In these last years, couriers have done for shipping and mailing what the mobile phone has done for communication. The postal service had to take a good hard long look at its way of operating if it wanted to stay alive with all these couriers operating efficiently and sometimes more cheaply than your local post office. But I think, like all service sectors, once the number of players increases, regulation gets harder and the fly-by-night guys come in and set up their franchises everywhere with an easily copied logo and a desk and some tape, and you have yourself a whole new Pandora’s box of trouble.
We always found The Professional Couriers(TPC) to be reliable in many cities we had lived in. That familiar logo of the plane heading east was a source of assurance. But not so anymore. For many months now, I have been noticing that TPC couriers are rude, careless and are leaving behind these cards, asking customers to come by their office to pick up their consignments at very inconvenient and narrow timeframes like one hour windows during peak working and traffic hours. When asked, the courier agents say they tried to deliver once but as the customer was not in the office or at home, they will not come to deliver again. Even the post office leaves a card three times and gives the entire day for pickup. But not TPC.
Complaints have been repeatedly lodged but they serve no purpose. And the other day, we watched as this TPC courier fellow brought these parcels up, dropped several of them, got angry, threw some of them aside and then dumped the biggest one on the ground and picked up and flung the smaller ones on the big one. How many of us will stop and open a package to check the contents if we have already paid online or are being sent something, if the package itself does not APPEAR to have been tampered with? So, briefly, some points of caution:
1) Avoid TPC whenever possible. Especially if you are dealing with financial considerations of any kind.
2) Make sure that your phone number and the receiver’s phone number are clearly given along with name, address, PIN CODE etc. Check if the receiver is in a position to physically receive the consignment once it reaches the destination.
3) Inform the receiver that you have dispatched something from your side using TPC(if you dare) or other service and expect it reach them in x days.
4) Keep all CCTV cameras etc in working condition in lobbies, store fronts etc to record the comings and goings of all couriers and others passing by.
5) Complain twice but change quickly if the courier service you use does not pay any heed to your complaint. Nowadays, even the postal service is doing a good job, try them.
BUT BEWARE OF THE PROFESSIONAL COURIERS.