Challenge of the last call and late night delivery
The late night delivery is in a league of its own. Some nights it’s all about that last minute delivery rush. Maybe it’s the fear of missing out, or a clever ad campaign happening on a popular satellite channel. Whatever the case may be, the offers are rolling in and all of them at the last minute. It would be great to be able to take them all. However, that isn’t always possible. Especially considering it’s already the last call.
This isn’t about the bar, although many bars sound the last call shortly before closing time as well. This is about the last call of the kitchen. Furthermore, it happens for the dining room, as well as delivery. In fact, the dining room will sometimes begin shutting down before the kitchen. Similarly, many fast food places close the dining room long before the drive through. This is something the late night courier will pick up on, over the course of time.
Not every late night delivery goes according to plan. If it isn’t about missing items then it’s about missing orders. Additionally, the fact that it’s so close to the last call puts the pickup in a questionable position. For example, the merchant is out of several items since it’s the end of the day. Or the merchant has already closed. This is common. The closer it is to closing time the more it matters when the last call goes out.
Challenge of the Last Call
It isn’t always possible to know which delivery will go well and which will not. Couriers familiar with their zones have earned it. It takes trial and error to know which merchants are a good bet and which are not. Especially with the late night delivery. Many delivery customers go for the late night delivery. Furthermore, many of those wait until the last minute. This is one reason why a merchant might have trouble with a delivery request after the last call.
Not only is there high demand just before closing time, but also there is the closing work itself. Merchant staff want to finish the work and go home. After all, it’s closing time. This is when being selective with the delivery queue can make a lot of difference. When the offers come in, the closer it is to a merchants closing time the higher the risk for some type of hitch. This is where previous experience wins the day.
With this in mind, it is a best practice to double check the time on the delivery offer. Just because the offer came through the queue, doesn’t mean it gets fulfilled at the merchant. In the evenings, merchants can end the delivery requests at any point they choose. Occasionally, an offer can get into the queue and a courier will accept it. However, unbeknownst to the courier the merchant closed already. Or, at the very least, the order will not get made. And then the courier arrives at a closed merchant for the pickup.
The Late Night Delivery
If it doesn’t get canceled from the merchant closing, then it’s a good bet the order came in before the last call. (The last call is determined by the merchant and is the cut off time for delivery orders.) If the order came in on time, it can still hit the delivery queue in the app near closing time. In fact it can be a close call at times. The courier may find the need to hustle, comes along with accepting the offer. For example, the merchant closes at 11 PM.
The offer comes into the queue at 10:47 PM. The courier accepts the offer and now it’s 10:48 PM. The merchant will lock those doors at 10:58 PM. The courier checks the rear view mirror, and now it’s 10:53 PM. Time for the afterburners. However, this is not too great of an exaggeration. Those final few minutes are seriously important. And those minutes are contested ground. In the last few minutes, after the last call and just before closing time, no one watches the clock closer than the courier and the merchant staff.
In fact, the two parties are laser focused on those last few minutes, but for vastly different reasons. It’s a late night delivery and that’s one of the reasons it’s so unique. Keeping a close eye on the clock is a best practice. And keeping a good pace is the key. Stay safe out there.
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