Couriers have an incredibly important role to play in delivering time-sensitive letters, parcels and documents for private customers or organisations. Many businesses rely on same-day deliveries, particularly in the areas of law and medicine. Therefore, couriers are relied upon greatly for customer satisfaction.
If you’ve considered this as a career, there are no formal qualifications required but some on-the-training will be a requirement. You’ll also most likely need to supply your own vehicle or bicycle to travel. Here are some more qualities that make a successful courier:
A Good Sense of Direction
This might sound obvious but as the main function of a courier is to travel to many different places, a good sense of routing and direction is essential. Most shipments will be time-sensitive, so it’s crucial that a courier is able to navigate efficiently, know alternative routes in case of congestion or roadworks and be very familiar with local routes and neighbourhoods. The ability to use GPS effectively is also important, to prevent getting lost in unknown areas. For Same Day Courier Services, visit http://allaboutfreight.co.uk/same-day-courier-service
Customer Service Skills
It’s not just about navigation and delivery, the courier industry is a service industry and as such, good customer service skills are required. You will be the face of the business, so must display great people skills as you interact with clients on collection and recipients on delivery. You’ll be expected to make deliveries, be friendly and polite, know how to solve problems and answer queries and understand procedures.
Strong Record-Keeping
As well as making the deliveries, couriers are also responsible for the tech involved in tracking their journey and recording the deliveries on their routes. You will normally have a handheld device to log in to with client names and addresses. You will need to collect digital signatures, update with the time of the delivery and log any other relevant information in case of future queries.
Self-employed couriers will need to carefully log revenue and expenses, mileage and other details for the purposes of tax reporting. Therefore, an ability to keep detailed records is an important element of the work of a courier.
Manage Time Efficiently
As with any time-sensitive service, the ability to manage your time is of utmost importance. You could be running deliveries all day to keep up with demand, especially during peak periods and deal with urgent requests that come in, possibly needing delivery within a one-hour slot. For couriers travelling by bicycle, a good level of physical fitness and stamina is required to keep up with this pace.
