Weaknesses of the courier and express services market

Looking at how the courier service market is changing is very important to a courier such as myself. Looking at a report by Keynote in 2011 it is clear that fuel consumption/prices and insurance are two of the main weaknesses of the courier and express industry:

Fuel and insurance prices are operating costs that the market does not have directly under its control. The cost of these two factors has increased considerably in recent years.

 

However the governments don’t see to be doing much to reduce the price of fuel, as well as the car markets taking one step forward and two steps back working on electric vehicles and charging stations. The most recent good thing to happen to the courier industry in terms of being green is the DHL hybrid 18-tonner debuts in Britain in 2010. The Volvo artic uses 15 per cent less fuel than conventional trucks. That is the kind of innovation I believe is needed to push the industry out of the rut it has fallen into.

Insurance for any vehicle is extraordinary expensive but insurance for vehicles in the courier and express industry is catastrophically high and its un-comprehendible how much they charge. Once you have considered the cost of both fuel and insurance it’s hard to see why anyone would want to start a business up in the courier and express industry.

What grinds my gears is the fact that these two main weaknesses of the industry can be turned into positives. If we had greener and cleaners cars insurance would decrease and if we spent less on fuel then would have more money to pay for our insurance.

The bottom line is that us members of the courier and express industries are waiting for a break and I am forecasting the next break to be around 2018 when electric/hybrid vehicles start to come on leaps and bounds. I am finding it hard to see light at the end of the economic crisis.

If we sort out our weakness the industry will start to look more attractive.

Read Full Post »

A thick line placed between ethics and legal trading

Many people believe that trading unethically is against the law; in fact they are wrong as there is no legal requirement to be ethical.

Unethical trading is something couriers still do within the industry. For example; being a sub contractor for a courier for a few months then leaving and stealing those employers’ customers is still perfectly legal!

Not having a CSR, crashing a competitors website, clicking on PPC ads repeatedly, not being fuel efficient, poor customer service are just some other ways unethical behaviour can take place in our industry.

It may not be illegal to trade unethically but in some customer’s eyes it’s even worse than trading illegally. Research has shown that customers want to see the businesses they are dealing with being ethical.

Positive associations can be very beneficial to a business in attracting new customers towards a courier. If a business is trading unethical word of mouth can begin and start to tarnish a company’s reputation, negative association can build up and so ensuring your company and your employees act ethically can now be just as important as trading legally.

The definition of ethics is ‘pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct’

The line between ethics and law has been made thicker in the past few years with courier companies struggling to survive in the current economic climate and the technological advances within certain industries pushing companies out of the market and into administration.

Being ethical is however now more important than ever is important to those left in the industry. Regards of the economic climate and the line between legal and ethical trading couriers must up hold moral decency to revive some more trust into the industry.

Article reference thecouriershop.co.uk

Read Full Post »