Business owners who have to make deliveries to customers often get things wrong. There are lots of common problems that could cost you money and land you in legal trouble. The last thing you need is a huge find from the government because you overlooked the essentials. With a bit of luck, you will always stay within the law if you take the points listed into consideration. At the end of the day, your drivers handle certain things, but the buck stops with you. It’s your business that will become tarnished if you keep making the same errors.
Weigh your vehicles
All businesses over a certain size should have a weighing platform for their vehicles. That device is used to ensure that nobody breaks the law with a truck that is too heavy. However, small business owners often struggle to make the checks. That is because the weighing platforms are very expensive to purchase. Thankfully, there is a solution. Click here for more information about how companies with a tight budget can still assess their vehicles properly.
Ask your drivers to use a breathalyzer
Breathalyzers should make sure you never let someone behind the wheel who’s had a drink. However, it is possible that some of your team could be over the limit in the mornings without your knowledge. So, asking them to use a breathalyzer before they grab their keys is a wise move. It is the driver who will get into trouble if they are drunk at the wheel. Even so, you don’t want your company to gain a bad reputation.
Reduce your costs by outsourcing
In some instances, the delivery process might cost too much for your business to make a healthy profit. Make sure you consider the possibility of outsourcing. It could be that delivering goods yourself doesn’t make financial sense. There is no point running a company that struggles to make a profit. There are plenty of local, national, and international courier services. Some of them could work out cheaper to use. You just need to get in touch with the specialists concerned and obtain some quotes.
Perform daily vehicle inspections
No matter how big or small your company might be, vehicle inspections are paramount. You can’t send a dangerous truck out on the roads in good conscience. That means you need to employ the services of a mechanic with a lot of experience. Perhaps you should ask them to join your night shift? That way, you can get everything sorted before your drivers arrive in the morning.
So, there you have it. With those solutions in mind, it should be easy to avoid common issues when delivering goods. The only other idea we’d like to highlight relates to satellite navigation. You don’t want your drivers to get lost and take forever to find their destinations. That is why all vehicles must have sat navs fitted as standard. You can use the devices to plan specific routes that you deem most suitable for your team. Hopefully, that should also mean you never get a call saying they’re stuck under a low bridge.
