Delivery Drivers Do So Much More Than Just Drive
Wise Systems
Delivery Drivers Do So Much More Than Just Drive
Wise Systems
In the last-mile delivery industry, the job title of “driver” is an understatement.
Drivers do so much more than simply navigate their vehicles from point A to point B. They hit the ground running each day with a list of stops and a vehicle full of the deliveries to be made — each stop with its own complexities.
To ensure a smooth, successful delivery, experienced drivers make hundreds of calculations and decisions about their routes every day. They’re constantly assessing traffic, factoring in their knowledge of each customer’s location and individual preferences, and making educated guesses about the order of stops based on their on-the-road experience and knowledge of their territories.
For most last-mile delivery professionals, some of the biggest challenges come after they arrive at a stop.
That’s where they encounter the variables that can make or break their schedules and on-time performance – parking conditions, customer interactions, and inventory management.
At Wise Systems, these are many of the factors we take into consideration when building our technology and tools to support our customers and their drivers. We also know that the average trucking company has a turnover rate of nearly 95%. This means that, in the course of a year, companies may need to replace nearly their entire workforce. Drivers are moved around, new drivers are onboarded, and important knowledge often gets lost.
For example, one of our clients learned that in a particular neighborhood, their drivers know not to deliver past 3 pm because teenagers getting out from school would steal beer off their trucks. Drivers also learn the peak hours of their repeat customers. For example, a restaurant with delivery windows from 11 am-3 pm doesn’t actually want deliveries at noon because that’s when they’re busiest.
Your drivers are front-line customer service professionals, and they need the right tools for all aspects of their jobs, from the driver’s seat to the drop-off point.
Their intimate knowledge of your customers won’t scale unless you have the technology that enables it. The Driver mobile app from Wise Systems is your drivers’ command center that does both. It provides drivers with tools to manage their days with flexibility and ease and captures critical information about customers to share across your fleet. Giving your drivers the right technology is key, but there are also numerous other ways to make them successful and to reduce driver turnover in your operation.
To learn more about how you can support your drivers, take a look at these resources:
