It’s likely that you’ve spent a lot of time and resources building an all-encompassing routed delivery operation. But as your business has grown, you’ve probably experienced setbacks, especially in recent years: clogged supply chains, increased consumer demand, and a backlog of orders and deliveries. Your inventory sits in warehouses and distribution centers while trucks idle, and strained capacity continues to make headlines in the transportation industry.

As you face these challenges, it might be time to think about supplementing your current operation with an experienced third-party delivery partner. Following are some ways in which such entities can give you back time and resources, while tackling the main logistics component.

They provide alternative capacity. Hiring an established company to plan your routed delivery strategy means you don’t need to hire more drivers for your vehicles or fleet. The hiring process can be time-consuming and potentially delay the process of getting trucks onto the road, due to the limited capacity that’s currently available. 

A third party can provide dedicated, professional capacity for the retailer. These professional drivers and haulers have already been vetted and background-checked, provide their own vehicles, and are ready to assist with delivery and hauling needs right out of the gate.

They provide trucks. Purchasing your own trucks or fleet as a retailer can cost a pretty penny. On top of that, owning your own fleet requires a place to store all the trucks, and putting resources toward building out teams for vehicle maintenance, fuel expenses, insurance, and more.

Working with a third-party vendor, by contrast, provides a way to tap into unique capacity that owns vehicles and wants to use them for work. From pickup trucks to cargo vans to box trucks, you’ll have a ready fleet on hand to supplement your current operations no matter the delivery situation. What’s more, you don’t have to worry about additional vehicle maintenance or fuel costs.

They handle insurance. Insurance isn’t sexy, but it’s necessary to protect your drivers, vehicles, and products. When working with a final-mile delivery partner to handle your routed delivery strategy, you shouldn’t have to worry about additional insurance. A good partner will sweat those details, providing some sort of damage protection program and commercial liability insurance, as well as occupational insurance for their drivers.

They manage growth. An experienced final-mile delivery partner knows how to effectively manage and scale as your business expands, including how to integrate into your current routed delivery operations and help you optimize quickly. As your company grows and continues to evolve, connect with a partner that not only has the capacity to handle this increase, but also offers the knowledge needed to adjust your delivery strategy swiftly and efficiently as your needs change.

If you own a retail company, you know that having a secure routed delivery strategy can help elevate your delivery process and customer service. Working with a third-party delivery partner, you can optimize and simplify your operation in ways that will drastically improve or supplement your current service, speed up delivery times, and boost customer satisfaction.

Jay Sackos is a vice president at Dolly.

It’s likely that you’ve spent a lot of time and resources building an all-encompassing routed delivery operation. But as your business has grown, you’ve probably experienced setbacks, especially in recent years: clogged supply chains, increased consumer demand, and a backlog of orders and deliveries. Your inventory sits in warehouses and distribution centers while trucks idle, and strained capacity continues to make headlines in the transportation industry.

As you face these challenges, it might be time to think about supplementing your current operation with an experienced third-party delivery partner. Following are some ways in which such entities can give you back time and resources, while tackling the main logistics component.

They provide alternative capacity. Hiring an established company to plan your routed delivery strategy means you don’t need to hire more drivers for your vehicles or fleet. The hiring process can be time-consuming and potentially delay the process of getting trucks onto the road, due to the limited capacity that’s currently available. 

A third party can provide dedicated, professional capacity for the retailer. These professional drivers and haulers have already been vetted and background-checked, provide their own vehicles, and are ready to assist with delivery and hauling needs right out of the gate.

They provide trucks. Purchasing your own trucks or fleet as a retailer can cost a pretty penny. On top of that, owning your own fleet requires a place to store all the trucks, and putting resources toward building out teams for vehicle maintenance, fuel expenses, insurance, and more.

Working with a third-party vendor, by contrast, provides a way to tap into unique capacity that owns vehicles and wants to use them for work. From pickup trucks to cargo vans to box trucks, you’ll have a ready fleet on hand to supplement your current operations no matter the delivery situation. What’s more, you don’t have to worry about additional vehicle maintenance or fuel costs.

They handle insurance. Insurance isn’t sexy, but it’s necessary to protect your drivers, vehicles, and products. When working with a final-mile delivery partner to handle your routed delivery strategy, you shouldn’t have to worry about additional insurance. A good partner will sweat those details, providing some sort of damage protection program and commercial liability insurance, as well as occupational insurance for their drivers.

They manage growth. An experienced final-mile delivery partner knows how to effectively manage and scale as your business expands, including how to integrate into your current routed delivery operations and help you optimize quickly. As your company grows and continues to evolve, connect with a partner that not only has the capacity to handle this increase, but also offers the knowledge needed to adjust your delivery strategy swiftly and efficiently as your needs change.

If you own a retail company, you know that having a secure routed delivery strategy can help elevate your delivery process and customer service. Working with a third-party delivery partner, you can optimize and simplify your operation in ways that will drastically improve or supplement your current service, speed up delivery times, and boost customer satisfaction.

Jay Sackos is a vice president at Dolly.