Getting goods delivered to your home is increasingly popular. Some packages are small enough for the postman to deliver, while others require the services of specialists. More and more people are turning to home deliveries, and the B2C sector is growing rapidly. Palletways, the UK’s largest pallet network by volume, says that deliveries to private homes now represent 18% of its business and that this proportion is likely to increase.
Weight limits
Getting goods delivered to your home can be problematic, with several delivery companies deciding to introduce a weight limit for standard tail lift deliveries of 750kg. Both Palletline and Fortec have decided to introduce this weight limit. Palletline will still deliver heavier pallets, but these will come at an additional cost. Palletways, however, has decided against introducing a weight limit.
The alternative
James Wilson, the chief executive of Palletways, says that the emphasis should always be upon health and safety alongside driver training and the appropriate equipment. More important than an arbitrary weight limit, he maintained, is to ensure that drivers are fully trained in home deliveries so that existing health and safety regulations are adhered to. He went on to say that it was also important to train the people who arrange the deliveries so that private customers know what they can expect.
Companies such as duffydiscount, which provides pallet racking in Ireland and other storage solutions, need to deliver to private customers and businesses alike. They also need to be sure that their customers will receive their orders safely and on time. The answer, says Mr Wilson, is for hauliers to invest in vehicles that can easily handle deliveries to private premises. Delivering to houses in city centres or on narrow roads provide more of a challenge than retail parks or industrial estates. Mr Wilson recommends that his haulier members invest in smaller vehicles with tail lifts to ensure that they can make deliveries to private customers anywhere.
Mr Wilson regards the growth in home deliveries as a huge opportunity and feels that a weight limit would be counterproductive for his haulier members. The full interview can be found in Commercial Motor magazine.
Health and safety requirements for deliveries already exist to ensure the safety of both the driver and the customer. Palletways believe these requirements are sufficient to support the growth of the home delivery sector.