Temando's Festive Season Essentials

Posted by Temando on Monday, October 13, 2014 with No comments
Number one on this years list? How about keeping your hair?


The festive season is upon us yet again! Historically, the delivery network is full to overflowing during this time of year and miracles are a lot less common in the logistics industry than they are in the movies. To avoid disappointing customers and to save yourself some stress, here are 3 steps for getting through unscathed:

1. Be prepared and advise customers early

We don’t want you to cause mass hysteria with your customers – just be realistic and transparent with them. Work with your marketing teams to update order confirmation emails with realistic timeframes, banner ads on your site, update your shipping policies and include messaging through the checkout process. If you make realistic promises to your customers you won’t upset them.

2. Be aware of your carrier cut off dates

As soon as carriers have advised us of their cut off dates we will pass this information on to you. In the mean-time you need to be aware of facts. For example, if a customer makes and order for standard delivery on the 24th of December they may not receive that delivery until as far out as the 4th of January. This is due to the way Christmas and New Year’s days fall this year.

As for us? We will be open for support from 8am to 6pm on business days right through until the 24th of December and then continuing to operate as usual on all business days thereafter.

3.      Read this guide

It’s long and not particularly fun but it’s a whole lot more fun than getting into hot water in the middle of December. It pays to be prepared so the faster you get on top of your holiday processes, the more successful you will be.


Carrier Cut Off Dates

We are currently working with our carrier partners to create a list of cut off dates for deliveries prior to Christmas day. We’ll also be detailing expected delivery timeframes after , taking into account public holidays and reduced carrier trading.

While not guaranteed, below are the booking deadlines for delivery prior to Christmas, as provided by each carrier:

TNT Road:                     18th December
Fastway Couriers:        19th December
TNT Priority:                  20th December 
Couriers Please:            23rd December
Capital Transport:         23rd December
Hunter Express:             23rd December
Direct Couriers:             23rd December
Allied Express:              19th of December for capital city deliveries
                                        Progressively earlier for more regional locations
Northline:                      13th December for regional
                                        17th December for cross-country between capital cities
                                        19th December for east coast capital cities
CourierPost (NZ):        19th December


These cut off dates do not guarantee delivery before Christmas.

 Especially with orders that need to go cross-country, be prepared and give your customers sufficient warning. As a general rule, we would recommend any orders travelling from the eastern to the western seaboard would have to be sent before December 19 and anything for the eastern seaboard be sent before December 22.
Deliveries post-Xmas will also be affected by public holidays and reduced carrier trading – please check back soon for further information.

Customer Support

December is the busiest time of the year, especially for the freight and retail industries. Temando Customer Support is here to help and will do our very best to ensure that your enquiries are actioned as quickly as possible. We need your help to ensure that we are receiving all the information required to resolve any issues as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Before contacting Temando Customer Support, please ensure you have all details on hand:


  • Client ID
  • Carrier
  • Request ID
  • Consignment Number
  • Order Number
  • Booked Date
  • Has the item been collected? Y/N
  • Description of contents
  • Description of packaging
  • Photos (if package has been damaged)
  • Query/Comments
Temando Customer Support will lodge an enquiry / investigation with the carrier in question once all the information has been received (most carriers will not commence their investigation until all the required information has been received.)

We aim to make it as easy as possible to contact Temando Customer Support, and offer you the following channels:


Please note that our preferred method of contact is our Contact Form or email – this way, we can ensure we have all the required information and begin enquiries with the carrier in question before speaking with you.

You will receive a ticket number once you have submitted an enquiry. Please keep this on hand as it will be required whenever speaking to a Temando representative.

Temando Support is available Monday – Friday (excluding public holidays) between 8:00am – 6:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

Proof of Collection 

We highly recommend keeping a ‘Proof of Collection’ for all freight dispatched. This is simply a signed consignment note or drivers manifest. Having a signed document will help investigations should something go wrong and the driver hasn’t scanned the packages in upon collection.

ETA’s

Temando recommends that the ETA’s for the service being booked and the estimated arrival times of these bookings are double checked prior to dispatch.

Please remember that ETA’s refer to business days, excluding the day of collection. It may be worth adjusting your delivery times on your website for this time period so that you are meeting and exceeding your customers’ expectations.

All freight will be aimed to be delivered within the given ETA, however given the peak period, this may not always be possible. Our carrier partners ask that everyone remains patient and allow for extra transit time. Communication with your customers is vital, as is setting realistic expectations.

The Temando Support Team will be handling a high volume of enquiries daily and are unable to lodge enquiries for consignments that are still transiting within the ETA of the service booked. Please check the tracking and service ETA prior to getting in contact.

You can track your item via the Temando website, your Dashboard or directly with the carrier.

1. Tracking Page
Enter your request ID to obtain up-to-date tracking information for your shipment. The tracking feed is taken directly from the carriers - please contact our Support Team should the information be inaccurate.

2. Temando Dashboard
Log into your Dashboard to view your bookings. In the right-hand column, select ‘More options’ and ‘Track Booking’.

3. Carrier’s Website
Track your shipment directly on the carrier’s website. Simply enter the consignment number (not Temando booking number or Request ID) into their tracking tool:

Rebooking

Courier companies do not automatically rebook any missed collections for the next business day. Please keep an eye on your freight dispatches and if freight has been missed, please email support@temando.com with the relevant information. Temando will arrange to have your freight collected asap. Please note that collections will be made the following day unless we are informed prior to 1:30pm (metro areas only).

Courier drivers will be in high demand over this busy time - please ensure that all freight is packaged and labelled correctly and that someone will be available to pass the freight over to the driver on the day of collection.

It is also essential that all consignments are tracked and confirmed as ‘not collected’ prior to requesting a rebook.

PPU & Manifesting

If you are anticipating high volumes of freight dispatching from one location, we recommend arranging a Permanent Pick Up with your chosen carrier for the festive season.

A permanent pickup will ensure that your dispatch site has a dedicated driver and an allocated collection time. Please note that over the holiday period, your preferred pickup times may not be possible. If the courier cannot guarantee a dedicated driver to be at your location at your preferred time, a Temando representative will contact you directly to organize the next best option.

There are a few minimum requirements that must be met. All permanent pickup requests can take up to 7 (seven) business days to be put into effect.

Manifesting is also a way to streamline your processes and reduce administrative tasks – it is a way of consolidating bookings into one ‘manifest’ document for all or specific carriers prior to a scheduled permanent pick up. The process will also send through the booking data at once, rather than individual bookings. Manifesting can only be enabled by Temando IT through a request from the Sales Solution team. Please contact your Sales Solution Manager or support@temando.com for assistance

For further information and to request a PPU, please visit the link below:

Permanent Pick Up & Manifesting

Truck Sizing

Truck sizing must be taken into consideration when dispatching in large quantities in December.
Although carriers such as Couriers Please and Fastway will display quotes for your larger items, they won’t always take the quantities into consideration when dispatching a driver for collection. Their truck or van may be near full when they arrive to collect your items, resulting in an unsuccessful collection.

We recommend setting up a Permanent Pick Up if you’re planning on sending large quantities over the busy holiday period. Alternatively, please contact the Customer Support Team when you have placed your booking and we will work with your chosen carrier to ensure all your items are successfully collected.

Satchels

Please keep in mind all satchels are in high demand over the busy festive period!
To ensure you have enough supplies to dispatch your freight, please place all high volume satchels orders in November. This will ensure that the couriers can fulfil your order requirements and have your satchels sent to you in a timely manner.

Any request for satchels in December will be at the discretion of each carrier and delivery time frames are not guaranteed. Don’t be caught out - please submit your orders ASAP.
NB: Final satchel orders for 2014 must be received by 15th December. Any orders placed after this date will be processed in the New Year.

Order your satchels now.

Accounts

Temando’s Accounts Team are also very busy over the festive season; below are a few tips & tricks to ensure your Santa shipping credits don’t run out.

Direct Deposit

If you direct deposit money for credit on your Temando account please bear in mind it is only applied once received into our bank account. These transactions may take up to five business days and unfortunately even with a remittance, we are unable to apply the credit until it is in our account. Therefore, please ensure you deposit money prior to running out of credit to avoid being stuck with no credit.

Trade Accounts 

Please send through your office closure dates and payment cut offs for the holiday season to the Finance team (accounts@temando.com) as soon as you have finalized these.

Need to increase your limit over the holiday season? No problem! Contact our Accounts Team. Please note that increases are subject to standard credit procedures – please leave plenty of time for your increase to be approved.

From mid-December our accounts team will be operating on skeleton staff - please bear this in mind when lodging queries. We will endeavor to respond as soon as possible.

Insurance

Integrated Insurance Solutions are available throughout December, excluding public holidays. Please submit any insurance claims as per usual and they will be in processed as normal


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