Quite simply it's a balance.
If you don't look after your customers in the right manner - you will lose them.
If you lean to far the other way and do something illegal, you could possibly lose your growing business.
Some of the things a courier should not be delivering...
- Chemicals, unless your courier company has invested in the correct ADR training and certification, a courier should not deliver chemicals.
There are certain exemptions such as limited quantities. - Livestock, that's right - no animals can be transported with out the correct licences and training
- Human/Animal remains - again these are a specialist delivery that you would need to be certified for.
A customer asking you to bring back the remains of an animal from a vet could get you in trouble if payment was accepted. - Fireworks, Firearms and weaponry - again the correct licenses and training are needed and limited quantities may apply.
They may be items that are mostly likely to break in transit, so therefore the customer should be warned that a delivery cannot take place due to insurance reasons.
They may then make a decision as to whether they want the delivery to proceed or not.
- Glass
- Fine art
- Jewellery
The courier would need to ask exactly what is in the boxes in order to give the best customer service to the client.
Questioning your customer shouldn't be an interogation, but a fact finding mission that will enable you to deliver excellent customer service as well as their goods.
A good courier can be prepared for this by researching for potential subcontractors with the correct licenses in place.
When their customer calls they then have the option of subcontracting that work out, or referring their customer to the courier with the correct training.
Sarah Arrow