Confessions of an Accidental Delivery Driver: Tableau Supply Chain Project

I never imagined I'd find myself delivering food, medicine, packages, toilets, penguins, or toilet paper... You name it, I delivered it! Racing against time to get packages to their destinations. Each delivery was a new adventure, filled with unexpected twists and turns. This experience sparked my curiosity about the larger world of supply chains and what causes delays. It turned out to be not just about traffic or weather, but so much more—like the hidden stories behind each transaction.

Confession

It was not the best way to start a year. I have to admit, I'm always a very happy person, but this was one of the lowest points of my life. I just had an amazing two years before this. We reached record high profit, closing millions of deals for clients. Easily pocketing 30-50K a month in deals with all the data I collected, analyzed, and systems I created. We had perfect credit, two brand new cars, bought real estate, helicopter rides, and Airbnb trips all from helping people recover money they didn't know they had. We helped people recover anywhere from $1,000 to $120,000 per person (I'll make a tableau on this so you can see, maybe you have some unclaimed funds that you didn't know about...)

I thought this was it!!! We made it!

The Struggle Begins

Boy was I wrong.. long story short, we ran out of business funding. We lost our best closer and it took too long to find and train another. I finally threw in the towel and got back to work the traditional way. I knew that if I wanted to continue our business we needed more funding, but in the mean time we needed income to pay our regular bills.

So at first I started applying everywhere. I had no idea how much the job market had changed. I did not understand how I could not find work after working at Apple for 7 years, along with the career I had. It made no sense to me.

What happened? Why was no one calling me? This was a very humbling experience to say the least...

Suck It Up, Buttercup

I sucked it up and started DoorDashing, but it was around the holidays so there wasn't much available work. So I did what any mom would do to provide for their family, I chose pizza delivery. I knew I could get a job immediately with this route. Who wouldn't want to deliver pizzas and make a $100+ a night or so just working a few hours. I told myself I could finish up my masters while I'm working part-time. That was the plan... The Indeed post about making $25-$35 an hour was appealing so I jumped right on it. I called, got an interview the next day, and was hired to work almost immediately on New Year's Eve.

The Not So Great Pizza Life

At that point, I was just happy to get a job, ANY job. Funds were really low. I didn't know how I was going to keep the cars, keep the house, and put food on the table. So I took the job and tried to be the light at the workplace despite what was really going on. During this time, I learned a lot about the delivery industry. I knew almost immediately the business problems of this specific location by observing, reading the reviews, and tracking trends and patterns. I let them know I was a data science student and I could help, but they weren't interested... too bad. The solution to their problem was just quoting a longer time for the orders during rush hour. That would have solved one major problem. Pizza delivery did not last long. My nail beds got weak from being a human dishwasher and my new car smell started smelling like a dumpster.

Promotion to Medical and Package Delivery

After a couple months, I moved up to the next tier medical courier delivery. The pay was decent. It was less runs, but I was adding 500 or more miles a day on my car. Ouch...no thanks. Another downside, you have to be very careful with how you handle delivery of pharmacy especially narcotics. You must go from point A to point B and not make any other stops with pharmacy. Also, waiting for a nurse in the middle of the night was the worse thing that could happen to you. Around the same time, I received a message to start package delivery and jumped at the opportunity.

$300 a day Makes the Bills go Away...Most of Them

I saw a job posting on Indeed about making $300 a day. Yes, I want that, I need that!!! I worked at several different logistic companies, and learned a lot about all the different delivery exceptions that could possibly happen with different delivery industries. I started observing and comparing them deciding which one was best for my situation.

Why so Late?

Example of some delivery exceptions could be: mislabeled apartment buildings and apartment numbers or missing numbers all together. No real pattern of how the apartment buildings are placed near each other, and if it's dark outside... forget it!! If the lighting is terrible and the apartment building numbers are small, there is no way you are delivering. I learned that if I wanted to get 100% delivery, so I could get paid my full check, I needed to deliver all my apartments before dark everyday. One, because during the day there is more traffic going into the apartment so it's easy to tailgate through gates. The office is normally open, and they usually let you in if you are dressed like a delivery driver. I also used this same logic at business locations.

Fit in and Never Lose a Package, I Mean Never!

I learned about delivery to busy locations and rough neighborhoods. I started learning all the different neighborhoods, remembering gate codes, and learning the leasing office employees names. I learned Austin, all areas and surrounding. I have a fairly new car so when I delivered in the beautiful upper middle class, I washed my car so I fit in with the neighborhood. You'll get less mean or suspicious looks that way. When I was delivering in the rougher neighborhoods, I kept my car dirty. I didn't want it to be too shiny and attract attention. The last thing I wanted was to be robbed of my packages. Losing one was enough, a $60 deduction. It was enough to make you cry when your check came.

Traffic Patterns, Overcoming Gate Keepers and More...

Some other things you may face: learning to deliver around rush hour, trying to deliver strategically, find creative out of the box thinking to get items delivered when you don't have a gate code, finding alternative routes when you can't get through due to xyz. Having two phones, and a GPS (Garmin) so you don't get lost. A/B split testing text messages to see which would get the customer to respond better so I could deliver their package. Avoiding pet attacks by having the door slightly opened in case I needed to hurry and run back in.

Never Stop Learning and Growing...Attitude is Everything!

During this time, I never stopped learning. I knew I didn't want to do this forever. This was just temporary. While on runs, I was studying to be a data scientist. Talking to my mentors on zooms while delivering, listening to Youtube videos, lectures, lessons, listening to coding, podcasts, data interviews, focusing on a positive mindset despite my current situation. Everything I could possibly learn by audio, I was doing. I figured while I'm learning to be the best delivery driver I could be and everything about the logistics industry, I could upskill and get the dream job I always wanted.

Why THIS Project?

This is why I decided to do this project. Had I not experienced this humbling time, I would not know anything about the logistics industry. I met some amazing people and I got out of my shy introverted phase. This experience helped me communicate better with everyone. I can tell you first hand all the different delivery exceptions one could face with my domain knowledge. I worked at so many different logistic companies that I could easily compare their processes and challenges and tell you which one you might like working at based on your situation. For this project, I wanted to dive deeper into the world of logistics and understand the business challenges that lead to delays in deliveries with my knowledge. It’s interesting how much we rely on efficient delivery systems, and I felt this was a great opportunity to shed light on the issues that often go unnoticed.

What Readers Will Gain:

By reading this article, you'll learn about the common pitfalls in the delivery process, surprising insights from real customer data, and what strategies can be implemented to minimize delays. I’ll share the stories behind the numbers and what they reveal about the challenges faced in the supply chain industry.

Key Takeaways:

• Over 11,500 transactions resulted in a loss of $100 or more up to $4,000.
• 103,400 out of the 180,519 were delivered late.
• A staggering 57.28% of orders were delivered late, 6,983 were 4 day late.
• The regions with the highest number of late deliveries were in Central America, Western Europe and South America.
• Some of the most delayed items were also top selling items.

Dataset Details:

The data I used for this project was sourced from the DataCo Global website. With 180,520 rows and 53 columns, it captures a vast array of customer transactions—180,519 unique ones, to be exact. This made it a perfect dataset for exploring the complexities of late deliveries and profit losses.

Analysis Process:

I began the analysis by cleaning and organizing the data, ensuring accuracy for a clearer picture. I used Excel to create some necessary columns, and Tableau to visualize the findings. For instance, my scatterplot highlighted a profit anomaly of nearly -$4,000 for a single order. Some late deliveries surprised me; despite the delays, many customers remained loyal repeat buyers. This led me to wonder the reasons behind customer loyalty even with delivery delays and the reason behind these strange Anomalies.

Visuals, Insights and Recommendations:

Here’s a sneak peek into some of the visuals I created:

1. Scatterplot of Profit Anomalies: This chart shows the extreme losses on certain orders, revealing underlying issues like pricing or fulfillment errors, or could it be something else? I would recommend having conversations with the person entering this data to see what they believe is the reason there are so many losses? I would also check the logs to see who entered the data for the 4-7 outliers in the negative section to see if those are possibly typos or another issue that may need forensic financial analysis.

2. Bar Chart of Late Deliveries by Region: This confirms that Central America, Western America, and South America are the most affected areas. This could be due to higher population density or logistical challenges in these regions. I would recommend quoting customers longer time frames for these areas. Quote at least 2 days longer to help alleviate some losses in refunds or discounts for delayed shipment. I would investigate the Standard Class shipment and First Class specifically in San Salvador. I would also focus on first and second class shipping modes in Lima, and last Standard Class and Second Class in Western Europe. The delays are only 1 day late on average. Since it's happening with all of the carriers in San Salvador, I would recommend quoting longer shipping times in this area, or at least have a disclosure about shipping at checkout for these Top 3 locations.

3. Heatmap of Top Selling Products: This visual shows which items are popular to keep track of inventory management on best-sellers.

4. Bar Chart of Top Products Late: This chart indicates a pattern among specific products that fail to meet delivery timelines, and may require strategic adjustments. As you can see, most items on this list are also top selling. This could potentially be an inventory issue. I would look at the numbers to see if there is enough product available to ship out on time. The inventory totals were not available in this dataset.

5. Time Series - Line Chart of Products: This is important for understanding seasonal impacts on deliveries and planning for peak times. Looking at this, I would research if weather has something to do with the delivery as the heat could impact delivery times. I only included the top 3 as an example, but I would recommend setting alerts for sudden spikes. Had there been alerts set for Perfect Fitness Perfect Rip Deck Product for January, March, September of 2015, those issues could have been prevented, if caught early on. Since it was not caught, history repeat itself in 2016. I would also look deeper into what happened in May 2016. Sadly, the pattern continued in 2017 and led to the downfall which you see at the end.

Main Takeaways:

Reflecting on my findings, I realized that late deliveries are often influenced by multiple factors like geographic challenges, customer demand, and internal processes. The numbers reveal a story of how essential it is to fine-tune logistics and manage customer expectations. For businesses, addressing these delays is crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and overall profitability.

Conclusion and Personal Reflections

This project not only deepened my understanding of the logistics world, but also taught me to approach life's challenges with a positive attitude. Had I not gone through this experience, I would not have the opportunities I have today. Delivery business is also a great way to make income while you're applying and looking for work in this market. I was making close to $1,000 or more every week, was able to provide for my family, and learn a brand new industry. So if you are also facing this same challenge, look up logistics delivery jobs, and that will help alleviate some financial woes. This experience also helped me get over being shy and introverted. Delivering forces you to talk to strangers, because you interact with so many people everyday, and sometimes that's the only way you'll be able to deliver. I faced hurdles while learning about the logistics world hands-on, but each obstacle turned into an opportunity to learn and grow. This journey has reshaped my perspective on the supply chain, and has influenced my aspirations in the field of data analysis.

Call To Action

I would love to hear your thoughts! Connect with me on LinkedIn, or if you or someone you know is looking to hire a data analyst, let’s talk! Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts or questions.