Working At A Courier Company In Singapore – My Past Experience

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I have worked at a courier / logistics company in Singapore for the past 10 years of my life, being a courier to being a customer service officer, and then a manager. It’s been full of ups and downs, but never a dull day. But first of all, let us start from the day where I was a courier / deliveryman, as that is where I first started my career in the courier industry.

Life as a courier

I was a part time student at Singapore Poly when I wanted to earn some extra pocket change, otherwise my parents only gave me $200 per month, barely enough for me to eat, much less go out. Therefore, I had to work, and I had a motorbike, so I figured that the best way to defray my expenditures was to be a deliveryman of sorts, so that at least I could pay for my food as well as for my motorbike sustaining costs. As a courier, I had to pick up and deliver items all around Singapore. Thankfully, as I was rather experienced in travelling around Singapore, being a courier was a relative breeze since I did not need to worry about finding out the routes using GPS e.t.c. as I knew most of the routes and places by memory.  I was a courier for 6 months before graduating from poly and joined the admin side as a customer service officer.

Life as a customer service officer

Just like any customer service officer, I dealt with all kinds of people. As you have guessed it already, weird people, cool people, stupid people, I have faced it all in the 4 years I was a customer service officer at a local courier company in Singapore.

Most customers are pretty reasonable, unlike what I’ve heard from friends who have worked at Starhub or SingTel. Thankfully. There are a few absurd customers, but they’re quite rare in reality.

After 4 years as a customer service staff, I was finally promoted to operations manager.

Life as an operations manager

As an operations manager, I have to overlook sales, our couriers as well as the customer service officer. It’s more of an overseeing job. As a courier, sometimes I don’t see the full picture. This is also the case for a customer service job. However, once I became the operations manager, I understood and found it so satisfying on why we should always focus on customer service. The entire industry had been focusing so much on prices that I think there’s a severe lack in this area.

Alright, so the above is my experience of my 10 years which I spent in the courier industry – what about you? Do you have any comments? Let me know!

PS If you’re intending to join the courier industry, a few good courier companies you may want to look at includes http://www.pcamasters.com/,  http://ixpress647.com/.

Singapore Parcel & Documents deliveries – Who To Use?

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There are companies that specialize in parcel deliveries in Singapore like Regent, while there are other courier companies that specialize mostly in document deliveries like Network Courier. Now, there are also companies like PCA Masters which specialize in both – parcels and documents deliveries! Isn’t that a dream come true?

I personally recommend that you search for and work with a courier company in Singapore that actually provides and specializes in both parcel and document deliveries. This is because some courier companies which specialize in document deliveries may only have riders and bikers and hence they may not be able to pick up parcels of any kind. This means that for parcel deliveries and document courier services, you need to find different companies. What a heck lot of hassles if you were to ask me. I use a courier company for convenience, not because I want more work for myself.

Therefore, I think that the best courier service Singapore are those provided by companies which are capable of performing small to very large deliveries (e.g. those that require vans or lorries). Even though they may be slightly more expensive for some of these services, they’re cheaper on others, and overall, they are a better choice as they provide me with lots of convenience – which is what a courier company and service should be really about.

There are only a few companies in Singapore which provide such all rounded courier services, and I highly recommend you use either one of them:

  • PCA Masters Pte. Ltd.
  • DHL Express (Singapore) Pte Ltd
  • Federal Express (s) Pte Ltd

PCA Masters, DHL Express and Federal Express provides some of the best courier services in Singapore, and I always trust them with my packages without having to worry about anything. They’re basically my one-stop courier company that I know most of my friends and I in Singapore use for local deliveries. In my opinion, the most important things that a courier company must do is to provide trusted convenience, and the three companies above certainly do that very well.

Engage Courier Services Or Hire A Deliveryman?

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There are increasingly many small medium enterprises in Singapore which need to deliver goods to their customers as a result of the Internet boom and their E-commerce businesses. Therefore, a common growth concern is whether their business should raise or invest money to lease a vehicle and hire an in house deliveryman for these delivery jobs or to engage external courier services in Singapore.

For this discussion’s sake, we will assume that sales for the company is $20,000 with the average product’s price being $50. This means that the company needs to deliver 400 items per month. Let us also assume that profits (before taking into account the deliveries) is approximately $4,000 (or a 20% profit margin).

If you were to lease a van in Singapore, it would cost you approximately $1,300 to $1,800 a month, and if you were to include the petrol expenses, it would run up to about $2,200 a month. The average salaries of a in house deliveryman for companies run in Singapore is about $1,800 and about $2,300 with CPF payments too. At the very minimum you would need to fork out about $4,500 per month for hiring an in house deliveryman for the deliveries. Assuming 22 working days in a month, the deliveryman would need to deliver to approximately 18 locations a day. Your net profit for the month would be negative (you would actually be making a loss). You would need approximately 450 items sold per month before you can break even. This is a ridiculous amount of money to be spending just for deliveries!

On the other hand, if you were to engage courier services, it would be approximately $6 per delivery. This would mean that you would only be investing $2,400 a month for 400 deliveries! In addition, most courier companies would give discounts for delivery volumes above 100. Engaging courier services is so much more financially sensible than hiring your own deliveryman in Singapore.

What constitutes a quality delivery service?

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In the logistics industry, most companies compete on price. Only a handful of logistics companies in Singapore compete on quality. PCA Masters (pcamasters.com) is one such logistics company that emphasize a lot on delivery quality. What exactly constitutes a quality delivery service?

A quality delivery service must contain these 3 components – timely delivery, safe delivery, and excellent customer service.

Every deliveries must be timely. There is a deadline to every delivery. Customers expect the deliveries to be carried out within the deadline. Most of the time, customers pay extra for tighter deadlines. It will not be fair to them if the deliveries are carried out late. Apart from monetary reasons, some customers will need the deliveries to be carried out within the deadline because they will need to have the items delivered to the recipient urgently! There may be several reasons for this tight deadline – recipients not available after the delivery deadline, there needs to be an action performed on the items by the recipients within the delivery deadline, and etc. The ability to fulfill deliveries promptly is an absolute test of the logistics companies’ quality service.

Logistics companies must also ensure that the deliveries are all carried out safely. It is also a basic expectation from customers that their items must be delivered in the original condition to the recipients. If this cannot be done, no customers will want to hand over their items to logistics companies. If the items are fragile or require special attention, the deliveryman should take appropriate actions to secure the items, such as placing the items inside boxes, and fastening them.

Excellent customer service also affect the quality of the delivery service. The logistics industry is selling a service – logistical service. For all types of service, it is generally expected from the customers that the vendor is to provide satisfactory customer service. The deliveryman should take over the items from the sender and hand over the items to the recipients with a good attitude. Furthermore, the deliveryman should be able to answer any queries the customers may have during their interactions.

Apart from these 3 components, one frequently missed out factor is the customer support service. Just because customer support service does not fall within the delivery operations, it does not mean that it will not affect customers’ impression of the delivery process. Whenever there are any issues with the deliveries, customers will call up the customer support team to inquire about the latest updates and solutions to their problems. Customers expect the customer support team to answer their queries fast, with the right solutions. This will assure customers that the logistics company has a sound operation to carry out the deliveries and update customers appropriately.

Finding Singapore logistics company for E-Commerce delivery

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As an E-Commerce business owner, you will have to manage a huge array of things. From the company strategic directions down to the operational details, you will need to attend to them to make sure that everyone goes smoothly. One big operational decision is to find a logistics company in Singapore to handle your E-Commerce distribution.

In business, it is always good to have partners to take care of the things you are not good at. Deliveries are not E-Commerce businesses’ core competencies. The logistics portion is just an add-on service to their main service of providing cheap and good products. Competitive advantage is achieved mainly through their products. For example, they may have an exclusive right to distribute a certain product in Singapore. Otherwise, they may have a way to decrease the product costs through negotiations with their suppliers. Adhering to the saying that you should concentrate on your strengths, E-Commerce businesses should focus on making their products seem more valuable to their customers. Moreover, they should also think about the future opportunities and expansions for their businesses. Logistics operations should ideally be outsourced to a reliable logistics company. In most cases, the logistics company will be able to offer you a price that you cannot beat even if you carry out the logistics operations in-house! That’s how great the economies of scale are for logistics companies.

Now that you know it makes more operational and financial sense for you to outsource your deliveries to an external logistics company, you will need to find one that will fulfill your delivery profiles.

For instance, do you need the deliveries to be carried out on the same day, next day or within 2 working days? There are different types of courier services in Singapore. Moreover, do you require the deliveries to be carried out within a specific timeslot to customers or if they can be delivered to customers anytime of the day? Another consideration is whether your customers will prefer weekend delivery service too. Most logistics companies in Singapore only operates on the weekdays.

Different logistics company will operate differently and have different value propositions. Compare their value proposition and determine the one that will suit your requirements the most.

Comparing Quality Of Singapore Courier Companies

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There are more than a handful of courier companies in Singapore, but there only are a few courier companies which are really good in my opinion. The following are top courier companies in Singapore and this post is a review about these delivery services companies and their quality of courier services.

  1. PCA Masters

PCA Masters is a company that does both bike and van delivery services in Singapore. Having used them before, I found that their service was very efficient and their couriers were really friendly as well when they picked up the item I wanted to get delivered from me. They were well on time, which is great because I have used companies which were not punctual and that is very unprofessional. PCA Masters however exceed my expectations. Anyway, on top of the courier services, they also provide E-commerce logistics. However, I shall not review about their E-commerce logistic services because I have personally never used their E-commerce distribution services before. Overall, I would have to say that they are certainly one of the most well-rounded delivery services company in Singapore as not many companies which offer courier services also specialize in mass distribution services (e.g. the E-commerce goods deliveries and logistics matters).

2. Regent

If you need van deliveries or you only want documents to be delivered via vans (for whatever reason), then Regent is your go to choice. They provide van deliveries and that is their main specialty. There are some people who want to deliver everything via vans only in Singapore, and if you want that too, Regent will help you achieve just that. If you have small furniture to move such as a small coffee table, then Regent might be a good choice for you.

3. Speedpost

If you don’t mind having next day or next 2 days delivery, then I would recommend Speedpost to you. Their same day and urgent deliveries are really expensive, but their next 2 days delivery is really cheap. Most courier companies only offer same day or next day and at higher prices than Speedpost’s next 2 days delivery. Therefore, if prices are your only concern and you are in no hurry to get your item(s) delivered within the same day or the next 24 hours, then perhaps Speedpost is a good choice. In most cases though, most people use same day delivery and prefer courier services over Speedpost’s deliveries. This is because people should already know Speedpost, and people searching for courier services are likely NOT looking for Speedpost, but a private courier company in Singapore.

Finding A Good Courier Company – Criteria To Look For

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If you’re on the search for a courier company in Singapore to partner with, then you’re reading the right post.

First of all, is price your only main concern? If so, then I would have to recommend you to find Speedpost. Speedpost offers one of the cheapest ever local courier services you can find in Singapore. However, low service quality usually comes with cheap services, and it is the case with Speedpost too. To offer you such attractive prices, they are a completely non-negotiable bunch of people, and you would have to get your item(s) delivered at their schedule. This means for you as an E-commerce business owner,  your item(s) will be delivered within a span of approximately 1-5 days, and your poor customers in Singapore would not be able to choose when they can receive the item(s). If they’re working adults or a busy mom, they would need to sacrifice their entire days and sit at home and wait for the parcel to arrive. If prices are your main concern, go with Speedpost.

Secondly, reliability is a big issue in my opinion. If you want to get item(s) delivered, you want them to be delivered safely and promptly to your recipient. The worst thing that can possibly happen is for either the item(s) to get damaged or lost in transition. Many businesses I know in Singapore send wine bottles to their customers. I want you to imagine if you were to engage a terrible company which doesn’t take care of the products and have it all broken when it reaches your recipient. In such a situation, you would lose trust in that courier company – BUT WORST OF ALL, the recipient would lose trust in YOU! You do not want your customers to lose trust in you. Make sure to engage courier companies which are reliable and takes good care of your item(s).

Third of all, you should go with a company that has both vans as well as bikes. This is because they would be able to offer you rates ad services which are more flexible depending on what item(s) you’re sending. If you engage a courier company that only has vans, they would overcharge you for document deliveries. If you engage a courier company in Singapore that only offers bike courier services, you would find it difficult to get parcels or fragile items delivered safely across Singapore.

Hopefully the above tips and criteria to look for when finding a courier company will help you.

Different Courier Services In Singapore

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There are different levels of courier services in Singapore, and accordingly, different prices. Here is a post on the various types of courier services you can get in Singapore as well as their approximate price range.

First of all, there is a next day delivery service. This is the cheapest type of courier service provided by companies in Singapore. What this service entails is the courier picking up your item(s) and then delivering it before the end of the following business day. He or she would have the liberty of over 24 hours to get your item(s) delivered. If you need cheaper deliveries, then look for next day courier services.

Next of all, it is same day courier service in Singapore. Although not the cheapest, it is the most common type of delivery service. Most people and businesses which require documents to be delivered to a partner firm of customer would usually engage such same day courier services in Singapore.

The highest tier in courier services is the urgent level service. This is delivery which will be completed within 1 to 2 hours of you ordering the service. Usually for documents which are time sensitive, this type of service will be utilized. Very often, you will notice that urgent courier services are instead used by hospitals which need to deliver stool samples or blood samples. For most other businesses and people in Singapore, same day courier service is the go-to choice.

Of course, if you run an E-commerce store instead, then you would be usually needing next 2 day deliveries. This means that the courier company would be delivering your items within a span of 2 working days to your customers.

As you can already tell, courier services mainly differ only in the time frame in which the item(s) get delivered. Only E-commerce logistics is rather different as it is usually item(s) which need to be distributed to many different places across Singapore.