Failed delivery and redelivery calls
A redelivery costs you a second journey for revenue you already earned, and the call that arranges it is usually the least pleasant one of your day. It is also the one where the difference between good and bad handling shows up directly in your costs.
Why these calls start badly
Because the customer often disputes the premise. "Attempted delivery" is the phrase that starts more arguments in this industry than any other — they were in, they heard nothing, and now a card says otherwise. Whether or not a genuine attempt was made, the call begins with somebody who feels they have been told an untruth, and opening with a defence of the driver guarantees the next ten minutes.
What to capture, in order
Reference, name, address. Everything else is unusable without it.
Not "when would you like it" — a window they will genuinely be there for. This is the single field that determines whether the second attempt also fails.
Offered explicitly. Most people have one and will not think to mention it.
Buzzer code, gate, which door, the dog. The reason a delivery failed is frequently in this field and nobody asked.
So the driver can ring on approach, which prevents more failed deliveries than anything else on this list.
Rebook on the call, do not promise a callback
A redelivery arranged during the conversation is finished. A promise that "the depot will be in touch" produces a second call tomorrow from somebody now considerably less patient, and often a third. Every one of those costs you a call to handle and costs them more goodwill than the original failure did.
The economics nobody calculates
A failed delivery costs a journey, the call arranging the redelivery, the redelivery journey itself, and some quantity of goodwill with the retailer whose customer this actually is. Against that, the thirty seconds spent asking for access details on the first booking is free. Most repeat failures are caused by information that was never collected rather than by anything a driver did.
Frequently asked
Because the customer often disputes the premise. "Attempted delivery" starts more arguments than any phrase in the industry — they were in and heard nothing, and now a card says otherwise.
The consignment reference first, a window they will genuinely be in for, a safe place or neighbour, access details like buzzer codes and gates, and a mobile the driver can ring on approach.
Always, if you can. "The depot will be in touch" produces a second call tomorrow from someone less patient, and often a third.
Usually information nobody collected — access details, a working mobile, a realistic window — rather than anything the driver did.