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The Technology of Change: Staying Relevant in the Courier Industry

Fleet managers must tackle many new challenges as evolving technology makes its impact on the logistics industry. Not only must they handle this high level of technological change themselves, they also need to make sure all their staff are enthusiastic and informed about the enactment of changes. They must ensure high levels of productivity, whilst securing the safety of road users and strict compliance across their workforce.
These tasks can seem daunting, but technological advances are key to solving the problems. Tech is not the enemy – in fact, it could transform your working life for the better.

How Can Technology Help You?

Many fleet managers do make good use of tech to help solve various issues they face. If you feel that you could make more of these resources, read on to discover how embracing technology could help you.

• Maintenance

If you are not already using tech to help maintain your company’s vehicles, then you are missing out. Tracking systems make preventative maintenance so easy, flagging up potential issues before they become serious problems. Preventative or predictive maintenance leads to less unscheduled downtime and a reduction in many of the costs associated with urgent vehicle maintenance.

Fleet managers also are responsible for their drivers’ well-being, making sure that all the vehicles they use are up to standard is part of the role

• Behaviour Behind the Wheel

Of course, the actions of the individual have a huge impact on road safety. However, as a supervisor, you can take steps to ensure the safety of your workforce. For example, you can work to prevent distraction on the roads. Tools such as scorecards, dash cams and apps that block some phone functions can encourage drivers to stay focused.

• Compliance

There are lots of tools that can be used to ensure compliance is maintained. Remote tachograph reporting means that you can monitor working patterns, including hours worked, and identify any problem areas. Therefore, you can avoid sanctions to the business and risks to the safety of employees.

Driver scorecards, created by drawing on data collected by telematics systems, can be used to assess driver performance. You could use these to reward consistent performance, encourage safe driving, or flag up hazardous behaviour. Using these tools will not only give you a clearer oversight of your workforce, it will also help you identify areas for improvement.

• In-Vehicle Cameras

In-vehicle cameras work brilliantly to both monitor and protect. They provide great evidence of the behaviour of the vehicle user, so can be used in evaluation and training. They also provide indisputable evidence against fraudulent insurance claims.

Of course, technology isn’t going to solve every problem you encounter. However, it can certainly go a long way to helping fleet managers in their day-to-day working life. It is more important than ever to keep up with industry progress and not get left behind.

Author Plate

Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world’s largest neutral trading hub for same day jobs in the express freight exchange industry. For drivers, fleet managers or anyone looking to transport goods, Courier Exchange connects professionals across the UK and Europe. Over 5,400 member companies are networked together through the Exchange to fill empty capacity, get new clients and form long-lasting business relationships.

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How to Avoid Tired Tyres and Prevent Unexpected Mishaps

For anyone who makes a living transporting courier loads across the city, nothing is more important than keeping your vehicle (or fleet) maintained and in good working order. Making the ‘daily walk around’ a habit is the best way to ensure you’re staying on top of any potential issues – and one of the most essential things you should be checking is the state of your tyres.
Tyre Inspections Done Right

A cursory glance and a casual kick to the rubber as you get in your van to deliver your daily courier loads is definitely not the way to carry out your inspection. The condition of your tyres affects not only your van’s performance and fuel economy, it also plays a huge part in terms of safety on the road. So just what should you be looking for?

Check the Tread

When a vehicle is being used to transport courier loads, wear and tear happens far more quickly than in a private vehicle, due not only to the miles travelled, but also to the fact that it’s carrying heavier weights. Checking the tyre tread regularly is vital to ensure optimal safety and traction on the road, and if you neglect this, you risk a blow out – which can prove disastrous. Checking the depth of the tread is easy when you know what to look for: if the shallower horizontal ‘tread wear indicators’ are close to being flush with the deep lateral grooves, you’re heading into dangerous territory and it’s time for a replacement.

Under Pressure

Maintaining the correct pressure (aka PSI) is important for the optimal performance and longevity of your tyres. Manufacturers are required to provide the recommended PSI (pounds per square inch) so there’s no excuse for not knowing what it is. A good tip is that you’ll get a more accurate PSI reading in the morning, when temperatures are cooler. Incorrect inflation not only leads to increased fuel usage and reduced economy, it also contributes to excessive wear – meaning you’ll need to replace more often.

A PS on PSI

Another factor to bear in mind is that, if you’re carrying heavier courier loads, the pressure will go down so if you have to travel a long way with a full van you should regularly check your PSI levels. Perhaps make it a rule to do this every time you fuel up so you remember. It’s a very good idea to carry a handy pressure gauge in your toolbox, which will save you from having to use the service station ones and means you can do it at any time.

For anyone who’s not clear how and where to find the recommended tyre pressure, it can be in one of several places. It might be inside the door of your vehicle, in the owner’s manual, within the glove compartment or on the back of the fuel cap door. There are also multiple online tools you can use to check the manufacturer’s recommendation.

Keeping your tyres in tip top condition doesn’t have to be a chore. Make the checks a part of your daily routine to give you total piece of mind that your vehicle is transporting your courier loads as safely as possible.

Author Plate

Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world’s largest neutral trading hub for same day courier loads in the express freight exchange industry. Numerous transport exchange businesses are networked together on their website, trading jobs and capacity through what is now the fastest growing Freight Exchange in the UK.

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Make Allocating Work Easier with TopBox and Courier Exchange

In a sector as fast moving and competitive as the courier industry, efficiency is always key. Businesses need to be able to fill drivers’ time with deliveries, make every journey count, meet client needs – and do it all quickly, simply and profitably. Luckily for those of us working in the industry, technological advances are always providing better means to do all this.
In this article, we’ll run through the integration of booking system TopBox with popular freight exchange Courier Exchange (CX), summarising how using both of these tools can help your firm reach its peak performance.

TopBox

Not to be confused with filesharing service DropBox, TopBox is a cloud-based system that facilitates same-day courier bookings. It has a range of crucial functions for fleet controllers, allowing them to view:

• All active jobs • All collection and delivery points • Real-time whereabouts of all drivers.

Developed by DA Systems (you can visit the company’s website to get a more in-depth overview of the product) and using Google’s maps technology, TopBox provides massive efficiency savings. And what’s more, it’s now integrated with the very popular online CX freight exchange.

Courier Exchange

With over 38,000 members, CX is the UK’s busiest and fastest growing freight exchange, attracting customers with the user-friendliness and a wealth of features including real-time updates on available loads and access to a vast ‘virtual’ fleet of drivers.

Integration

Many businesses use the platform to buy and sell capacity. The reason for this is simple: it’s much better to ensure a job gets filled than to leave the client to search elsewhere. This function also helps avoid wasted time and mileage, making it much easier to ensure drivers are always travelling with loads.

But how does this link to TopBox? One of the app’s best features is that it can show all available drivers within a given radius of a job. Managers can of course expand the search radius to see if they have a courier nearby. But even then some vehicles may simply be too far out to make delivery practical.

Enter CX. Unfilled jobs can be sent over to the online exchange with the touch of a button – a user just has to just click ‘Allocate to CX’ and the job will be automatically posted without any more input needed from the driver. Users no longer need to click out of TopBox and into CX to manually allocate work.

Even better, drivers are instantly notified of the posting, and can accept or reject it immediately. This lets controllers know instantly whether the job has been filled – and to try different strategies if it remains unfilled.

All in all, the linking of DA Systems’ booking and tracking program with CX’s freight exchange allows managers to far more easily fill jobs. Crucially, it also keeps clients happy, reducing the chance that any deliveries will go unfulfilled.

Author Plate Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world’s largest neutral trading hub for same day jobs in the express freight industry. Connecting logistics professionals across the UK and Europe through their online freight exchange transport businesses are networked together, trading jobs and capacity through what is now the fastest growing Freight Exchange in the UK.

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