COVID-19/Coronavirus - Five Tips to Help Manage Your Last-Mile Delivery Organization

During these uncertain times, last-mile delivery has already proven to be more important than ever before, but the difficulties involved with last-mile delivery have increased as well. At DispatchTrack, we are in a unique position because we see the challenges across thousands of delivery and logistics companies every day, and we wanted to share some essential tips to help you manage your deliveries.

1. Training on proper hygiene and handwashing - Simply put, you can't make deliveries if your drivers are sick, so you must be vigilant reminding your drivers to properly wash their hands and allow them extra time to make sure they are doing it on a regular basis throughout their workday. This simple step cannot be emphasized enough.
2. Provide ample hand sanitizer and wipes for situations where hand washing is not possible - Make sure that you have provided each vehicle with hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes for those times when hand washing isn't practical.
3. Instructions on handling over-the-threshold deliveries - Deliveries are more important than ever, but you want to keep both your drivers and your customers healthy, so giving your teams some extra training on the expectations around entering people's homes during these times can go a long way.
4. Manage fuel more conservatively - While we have not read about runs on gas stations yet, have your drivers fill up more frequently so they do not find themselves in a situation where they can't find fuel.
5. Utilize technology to allow people to work remotely - As the calls and requirements to have people work from home go out, make sure your technology supports remote work. For most industries, installed centralized software is a thing of the past, but unfortunately, it is still prevalent in logistics. Having installed software puts employees in an unhealthy situation and can cause your business to slow down significantly.

Your company's role has never been more important to the economy and peoples' well-being than right now. We know you're committed to keeping your employees, drivers, and customers healthy—so please let DispatchTrack know if you have any questions on how our cloud-based solution can help you navigate these unprecedented market changes, and keep your supply chain moving.