A Q&A with Santa, and Fleet Manager Mrs Claus, of North Pole Inc
We all know the importance of being in the right place at the right time. We've been told it a thousand times over. In the courier and haulage business, you hear people talking about how they got a nice long job, and then another one comes in collecting nearby and going in the same direction. "It was my lucky day - being paid twice for at least some of the miles driven!"
But then there's the flip side - the day when you aren't so lucky and you find yourself running back empty, counting the miles and the cost. It's fair to say that luck is part and parcel of life, but it is also one of the most misunderstood and under appreciated factors in business.
A good way of understanding and appreciating what luck means to a business is to think about it like this.
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
The question for you to answer is what can you do to prepare? What do you need to know, what must you be able to do, and what will make it easier to get the job done? What can you do to help the opportunity find you? If you're looking for extra work, try not to look in the wrong places, right?
Technology, for example, can turn chance into success, as illustrated by the first ever vehicle tracking integration with a web-based courier and haulage network, which is helping businesses eliminate empty running and wasted capacity.
The integration works by allowing operators to utilise their vehicle tracking system to promote available capacity and match precise vehicle locations with tens of thousands of loads posted on the freight exchange. In addition, by taking advantage of the live vehicle tracking data integration, trading partners will also be able to view the whereabouts and progress of their loads whilst in transit, thereby adding to the confidence and service levels between the contracting parties.
"This is about how technology can turn chance into success in an industry that often relies on luck to get back loads," said John Adams, operations manager at Blue Whale Logistics, who pulled around 40 new jobs in the first month of integrating their Navman Wireless vehicle tracking solution with Courier Exchange.
"In the courier and haulage business, you hear people talking about how they got a nice long job, and then another one comes in collecting nearby and going in the same direction. That is the element of luck," Adams said. "But if you are a courier and haulage business that is not fully utilising your fleet capacity, using vehicle tracking with the freight exchange platform is a much easier and more reliable way to make sure you are in the right place at the right time."