Something as simple as a photo taken after a parcel has been delivered can save your company time and money. It reduces the number of follow-up calls from customers who can’t find a parcel or want to know when the package will be delivered.
UPS’ CEO, Carol Tomé, says their staff take photos of 92% of deliveries globally to show precisely where and when the package was dropped off. “Not only does [a] delivery photo provide peace of mind to the recipient, but we get fewer calls about missing packages.”
UPS has seen a reduction in US delivery-related support requests of more than 15% as a result of photos being taken.
Taking blurred photos
But what if the delivery driver takes a blurry photo? Many photos have been shared on social media. Sometimes, delivery drivers take unclear images, or the parcel is not even in the frame.
Locate2u’s CEO, Steve Orenstein, says machine learning will help analyze a photo taken by delivery drivers to ensure the captured image meets specific standards. “You can analyze the photograph in real-time and tell the driver that the photograph wasn’t good enough. It can also educate the driver on how to improve the photo.”
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Last month, a FedEx driver landed in hot water when the employee took proof of the delivery, but no one could analyze the photo.
Orenstein says with Locate2u software, customers can view a photo of the successful delivery and answer questions to help improve the overall service. “They can set up multiple questions with multiple photographs, allowing that information to get sent back into the office. This will allow the company to automatically reply to the customer informing of the delivery with live photographs.”
“If you can do that, the minute that parcel has been delivered, it becomes valuable. The customer might be at work and look at those photographs and go ‘delivered to the wrong location’. They can go back and let that company know. But also knowing that that parcel is at their front door, they might get home a bit earlier to ensure they can remove it before it’s stolen.”
Reducing parcel theft
Taking a photo upon delivery can also help establish how many parcels are stolen annually. According to Finder, 4.2 million parcels have been stolen in Australia last year. One in eight Australians have had packets lost in transit, while 4% had a package delivered to the wrong address.
In America, parcel theft is also a considerable concern. According to Security, 49 million citizens have had at least one parcel stolen this year (2022-2023).
Attempted delivery
Attempted delivery can quickly go south if the driver is not trained correctly on what to do if things go wrong. Sometimes, the provided address doesn’t match the location, or the specific details communicated aren’t proceeding as it should.
In most cases, attempted delivery happens when a driver can’t reach the customer. A message on the parcel will read ‘attempted delivery’.
About the author
Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
