Deliver, deliver, deliver.

Briefly, before we get stuck into today's article, I recently took a first-hand look at the ailing National Health Service in UK. Oh, how a little bit of demand and supply planning expertise plus a smidgeon of alternative thinking could make huge and lasting differences in efficiency and performance. Anyway, today it is the turn of the UK Royal Mail and all those 'black and white cat' postie types to be in line for my scrutiny. 

Before you suggest that the Royal Mail is not a proper supply chain, it is a supply chain and a very complicated one at that. Apart from the reducing but still significant greetings card seasonal peaks, this is a business that cannot forecast how many letters and parcels will be dropped onto Post Office counters and into Post Boxes on a daily basis. Or perhaps they can or should? Is it any different from the daunting, daily, dynamic demand volatility experienced in Tesco, Asda, Lidl and Aldi etc.?

Where be my postie man?

Anyway, that is not the issue on this occasion but it is about the Royal Mail redirection service, which should be a very straightforward formality. You move to a new address and pay the Royal Mail to intercept your letters and parcels and forward them to your new abode. This is not as simple as it sounds as finding my plain brown envelope gas bill must be very close to searching for a needle in a haystack while wearing boxing gloves. Nevertheless, they have been doing this for ages and in large numbers so they should be proficient.

Not this time. They got it horribly wrong from day one and continued to do so as even 'signed for' tracked mail which must be capable of automatic sorting was sent to the old address. Luckily, we were still in the locality and in contact with the remaining Neanderthal students who in their few conscious periods send vowel-free texts letting us know Postman Pat has left something for us. Before they have the chance to eat or smoke what has arrived, we quickly pop down and rescue items that have slipped through the redirect net. I realise it is not easy but that net must have holes the size of Ronaldo’s ego and it is unacceptable.

Finally, Customer Service....

After repeated telephone calls, emails and the release of only a minor amount of my pent-up frustration from afar, Postman Pat has refunded all costs and is now conducting the service – very efficiently incidentally – free of charge. What a waste of time, energy, money and other resources!

I have no idea what the inside of a sorting office looks like or what processes and procedures are in place or their daily challenges but failure to carry out a core advertised service is very disappointing. Delivering enveloped and packaged mail is what they do best; if they cannot get that right then what chance do they have with other value-added services?

Back to basics

Walk into a pub on a scorching day with the sun high in the sky (ok, so that day is not going to be in UK) to be told sorry, no chilled beer. Step into a supermarket to find no bread, milk, tea or cheese! No sausage rolls in Greggs. Pull up at the McDonalds drive-in to be told no fries today - actually, not a bad thing!

You simply have to get the basics right or your credibility with existing and potential new clients is severely tested. Organisations bend over backwards to gain new business and rightly so but why don’t they bend further backwards in an effort to keep that business? In FMCG at least, business retention is far, far harder than securing it in the first place.

Help! I need somebody!

If you have any Supply Chain or Route to Market problems or opportunities you would like to discuss - like S&OP -  then please reach out to Enchange.com via telephone, email, or live chat.