Many times, our customers are in a jam where they’re waiting for their parts to get finished. But they don’t know exactly when the parts will be ready to expedite, or transport efficiently. But they know as soon as the parts are ready, that they need them to be transported immediately. Recently, we had a customer request a cargo van, and they needed it simply to pick up and deliver to Ohio. We had already dispatched the driver to pick up the parts, when the shipping clerk called us and said, “We are not for sure when the parts will be ready. Can you go ahead and send you driver home?”
Importantly, and our job is to make the shipping department, and the shipping needs of our customers go as smoothly as possible. I told the customer that we were willing to wait on the parts to get finished, at no charge as long as the wait was not more than an hour. At StoneBridge Expediting and Small Load Trucking, man hours are extremely important; whether in a box truck, a cargo van, transit, or a sprinter.
Expedites typically are ready to go as soon as we arrive, but we understand there are many complications. There are many challenges when it comes to manufacturing parts, and product that our customers are shipping all over the United States. And we were wiling to be flexible, and always flexible for our customers. And making sure that the expedite, or the deliver of their item goes as smooth as possible.
What we did in this instance, is I said, “Our driver is more than willing to show up, wait, be on-call, and as long as he doesn’t wait over an hour. The first hour of wait time is always free. We understand the challenges you deal with, and our job is to try to make this as smooth as possible.” The customer was thrilled, because they were originally ready to immediately send our driver home, and then dispatch the driver when the driver was needed. Which would have added another potential 45 minutes on top of the time of waiting for the parts to get done.
Since we decided to have the driver show up, and wait, to the customer’s surprise, to shipping clerk’s surprise, and to our surprise, the parts were ready within 45 minutes of the driver’s arrival. We were able to wait for free, because the first hour is free, pick up the parts, and get the expedite in route as quick as possible, just in time, as soon as the parts were ready.
It’s just another way that StoneBridge Expediting and Small Load Trucking understands how important flexibility is, and how important it is for us to understand our customer’s needs, when it comes to waiting on parts to get completed, waiting on parts to get finished, and being there when needed, on time, to do these hot expedite routes, just in time, hot shot routes, whenever we’re needed. And to try to make the shipping department’s lives within these manufacturing companies as easy and smooth as possible.
People who work in logistics, shipping, and receiving, and manufacturing, and other production facilities, already have a million challenges to deal with. Our job is to make the expediting area, the just-in-time area, just a little bit easier. That’s our job, and we’re happy to do it.
