Managing deliveries efficiently within your business at peak seasonal times
If you’re a business that receives a lot of supplies, taking receipt of deliveries and then managing them is an inevitable part of your business operations. A constant flow of delivery drivers to contend with can be tiresome and disruptive. Receiving deliveries is not what you’re in business for – it’s an overhead, not an income stream. As a business owner, you will want to manage your deliveries as efficiently as possible so you can concentrate on the areas of the business that make you money. Below we have some tips for managing your business’s parcel deliveries with ease and efficiency.
Order your stock and supplies in bulk
By ordering in bulk, you can take advantage of economies of scale and reduce time spent on taking lots of smaller deliveries. Having fully stocked business supplies all year round is also beneficial to ensure you can fulfil customers’ demands with ease – especially at this time of year when demand surges!
You may need to weigh the convenience of fewer, but larger, deliveries against the costs of storage. Also, be careful not to over order and risk running out of space. However, it is worth doing the necessary calculations, as the fewer deliveries you need to manage, the more time you will have for other aspects of your business.
Another pertinent point to consider is the supply chain issues many businesses are facing this year. By ordering ahead and in bulk you minimise the risk of being affected by these problems, and stay one step ahead of your competitors!
Keep a spreadsheet of expected deliveries
Ever had that annoying realisation that something you need and ordered didn’t actually get delivered – and as a result you don’t have it when you need it? It could be that you are missing a necessary component or don’t have stock to send out to a customer. Recording what you’ve ordered and when it’s due to arrive will greatly reduce the chances of missed deliveries going unnoticed – and then finding you’ve run sort at the worst possible time.
These problems are even more likely to arise at busy times. By keeping an up-to-date spreadsheet or managing your supplies through a project management platform you can avoid those dreaded delivery difficulties. Logging all the expected parcel deliveries in one place allows you to clearly spot packages that didn’t arrive on time, to ensure you always have the stock you need when demand is higher than normal, and ensure you aren’t losing money on missing deliveries!
Make someone in your team responsible for incoming deliveries
By giving the responsibility to one person in your team you are more likely to enforce a seamless delivery process for your business. Doorbells sounding and gates buzzing all lead to distraction amongst your team, and ultimately this affects productivity and profit. By clearly setting out who is responsible for handling the incoming deliveries you can minimise time wasted by other members of the team.
An employee who likes detail and processes is best placed to oversee your business deliveries – and keep on top of that deliveries spreadsheet mentioned above!
Select specific days for deliveries
If your small team is struggling to juggle general workload and receiving deliveries, try to limit deliveries to a day or two per week or even month, where possible. This can minimise disruption and allow better time management for your workforce – increasing efficiency and focus. This may not be possible if you have surges in output and demand, but where you can control delivery dates, it may be helpful to discuss with your team which day is best for deliveries so everyone can co-ordinate across the company.
Penn Parcel Box to the rescue
Regardless of the effective steps listed above, taking deliveries will always be an overhead that you would rather not be paying for. It will always be time consuming and un-economical to have your workforce tied up taking receipt of deliveries, but it is also a vital part of many businesses’ day-to-day activities.
With the Penn Parcel Box, all your delivery drivers can deposit supplies, returns and online deliveries securely, without needing to bother your staff. The pioneering, weather-proof Penn Parcel Box has a powder-coated, patented design. This parcel drop box can be fixed to an external wall, gate, or floor to ensure your deliveries are safe and secure until you retrieve the deliveries at a time which is convenient for you or your staff.
The Penn Parcel Box comes in a range of sizes, to suit your business needs. It even goes up to the standard Euro pallet size, so there is sure to be a Penn Parcel Box that can house most of your deliveries easily!
There is an option for a front- or rear-facing door, which makes the placement of the Penn Parcel Box easy to determine. It can sit externally from your business premises or be built into your entrance way or an outside wall, with rear access allowing packages to be safely retrieved inside your workplace.
With a secure parcel drop box there’s no need for you or your employees to keep pausing work to take receipt of deliveries, which is bound to save you time, money, energy and resource!