How Often Should You Check on Your Delivery Drivers?

Jul 1, 2018Fleet Blog

Whether you run a fleet of courier drivers, operate a private hire firm or run a food delivery service, there are a lot of things to think about. From truck fleet insurance, to servicing and maintaining your vehicles, there’s a lot to be worrying about before we even get to your drivers. It can be unnerving having your fleet of drivers out there without being able to find out how their deliveries are going or whether they are on time. When your business depends on the reliability of other people then it can be difficult to let go and not try and micro-manage the situation.

Giving your drivers room to manoeuvre

There is definitely such a thing as monitoring your delivery drivers too closely. If you are on the phone to them every five minutes, checking in on every delivery then you are more than likely to delay your drivers as they deal with your call and find the information you want rather than delivering the goods they have. Constant phone calls and check-ins will simply add time on to each delivery resulting in delayed drivers and unhappy customers.

Constant checking up on your drivers will also only serve to demotivate them and make them feel as though you do not trust them to get on with the job. Demoralised drivers don’t strive to do their best and so you will begin to see a dip in performance and you may find your drivers leave your employment as nobody likes to be micro-managed.

So how often should you check-in?

It is not unreasonable for your drivers to expect that you will want to be kept up to date with how their deliveries are going so unless they have spoken to you first, you may want to call for an update roughly half-way through their shift. This way you can get an update as to how far through their deliveries they are, and you can keep other customers in the loop if your driver is running slightly behind schedule. Your customers will value being kept updated and this will help to relieve some of the stress on your drivers who are striving to keep to deadlines.

If you receive a call from a customer however about a late or missing delivery, then definitely call your driver for an update. It may be that they have encountered a traffic issue or are running late and have not had chance to call you themselves. A fully informed client is much less likely to complain should their delivery arrive later than planned.

If you must keep track of your delivery drivers, then you may want to invest in a tracking system which will give you real-time information regarding the location of your driver. Trackers also often help to lower your fleet insurance costs too as well as helping you to keep up to date with your delivery drivers without driving them round the bend.