With the predicted privatisation of Royal Mail to come within the next few years, courier services across the country are going to be competing for supremacy in a more even market. Companies like DHL, FedEx and Hermes will be battling it out with the new-look Royal Mail in order to become top dog of the courier world. This will mean streamlining their processes, ensuring their staff are as highly-trained as possible, and investing in the highest quality new equipment to cope with the higher level of demand that will be placed on them.
Phil Chesworth, Director of Pallet Truck Shop, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of pallet trucks and manual handling equipment says, “The privatisation of one of the country’s institutions will have a huge effect on many courier businesses across the country. The more even playing field will mean that their distribution centres and sorting facilities will need to be of the highest calibre to compete with one another without the domination of Royal Mail. Implementing a brand-new fleet of high-quality pallet trucks will enable these companies to bolster their arsenals and come out on top in the fight for courier supremacy.”
The sheer volume of goods and items that courier companies must deal with on a daily basis means that the hand pallet truck in their warehouses and stock rooms are constantly moving. Making this movement and the process as short as possible will help them to fulfil orders quickly and earn brownie points with their customers. Time constraints are one of the key issues within a courier company, especially those that offer specialised next-day or even same-day delivery services; the speed at which items can be put through the entire system is crucial to the success of the company as a whole. Having a reliable and effective fleet of pallet trucks within the company allows employees to move everything through the system quickly and efficiently, thus satisfying their vast customer base.
Companies such as DHL and Hermes will not only be looking to increase the speed at which they can move goods around, but also the volume of goods they can move at any one time. Increasing the capacity of their overall fleet will mean they can transport a higher number of goods through their processing systems at any given time. Volume and speed are the two crucial elements that will combine to make a courier company a success in this transitional period, and all companies will need to significantly up their game once the market becomes completely open.