How to Affordably Deliver the Heavy, the Awkward, the Unusual
If you try to ship a shovel with the U.S. Postal Service, they’ll make you put it in a box. If you need to get a wheelbarrow to a job site, FedEx won’t roll it out there for you. These bulky, oversized items are at the mercy of traditional parcel carriers’ dimensional weight fees for large objects and oversized fees for heavy ones. Most carriers don’t offer any sort of alternative.
These obstacles means sellers must choose between offering slow, expensive delivery or simply not offering delivery for awkward or oversized items at all, resulting in lost revenue and disappointed customers. Because when you need a wheelbarrow, you need a wheelbarrow.
RoadieXL™ changes that. With Roadie, a UPS company, you have access to a network of crowdsourced delivery drivers that can deliver heavy, awkward and unusually shaped items ultrafast — without hidden costs or extra hassle. Unlike parcel carriers – whose oversized services often come with early cut-off times for pick up, holiday surcharges, poor visibility and multiple hand-offs that slow progress – sending with RoadieXL™ means:
- No packaging
- No hidden fees
- No handling delays
- No early order cut-offs
- Tight, specific delivery windows
Instead of paying more, waiting longer and wondering exactly when they’ll receive their merchandise, your customer receives affordable, ultrafast same- or next-day delivery in a time window they choose.
How crowdsourcing delivery works with RoadieXL™
Extra large items come in all shapes and sizes, but any single item that weighs over single 60 lbs requires a driver to use extra equipment to allow them to deliver the item safely.
Equipment might include a dolly, blankets, straps, ramps and even trailers. Roadie’s flexible platform can automatically determine when extra equipment is needed for your delivery, or lets you specify if you’d like an extra-equipped driver for individual deliveries.
The Roadie platform then matches your request to a driver with the right vehicle and any equipment needed. That driver picks up your XL item, secures it in the vehicle, and whisks it directly to your customer’s front door, garage or the closest dry area at the delivery address. Drivers can travel up to 100 miles from the pickup point.
The driver stays connected to Roadie’s platform via mobile device every step of the way, so you and your customer can live-track their order and know exactly when it arrives. The sender and customer even get electronic proof of delivery.
Making RoadieXL™ delivery work
Setting up crowdsourced delivery for XL items is fast and easy. It starts with identifying your heavy, hard-to-ship items and working with Roadie to determine your specific delivery requirements.
Next, define your brand’s delivery experience. For example:
- Service levels you’ll provide
- Delivery windows you’ll offer to customers
- Any fees you’ll charge
- Special instructions you may have for drivers
You’ll need policies and procedures to guide the fulfillment process, whether it’s from a store, warehouse or other location. And you’ll make some choices about using Roadie’s web portal or integrating the Roadie platform with your own software. If you’re already using Roadie to send standard-sized products, you won’t need to make any additional changes to the way you upload orders.
The most important thing to know about ultrafast, affordable oversized delivery is that it can boost customer satisfaction. Buyers gravitate to companies that offer the most convenience. Research by McKinsey found about 46% of online shoppers abandon their shopping carts when they discover during checkout that they may need to wait longer for delivery.
Being able to fulfill customers’ desires to get things fast, even if it’s furniture or gym equipment, drives more revenue and a great customer experience. RoadieXL™ makes it possible.
