Tips to Avoid Theft, Damage, Expenses This Holiday Season: Dropoff

The holiday shopping season is upon us. The last two months of the year are often the most profitable for e-commerce businesses. In tandem, shipping volumes rise tremendously as well. In a recent Support.com survey titled “Connected Consumers And The Most Personal Brand Experience,” 40% said the most significant part of the brand experience came after purchase. That includes getting purchases on time and without any damage.

Parcel recently shared important tips that can help reduce any negative customer experience. Here are some of the highlights.

Proper Packaging

“Theft and damage is an ongoing problem for both commercial and individual shippers, especially during the holidays,” the article states. It’s important to remember to use strong packaging to secure contents and ensure labels are properly and securely attached.
“Descriptive boxes and labeling are also an easy target for would-be thieves. By removing your company name from the return address, it makes it harder for thieves to determine the contents inside.” A better way to label boxes would be to use your initials or simply “Shipping Department.”
Use a delivery service that provides detailed, real-time tracking information so you can see the status of your package from start to finish. Dropoff’s, real-time live map tracking gives both businesses and consumers insight into every detail of every delivery. For businesses with high volumes of shipments, Dropoff Tracker provides live map tracking for all deliveries taking place in real-time across multiple stores or locations. And for any delivery being handled by Dropoff, both the business and consumer can receive email confirmations and signature verifications.

Shipping Insurance

“As the 2017 holiday shopping season approaches, online sales are expected to increase by 15.8%. This impressive growth, in turn, will equate to more packages being shipped and delivered.” With the increase in package volume comes more delivery delays, handling issues, and theft. Getting shipping insurance this holiday season will be useful in the event of any damage, loss, or shortage. With Dropoff, all deliveries are insured, so you can rest easy knowing your items are protected.

Avoiding Increased Surcharges

You should avoid waiting till the last minute to get orders shipped, especially since national shipping companies like UPS and FedEx have rolled out new, higher pricing for the peak holiday shipping season and increased handling surcharges.

Another way to optimize local deliveries is to use a same-day delivery service instead of sending the packages overnight. Dropoff can handle pre-scheduled and on-demand deliveries in 17 cities across the U.S. now. And with insured deliveries, real-time tracking and signature verifications, zero surcharges, and a team of professional drivers, Dropoff is an ideal partner during the busy holiday season. Request a demo of Dropoff to better understand our offering.