When you think of a road courier, you may think of the Australia Post delivery drivers who deliver all items that don’t fit in a post box. But road couriers work for a huge number of freight companies. You might think you see delivery drivers everywhere and you’re not wrong. They are everywhere. Deliveries by road courier have skyrocketed in the past few years, with a lot of the reason being the introduction of online shopping.
Retail Sees Increase in Competition
Road couriers were perhaps seen as more of a luxury back in the day, due to the exorbitant prices of having something delivered door to door. But with the increase in goods being transported both interstate throughout Australia, as well as internationally, a standard freight quote has become substantially cheaper in recent years.
There is quite simply an enormous amount of competition out there, not least in the retail sector – where the costs of having the product delivered directly to a customer – is often covered or at least subsidized by the store selling the item. Free shipping, or free shipping for any items of the value of a certain dollar figure are phrases commonly seen on websites.
Higher Expectations for an Attractive Freight Quote
With the increase in competition comes higher expectation from customers as well. Australia does lag somewhat behind Europe in terms of delivery times, but even this is improving, also in rural parts of Australia where up until recently, delivery times for products purchased by people in regional towns have been dismal, to put it mildly. Take Germany which has a phenomenal network of roads criss-crossing the entire country as an example. Its not uncommon for goods purchased online to be delivered to a customer’s door that same afternoon. Such is the high standard of delivery.
Drawbacks for Road Couriers in Australia
In many ways it is not surprising that delivery times in Australia are not better than they are. If you think about the sheer distance road couriers have to cover in a day, it shouldn’t be too hard to realize why delivery times aren’t always as impressive as what they may be when road couriers are simply delivering something within the metropolitan boundaries of a capital city.
Another reason why delivery times are not as competitive as what they might be in Europe is due to the population size. A cheap and fast freight quote that stores in Europe may be able to offer due to the sheer volume of orders being processed on a daily basis might not be matched in Australia due to the relatively small population we have compared to Europe.
Road Couriers in Traffic
One advantage road couriers have is that being in a marked delivery vehicle gives them the privilege of parking in loading zones and delivery bays. This is obviously to save them time and enable them to deliver their goods within close proximity of their final destination. While the rest of us may spend precious minutes search for a parking spot in the central business district, a road courier is spared that frustrating hunt for a place to park, and the only competition they have for these loading zones are fellow road couriers.
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