The closing time challenge and the best chance
Deliveries run from early morning until late evening. This means the courier runs from early morning until late evening. Depending on schedules and preferences, the courier can run from dawn, until midnight and beyond. Although there are plenty of opportunities between sunup and midnight, most couriers have a preference.
There is a debate about the earning potential of day delivery versus night delivery. Furthermore, they each have advantages and disadvantages. Traffic is a major component when considering the differences between morning delivery and night delivery. For example, it flows largely in one direction early in the morning. Likewise it flows largely in the other direction in the early evening. Two separate rush hours, on opposite ends of the spectrum.
This matters when trying to get from point A to point B. It might be a piece of cake to run that delivery in the night hours. However, that same delivery in the early morning hours might take twice as long to complete. And this might only be the effect of the traffic flow. In fact, the circumstances at the merchant weigh heavily on the success of the delivery. There’s a whole new level of random happening at the merchant. Especially at closing time.
The Closing Time Challenge
It’s a late night delivery. Sometimes there’s a rush right at closing time. Most every merchant knows this. However, not every merchant gets a late night delivery rush. The ones that managed it well in the past, will see it again, and again. This is because they are popular. But if a merchant consistently avoids, or turns down, late night delivery requests, the word will spread. Experienced couriers know this means delivery offers from that merchant are unreliable.
With this in mind, it becomes necessary to avoid delivery requests from that particular late night merchant. If the courier knows in advance the pickup will not happen it’s not a good bet. Additionally, if the courier knows ahead of time, that there will be an excessive wait time, it’s not a good bet. Excessive wait time is ten minutes beyond the quoted ready time in the app. And ten minutes is generous. It should be no more than five.
However, this is where the late night sticking point comes into play. Most merchants are not at their store, late at night. That is what they hire staff to do. Therefore, most late night merchants have a crew running the shop. One universal truth is that some crews are better than others. Some crews keep the lights on until closing time. Other crews roll closing time backward, and cut the lights early.
The Best Chance
Couriers pick up quickly on what kind of crew a merchant has working the late night show. Every minute the courier is at the merchant, is one less spent traveling to the delivery customer. Furthermore, this is only if the merchant staff have not closed the shop early. This is something that happens often. Additionally, the courier must be sure to record proof that the store closed early. This keeps it from causing a drop in the courier’s ratings.
There is also the long wait. This is the tough one. Couriers can see everything that happens in the restaurant while waiting. It’s possible to get a sense of how long it’s going to take from the activity inside the restaurant. As is the case much of the time, the courier will get placed in a drive thru only pickup. It could be a long wait, but certainly not much past the golden hour. The trick is knowing which situations to avoid.
Second Chance Closing Time
One of the surest ways to learn which situations to avoid, is by getting into them. For example, taking a delivery from a merchant and then losing time and other opportunities, because that one, was not a good one. However, that isn’t where the lesson takes place. The lesson is in giving it a second chance, on down the line, and getting a repeat of the previous experience. That is when a courier learns to avoid a particular merchant. Lost time and lost opportunities are not a benefit for the courier.
The best chance for a timely pickup is before closing time. Furthermore, if the courier learns through experience that certain merchants are unreliable in the late evening, best to avoid the potential loss. Some merchants are open past the late evening.
These are the late, late night, merchants. Experienced couriers know these merchants rely on late night delivery to improve and help grow their business. The at home delivery customer picks up on that as well. Tips on what to look for before accepting a no win delivery in the next article. Until then, stay safe out there.
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