What does a courier's working week look like?

19 November 2023

What is a courier's job like?

Couriers are also increasingly working at weekends. The reason for this is both the high volume of parcels to be delivered and the needs of customers. Many senders and addressees want to be able to collect their parcel on Saturday.

The position of delivery driver requires a great deal of responsibility and self-organisation. The moment the carrier picks up the parcel at the sorting office involves taking custody of someone's awaited package. Physical strength is also important, as sometimes the size of the item being transported is considerable.

A large part of a courier's working day is spent driving. Therefore, the courier should have a driving licence and be well prepared for a wide variety of unexpected situations. Great care must be taken when travelling, especially in bad weather. Various obstacles must not prevent the delivery of the parcel. After all, urban traffic jams or technical problems can throw anyone off balance. Saturday delivery proves all the more challenging! The courier must be able to withstand stress and think logically under all conditions.

It is worth remembering that a large proportion of delivery agents accept payment as part of a cash on delivery service. This means that the employee must properly secure the money entrusted to him. Vigilance will therefore be a quality that is worth its weight in gold here.

What does a courier's working day look like?

The parcel delivery man's day starts early in the morning - already before 7 a.m. Employees pick up parcels at the sorting office. Of course, couriers working on Saturday start even earlier. Each carrier checks the parcels entrusted to him for any damage. All packages are then loaded into the vehicle. This is where logistics are important - they have to be arranged properly to fit and be properly protected.

What remains is to plan the route. This is one of the key moments in the carrier's work. It will be important to deliver the package, as quickly as possible - taking into account the instructions received from customers as to the collection times. Proper organisation of the work eliminates the risk of mistakes or being late. Good knowledge of the area remains an important issue. Sometimes, a lack of visible street signs can cause a courier to wander around a housing estate for several minutes. Of course, the courier has a fixed working area. This may be the area of specific city districts or a larger district. However, it should be remembered that many couriers are involved in inter-city delivery.

What a courier's working day looks like - delivering parcels

Another part of a courier's working day is delivering parcels to Parcel Post and in person to customers. Here, there are times when the recipients are waiting just as impatiently for the ordered goods as for the delivery man! In a special way, customers are of course happy to see the courier on a Saturday. A short but friendly chat is not only a break from work, but also builds up the company's relationship with its recipients. Because, after all, under all circumstances, it is worthwhile to remain polite and smiling.

Many times couriers warn customers of their arrival by phone or text message. This behaviour is not the result of an obligation on the part of the courier, but of his goodwill. In this way, the employee saves himself and the customer time. Of course, there are situations in which the recipient is not at home. An attempt is then made to contact the addressee. If he or she is able to reach the place where the parcel is to be collected within a few minutes, then the delivery driver will most likely wait. However, a longer wait will be impossible. Time pressures and a heavy workload make it necessary for the carrier to continue his work.

What if a customer 'orders a courier' for 3pm and he arrives at 2pm? The delivery time chosen by recipients is indicative. The carrier does not always have the possibility to adjust his arrival to our expectations. Imagine that several people ask for a delivery at a similar time. The individual collection points are several kilometres apart and the carrier additionally encounters traffic jams on the way to the recipient. Such a situation usually occurs in the afternoon or when courier works at the weekend. Under such circumstances, it will not be possible to reach all addressees at one time.

What a courier's working day looks like - back to base

All parcels have been distributed. The courier goes to the customers to collect the parcels from the senders, based on the orders received from the Dispatcher or the Courier Service Team Coordinator. He then returns to the base, where he passes the payments accepted that day. He returns the shipped or undelivered parcels to the terminal. Finally, he submits a report, in which he reports on the entire day's work. If it is a Friday evening, the employee starts the weekend off. Thus, parcels sent on Saturday will have to wait until Monday to be distributed.

Does the courier work on Saturdays?

According to the regulations, couriers deliver parcels on working days. There are, however, situations in which the customer receives an SMS notification of a parcel delivered to a parcel machine at the weekend. Does the courier work on Saturdays? In fact, many branches of our company also operate on this day. Although it is not the rule, more and more often goods ordered on a Thursday are likely to be delivered to a Parcel Machine that same week.

Many people want to make sure that their parcel arrives on Saturday. After all, there are times when the package contains a birthday present. This is where time is of the essence, and a two-day delay could spoil the surprise. In order to meet our customers' expectations, we have created the option of sending parcels with Saturday delivery by 10 a.m., 12 p.m. or 5 p.m. This option is offered for parcels sent on Friday only and dedicated to residents of selected cities. It is most often in local branches that couriers work on Saturday.