What Happens If My Freight Isn't Ready When It's Supposed to Be?

By Paul McDuffy Platinum Quality Author

You're going to do everything in your power to always make sure that your packages are ready for your courier to pick up at your scheduled pickup time. However, despite your best efforts, sometimes things happen. If you find that you can't have your package ready for your Chicago delivery service at the predetermined time, you need to know what to do.

The most important thing for you to do in this situation is to contact your courier company as soon as possible. Couriers do understand that things can go wrong during the course of your production week. Machines break down, orders get cancelled, and any number of other eventualities can occur. However, they do need to be notified as soon as possible because this represents a disruption to their own business.

When a courier finds out that you are not going to be able to have your package ready, they have to reorganize their entire pickup route. They will usually have several deliveries scheduled to be picked up back to back and then delivered throughout the course of the day. When your delivery is out of the equation they have to look at their route and decide if the remaining pickups and deliveries are best made in the existing order, or if changes can be made to increase efficiency.

Don't be surprised if you do see a fee or charge show up on your account if you don't have your package ready for pickup some day. You might also see a larger than normal fee if you give the courier less than 24 hours notice before such an event. That is because in those cases it is often too late to do any planning to see if the route can be more effectively structured, and they are essentially stuck to try and make it up as they go along.

If you have an account with a courier company for your scheduled service, you may also have the ability to notify them of this situation online. The amount of things that you can communicate easily to your courier through their web interface depends on the software that they are using. Some though, will have the ability to receive notifications about deliveries that are not going to be ready. Failing that, just email or phone your company directly to let them know. Phoning is better closer to the actual pickup time, as emails can be overlooked.

Paul McDuffy is a consultant for chicago delivery service and Chicago messenger services companies as well as national courier service businesses.