Common Sense Blog #2: The delivery will be when?

Common Sense Blog #2: The delivery will be when?

by Bill Clarke

 This is the second blog in a series about things that we routinely experience in our dealings with businesses, governments and institutions that make absolutely no sense as seen through the eyes of consumers. The blog will focus on the consumer’s point of view and although I will be reasonable with the perpetrators of these actions, I won’t hesitate to tell it the way it actually happened. All of the events are true and the offenders would do well to correct the problem and not explain why it must be done in a way that does not make sense to consumers. 

Recently we ordered a new mattress set from a local retailer in Atlanta. The product quality, price and service were very good. They scheduled delivery for the following Tuesday and advised that we would receive a call in advance letting us know the exact time we could expect delivery. We were happy, no problem.

On the day before the delivery they called and advised that the delivery would be made “…sometime between 9 a.m and 1 p.m.” Oops, now wait a minute! I don’t know about you but we can’t afford to sit around the house for four hours wondering if we will be on the early or late part of the delivery.  

When I asked for a more specific time, I was told that it was impossible to give an exact hour commitment because of traffic and other possible problems. Well now, if FedEx and UPS can track millions of small packages in real time every day from anywhere in the world and get them to their destination by 10 a.m. the following morning, with traffic and other issues considered, then it would seem reasonable that a local delivery business with relatively few transactions should be able to commit to a more specific time rather than a lengthy time window. After all, we are living in an era of unprecedented real time systems and communications capabilities and businesses no longer have the luxury of delivering things at their convenience or expecting that someone will always be available whenever they decide to get there.  

I realize that we have serious traffic problems in Atlanta and there are staffing issues and emergencies, but that is all part of the company’s business model and they need to find ways to schedule deliveries that meet the requirements of today’s mobile customers. After all, the process of packing and routing a delivery truck is not rocket science.

It just makes sense. Common sense.

If you would like to share your favorite delivery horror story, write a comment. As stressful as it may have been for you then, we should all get a good laugh about it now.