Our society is under siege and people are isolating to protect themselves and others. Their new behavior is to stay at home and order things online. Their new need is safe deliveries without physical contact.

There’s an abundance of statistics showing the increased demand for online deliveries. While the recent health crisis is yet too current to provide up-to-date data, anecdotal conversations with our customers indicate that demand is exploding in several market segments, with no-contact delivery fast becoming the new norm. Carriers are scrambling to face this new reality.

This blog offers best practices to quickly set up a no-contact delivery process for your customers.

Safety considerations for last mile deliveries:

UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine found that “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.”

The questions customers will ask to reassure them that a safe delivery process has been put in place:

Order Preparation:
Have you put in place a 24-48-hour order staging area depending on the parcel material?

Order Pick-up:
What sanitary pick-up process or hygiene policies are in place?

Order Shipment:
Have you provided updated driver safety and hygiene instructions?

Order Delivery:

• What are you doing to make sure that your staff is not going to be in physical proximity with anyone? In other words, is there a contactless delivery workflow process in place in the Driver application to replace current processes that require physical proximity such as signature on delivery or ID verification?
• Have you removed contact-based deliveries from your lists of available options?
• Have you implemented social distancing policies within your organization and replaced face-to-face communications with digital communication wherever possible?

Unless you’ve already made these changes, they need to be clearly communicated to customers and applied in your delivery process NOW!

• Emulate what major delivery companies have already done to protect themselves and their customers. Fedex, USPS, UPS, DHL and others widely communicate the actions they have taken to create a safe and sanitary work environment. They have also updated their service levels and suspended most of their warranties. We suggest you check their websites and use the information to your advantage.
  
• Replace all contact-based options with photo proof of delivery at the doorstep. This process is rapidly being adopted by many carriers.
  
• Replace ring/knock on door with email or sms alerts.
  
• If it’s an existing business practice, replace cash tips with online tipping.
• Update your returns policy to protect your people.

Customers expect no-contact delivery today and it’s here to stay. Do not delay your implementation!

*Our way of helping during the crisis: Free Delivery Management System
Offered by Dispatch Science to Qualified COVID-19 Volunteer Organizations