logistics mistakes businesses make and step up your e-commerce game!

1. Making one shared account for all employees.

Regular employees don’t need access to contracts, documents, or analytics to book a courier. Upper management (such as executives, directors, or managers) may need it but not warehouse or store personnel. Creating different personal accounts to secure data and avoid fraud is crucial. It allows the team different access levels to view specific data based on their roles.

An employee having their own account is a must when a company has many divisions working with the different services of their logistics partner. Borzo provides as many accesses or subaccounts for your employees as necessary for convenient work and data security.

2. Not training new employees to use (or work with) the service

The larger the business, the more difficult it is to track the quality of the work of a large team – down to regular employees. One person can discuss the conditions and details of working with a logistics service and another person can be the one to book deliveries. Hence, more risks, penalties for downtime, and cancellation of orders.

The manager does not always have time to train new employees and keep up to date with the contract terms. To lessen risks, create a process, including instructions on how the service works with your last-mile service support team. Creating a communication channel with them will be extra helpful when a doubt arises.

3. Not including some essential data for the order

It's quite common for businesses to forget to include some vital information for the order's success. Missing the phone number of the recipient or entering wrong addresses are two of the most regular data mistakes that could lead to a failed delivery. For a last-mile delivery service, data is key. That is why it is extremely important to include all important references and double check all to decrease the chances of a failed delivery.

4. Not insuring parcels or not declaring their value

Not all companies include the declared value when placing an order. In this case, the responsibility for the parcel's safety lies with the courier. If something happens to the order, like losing or damaging the package, the courier will shoulder the cost.

To protect the recipient and yourself from wasting time and money, we recommend that you always state the declared value at checkout. The process is super easy and fast, and in case of loss or damage, your business will receive compensation within 24-48 hours.

5. Not seeing the details: Booking more or fewer couriers than necessary or not adding balance to their account

Businesses do not always assess demand without error and can more or fewer couriers rent.

If it's constant and you receive the same number of orders every day, order a courier rental. If demand falls, it's more profitable to book couriers for each order, changing the delivery price. With the return of need, the desired cost of delivery will return.

Since they create a lot of orders, businesses tend to forget to pay or add balance to their account, and when the time to create an order arrives, they face some problems that need urgent help from the support team to solve. Taking the time to check your account, movements and deliveries will help you save time, money and help keep your business from a delivery failure.

These are the five essentials for your relationship with your LMD company to improve significantly. Are you applying any errors in your business? It is time to detect them and take action.