The Vanishing Delivery and Why It’s There
There are three days of the week that have the potential for better than average earnings from driving. Those days are the busiest, not only for drivers, but for merchants as well.
With an increase in business comes an increase in delivery snafus. One particular snafu is a tough one for drivers, because it’s not possible to see it coming. This is the vanishing delivery.
It’s a common event on high volume business days and nights. An offer comes through, and it’s good enough to accept. Once the courier arrives to pick up the cargo, however, the cargo is missing.
Another scenario has the cargo, already picked up, by another courier. Whatever the case may be, it’s a confusing moment for the courier and the merchant.
Vanishing Delivery
One of the first steps a courier encounters, is accepting or declining an offer for delivering cargo. Accepting an offer creates a contract that has specific criteria for execution. Vanishing cargo is a surprise, because an offer available in the app, similarly guarantees it’s available at the merchant.
However, what happens when the cargo has vanished? And what are the next steps to remedy the situation?
Why It’s There
The cargo was picked up by another courier. When this happens, the offer remained in queue for a few different reasons. There are times when unscrupulous practices, cause the cargo to be vanished, but not from the system. The process for clearing the order, and getting it removed from the queue, varies depending on the app being used.
In the Doordash app, it’s possible to contact support and confirm the cargo has vanished, consequently this will clear the offer from the queue. Once out of the queue, the offer will not be recirculated, saving the next courier from the vanishing cargo.
If a courier simply drops the offer, the system will recirculate the offer, and the snafu begins again.
When a courier contacts support to have the offer removed from the queue, it is time consuming. It is important to alert the app support of the snafu, this will result in partial compensation for the cancelled offer.
This process ensures the courier receives something for the expended resources.
More Snafus
When an offer has vanished, it is because of an error, or likewise, the previous courier loaded the wrong cargo. There are a couple of ways this plays out. The most common is, once the merchant is aware that the cargo is missing, it can be remade.
The courier can decide to wait for the new cargo, or take a small hit in the numbers, and move to a new offer.
Pro Tip: Contacting the customer, even when dropping the offer, is a professional courtesy.
When the cargo, and the order for the cargo, have both vanished, however, it’s very rare. This typically involves a technical issue that originates with the app and the merchant, or the customer.
Contacting support for the app, will get the offer removed from the system, and the courier will not take a hit in the numbers. Each situation is unique.
Couriers will benefit from thinking in terms of hourly units, and how much time the fix will take. Time of day, crowd size, and the merchant’s delivery load, are good indicators on cargo remake time.
Feedback
Couriers running with an app are the real time contacts for the app. Offers that are canceled, or from a closed merchant, are done in the app, with the courier’s assistance. (ie., taking a photo of a closed merchant so the system can be updated)
This also goes for when cargo vanishes, because the app is configured to ask why the offer is being dropped, thus clearing the offer from the system. It doesn’t always happen right away, however, and that’s why there is a vanishing delivery.
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