Mastering Freight Shipping: How I Ensure Smooth Deliveries and Happy Customers
I have an extensive history of issues with damaged deliveries.
As retailers, we are in a weird corner of responsibility for the shipment. After the products leave the warehouse, the chain of custody is a hot potato.
The supplier, who is also the shipper, is covered by shipping insurance when they ship your product. However, there are strict terms for the shipper to submit claims.
Typically, claims must be opened within five days of delivery, give or take variations per carrier/shipper, with enough evidence of the shipping damage. Photos are great, and sometimes annotations on the delivery paperwork use the driver as a witness. In a scenario when there is damage, you submit evidence to the supplier of damages within the timeframe; they will submit a claim with the freight carrier and have ample flexibility to make your customer whole with a quick, free replacement or a full refund.
The way I read your supplier's message is that they want retailers to take a more active role in educating the customers about these claims, following up on deliveries, and checking in with customers to ensure the deliveries are satisfactory.
The bathroom vanities I sell come with marble countertops that are too long for the pallet. It ships in a separate box. Many broke on the way! I had to learn the hard way to be proactive in finding out about issues quickly. Here are some of my strategies:
- Send information about what to expect on delivery day; for example, deliveries are curbside, drivers are not allowed to enter your home, etc. We added this information to the shipping notification email template, which contains the tracking number. This is triggered when you fulfill the order. Here is some of the information I send them:
- Track all orders "out there" every day. Make a note of the progress.
- If I notice that a delivery appointment has been made between the customer and the delivery carrier, I schedule a call to the customer for the day before the delivery to ask them to check for damages and see if they have any questions. If they don't pick up, i leave a message and follow up with a short email.
- If I don't hear from the customer on the day of or after the delivery, I call back to ask how the delivery went. I am really trying to find out if they opened the package and confirmed there is no damage. If there are any problems, I ask for the photos right away to expedite the process. If I could not connect, I send one last email reminding the customer that the shipper's insurance claim window will close soon.
This sounds like a lot of work. It is. This is why we only work with high-ticket products. It is worth our time to take care of each customer and make sure they are HAPPY with their purchase. Since implementing this procedure, I have reduced my "uncovered" damages to ZERO. My relationships with suppliers are great because I don't have to keep fighting for issues out of our control.
Here is a link to my detailed SOP related to this task:
I included:
- Call scripts
- Timelines
- Links to templates you can add to your shipping policy.
- A freight shipping guide you can add to your order confirmation.
- A freight delivery checklist you can send for customers to print.
Let me know if you have questions about this. Nine years of playing the middleman between supplier, shipper, and happy customers!
