Of 'Mrs' and 'Misses'

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” - An old proverb

Mrs. & Mr. M are neighbours with Mrs. & Mr. T. 

It was Valentine’s week. Mr. M ordered a lovely dress for Mrs. M and was more excited than ever about the lovely surprise he had planned. Since he cared too much about the surprise element, he refrained from checking with his wife if a shipment arrived. 

Valentine’s day arrived. 

Mr. T(the neighbour) was in for a pleasant surprise when his loving wife, in a lovely dress, greeted him and couldn’t stop thanking him enough(read as blushing). The only problem was the fit. It was a bit too loose for her and yet Mrs. T wouldn’t make a big deal out of it considering that her husband was thoughtful enough to order such a lovely dress(that wouldn’t fit her). 

Mr. T was confused and flummoxed as he hadn’t ordered anything. However, by confessing the truth, he’d be in for serious trouble. To come out with the truth would be crash landing himself between the devil and the deep sea, Never mess with the missus on V-day especially in gifting matters. This was a lesson he had learnt long ago. 

When they both stepped out, Mr. M was in for a rude shock when he saw the lovely dress he had ordered being worn by the neighbour's wife. He dreaded to imagine how his wife was going to react to a no-gift-on-V-day situation! 

Now, what had happened is a classic case of ecommerce mis-delivery! 

Whether he entered the address incorrectly forgetting the name or the delivery vendor put a wrong label at the backend or whatever had transpired, the outcome was a comedy of errors. A small slip at the operations side could lead to such awkward situations especially when the volumes surge during festival season! We’ve all been there and have that one t-shirt that we got in error but decided to keep it. One man’s disappointment is another man’s celebration. The ways of the world are far beyond our comprehension! 

This situation ended lightly. Imagine a courier vendor delivering a wrong sample of blood at the wrong time at the wrong place! It could have literally dreadfully deadly outcomes. Imagine the wrong chemical truck reaching the wrong leg of the factory! It could have awfully deadly effects too. 

Can this be dismissed as a rare hypothetical possibility which exists in a fictional world? Not really! Logistics operations are constantly known to be largely scattered, unorganised and siloed. The chances of things going wrong are more likely than the chances of things going right. 

So, what is the solution to avoid fiascos irrespective of their magnitudes being light-heartedly insignificant or of epic proportions? Having the right bells and whistles in place is the key to ensure a chain reaction of errors don’t occur. 

Here are 4 things that ensure a hassle-free and error-free logistics process execution in the delivery context: 

1. Personalization of deliveries - Avoids the problem of mis-delivery to a great extent. With extensive ways to customize and personalize it, chances of identity errors at the time of delivery. 
2. Address intelligence - This will cut down misdelivered shipments to a great extent by finding the right location for delivery even when the format is inconsistent. 
3. Automating proof of delivery - When the customer is needed to sign an electronic proof of delivery, there is a fairer chance of detecting an incorrect delivery and this could cut down the possibility of a wrong delivery made. 
4. Real-time tracking to customers - If Mr. M had the option to track the delivery in real-time, there could have existed a possibility of early detection. Providing an option to track deliveries as they happen can be one of the ways to mis-deliveries. 

To learn more about how you can achieve these, click here.