Are you thinking about becoming a delivery driver? Here are valuable tips that will be of great help in your job:  

Be a responsible driver

It goes without saying that you need to be responsible for your actions to be a great driver. 

According to the NETS, accidents cost companies billions of dollars in expenses, such as liability, medical care, and lost productivity.

Of course, you can’t control other drivers’ irresponsible behavior, but you can redirect the danger generated by their blunders. 

By following several precautionary rules during delivery operations, you can become a responsible driver and avoid incidents or road rage.

For example, you should always use hands-free controls when using your phone while driving and always configure your navigation before embarking on a journey.

You also should avoid distractions such as talking on the phone, eating, texting, or changing the music while driving. 

You should be alert and able to spot aggressive drivers, predict what they might do, and make changes ahead of time. 

Doing this prevents accidents, traffic delays, and other time-wasting situations.

Get a job in a populated area.

Where you work affects how much money you make. This is because, in most cases, as a delivery driver, you are paid per the deliveries you make. This means that the more deliveries you fulfil, the more money you make, and vice versa. 

If you live in a small town, you won’t have as many orders, there won’t be as many orders to choose from, and people probably won’t throw around a lot of cash or leave big tips. What is the consequence of this?

This is the opposite of when you work in a big town where you will have many orders to choose from, and you have higher chances of coming into contact with many people that will give you large tips. 

To increase the chances of making more money, find Lowongan sopir truk ekspedisi with openings in populated areas. 

As much as you gain more when you work in a populated area, there is the challenge of dealing with a lot of traffic. 

The key to keeping your customers happy even when you are late is to communicate with them. Whenever you are caught in traffic, contact your customers and tell them you will be late. 

As much as you have the benefit of having many orders, you can easily get overwhelmed, especially when you aren’t organized. This means that to be an excellent delivery driver, you need to keep track of all the deliveries you will be making and ensure that you collect them at the right location. 

Being organized will greatly save time and money as you won’t need to keep making unnecessary trips back and forth. 

Highly populated areas tend to be highly trafficked by thieves that might steal your deliveries, so always be alert to avoid losing your customer’s orders, and you are forced to pay them from your pocket. 

Protect your deliveries

Besides protecting your customers’ deliveries from thieves, you also should protect them from damage. 

This calls for you to take good care of fragile delivery orders and the packages they contain while they are being moved. Make sure customers are happy by ensuring delivery orders aren’t broken or damaged.

Remember that if a customer gets a broken product, they will make a return order, which puts more pressure on you and cuts into your profits. 

There are also chances that if you are working for a company, you won’t get any good bonuses or payouts.

There are plenty of ways you can protect your deliveries. One way is to ensure that each item you’re sending is packed well so that it doesn’t get damaged on the way. Always use the right materials for packing, like bubble wrap, bags, and strong boxes.

After packing your delivery, ensure it’s tightly tied down so it doesn’t move around while shipping. You can keep the packages in place with box sealing tape or stretch wrap.

Be ultra-cautious with packages when you put them in and take them out of your car. Don’t throw or drop packages when delivering. If you need to move big things, use a hand truck or dolly. You can also ask for help from people nearby. 

Avoid working in extreme weather conditions as much as you want to make as much money as possible. This is because extreme conditions such as heat, cold, rain, or snow might damage your products. 

As you transport the products, ensure that the packages are not easily accessible to people who are not supposed to handle them. Even if they don’t steal them, they can maliciously damage them, which puts you in bad light. When making deliveries, lock your car’s doors and park in a well-lit area.

Try to be extroverted.

As a delivery driver, you will have to interact with many people. Besides the people you will meet on the road, you will also have to interact with the people manning the stores or those working where you collect your order.

You also will interact with your customers. 

Even if you are an introvert, you should try to be an extrovert. The beauty is that it’s not hard to do it. 

One thing you should train yourself to do is to make small talk. For example, when you are in the pickup location, talk with the people you meet. 

Begin with easy queries such as “How’s your day going?” and so on. 

You also should be open and approachable. This requires you to smile, make eye contact, and act like you care about others. If you are friendly and easy to talk to, it will be easier for other people to start a conversation with you.

Parting shot

These are some tips you can implement to be a good delivery driver. To make more money delivering, take small orders that don’t require you to travel too far from your site. 

Also, always get enough sleep and exercise regularly to ensure that you are alert and in a good mood all the time.