Courier – Crossroads Courier

The costs to business in this country resulting from poor service could amount to $75 billion per year, according to a 2018 article in Forbes. The article states that just two years prior, in 2016, the cost was only $62 billion – about a 22% increase.

Poor service can result in devastating results for the customer, but also for the provider. Receiving or offering substandard service may drive customers to the competition, resulting in defections, reduced revenue, higher costs, damage to the brand identity, and higher stress for employees.

The Implications of Poor Quality Control

Poor quality control (QC) in the delivery business inflicts supply chain pain upon customers and, ultimately, upon the consumers. When poor quality control is instilled, consumer expectations for finding a favorite brand on the store shelves, or receiving a home delivery on time become disappointments. Critical parts for a manufacturing line are delayed, resulting in slowdown or even shutdown of production, and wasted payroll dollars are to idle workers. A vital medicine is not available for the patient. Or an expected delivery of beautiful flowers for a special occasion misses the mark. These experiences hurt the company on the receiving end in both brand image and the bottom line.

We’ve compiled five of worst consequences of poor service:

Defections: Poor service can cause customer defections, with the resultant loss of revenue. Expending resources to repair the ill will generated is costly. Additionally, a small business will find it challenging and costly to replace lost customers. Retaining a customer is much cheaper than acquiring a new customer. Various studies conclude that depending on the industry, closing a deal on a new customer can cost 5 to 7 times more than keeping customers.
Revenue loss: Businesses that rely on customer satisfaction ratings may be quickly hurt by poor service that causes their ratings to drop. This can lead to declining revenue as customers switch away from the business, as both the recipient of the poor service and the provider spend less money. In many cases negative ratings can result in the ultimate cost – closure of the business.

Increased costs: Poor service disrupts normal business processes, as the company on the receiving end diverts resources to repair the damage. The result is increased costs to keep the business running.

Loss of brand reputation: Being on the receiving end of poor service can damage a business’s reputation and make it difficult to retain their customers and/or attract new customers. Providing poor service can ultimately damage brand loyalty for the provider. “Your brand is only as good as your reputation,” said Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur, and founder of the Virgin Group.

Increased stress levels for employees: A less obvious but potential cost may result from stressed employees becoming demoralized resulting in longer times than necessary to complete tasks or poor execution of normal processes. Employees who experience constant frustration may leave the company causing unnecessary costs for recruitment and training.

Sensitivity to price begins when the service or product is associated with poor service. A price point that is eroded because of unsatisfactory service is a cost. “Always keep in mind the old retail adage: customers remember the service a lot longer than they remember the price,” said Laura Freedman, former president of E-tailing Group.

Customer Lifetime Value

We are reminded of the story about the new employee in a grocery store who does not satisfactorily settle a customer’s complaint. When the manager of the store questioned the employee about why the complaint wasn’t handled, the employee replied, “What’s the big deal, it was only a $30 sale we lost.” The manager replied, “No, that customer will spend over $100,000 on groceries over the next twenty years, plus the bad reputation we get if the customer doesn’t recommend us.” A simple but impactful story about a customer’s lifetime value.

“What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?”

– George Eliot, Novelist

Mary Ann Evans, known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist and poet in the Victorian era. Her novel Middlemarch was published in eight installments between 1871 and 1872. A service provider’s reason for existence is to make life easier for their customers. Courier services who are consistently focused on great quality control play a vital role in saving their customers the high costs of poor service. As the novelist George Eliot insists, the true meaning of service is to make life less difficult for each other. An important concept to ponder indeed, whether in business or in life itself.

At Crossroads Courier, we are dedicated to ensuring high quality service throughout your journey with us. If you would like to share your customer service experiences with our team, please contact us at 314-222-4000.

Phoenix, AZ – Crossroads Courier, a leading provider of logistics and transportation solutions, has acquired small package delivery services in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Tucson from IntelliQuick Delivery, a provider of on-demand courier and delivery services. This acquisition strengthens Crossroads Courier’s ability to provide fast and reliable same day delivery services to its customers in these key markets.

“We are excited to welcome IntelliQuick Delivery’s customers, employees, and drivers to the Crossroads Courier family,” said Zach Bezdek, CEO of Crossroads Courier. “This acquisition expands our footprint in the Southwest and enhances our ability to deliver on our promise of fast, reliable, and cost-effective transportation solutions. We continue to deliver on our motto, We Find a Way!”

With this acquisition, Crossroads Courier will be able to offer same day and next day delivery services to a wider range of customers in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Tucson, including those in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, automotive, and various other industries. The company plans to integrate IntelliQuick into its existing operations over the coming months.

About Crossroads Courier: Crossroads Courier is a leading provider of logistics and transportation solutions, offering a wide range of services including same day delivery, next day delivery, scheduled delivery, and warehousing. The company operates throughout the United States, with a focus on providing fast and reliable transportation solutions to businesses of all sizes. For more information, visit www.crossroadscourier.com.

“Peak performance experts say things like ‘you should focus.’ You need to eliminate the distractions. Commit to one thing and become great at that thing.”

– James Clear, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits

A bit philosophical for logistics? Perhaps. But there are thousands of words written to this effect. In Psychology Today’s, To Do Better, Focus On What You Do Well, it’s stated, “The advantages of investing in strengths are manifold. For one, we are usually pulled more strongly in the direction of our strengths, since engaging them is more intrinsically rewarding. Moreover, learning comes easier in our areas of strength. Engaging our strengths is also more likely to produce excellence.” The takeaway? Focus energy on your strengths to make the greatest impact.

Commercial companies selling a product to customers require expertise in many disciplines to be successful. Whether research and development; design; manufacturing; quality control; marketing or other attributes are core competencies, the logistics of transporting and delivering the product need not be. When a commercial business deploys a self-operated fleet to deliver its product, this will likely drain resources from the company’s core competency strengths.

What is Fleet Outsourcing?

Running efficient and cost-effective in-house fleets (or private fleets) requires intensive planning, oversight, data analytics, risk management, and cost containment. Counting these amongst other concerns, fleet replacement – or outsourcing the logistics and transportation of your inventory – opens the door to new efficiencies, cost-savings, and operational success.

Reasons to Consider Fleet Outsourcing

Volatile fuel costs
Fleet maintenance and rising cost issues
Route planning
Liability for damaged goods during transit
Driver management
Courier dispatch and communications

Fleet Replacement Benefits

Freeing up internal resources to focus on core competencies
Managing the fleet is now the responsibility of professionals leveraging their core competency in logistics
Eliminating driver recruitment, onboarding, compliance, management, and payroll
Avoiding vehicle maintenance costs and replacement of aging assets
Increasing fleet performance and efficiency

Outsourcing delivery to a third-party fleet replacement provider like Crossroads Courier allows a company to concentrate on their business while engaging a logistics partner to handle the fleet. It’s an opportunity to channel resources into what the talent in the organization does best and foster growth. According to NTT Data’s 27th Annual Third-Party Logistics Study, Back-to-Basics, the outsourcing of domestic transportation continues to rise, at 69% this year, up 2% from the previous survey period.

According to Coyote Logistics in their 2022 article, What is Outsourced Logistics? Everything You Need to Know About 3PLs, “In 2019, 92% of Fortune 500 companies worked with at least one 3PL, which is a significant increase from our initial tracking in 2001, when only 46% of the companies had 3PL relationships.” However, the article points out that outsourcing logistics and transportation management isn’t just for large businesses. On average, small companies continue to outsource upwards of 25% of their total supply chain needs (including fleet services) to a third-party provider.

Entrepreneur, speaker, and author Gary Vaynerchuk is co-founder of restaurant reservation company Resy and Empathy Wines. He is currently CEO of VaynerX, a New York based communications company. He strongly advocates for operating only from your strengths and outsourcing your weaknesses.

“Whether you’re 9 or 90, stop trying to fix the things you’re bad at, and focus on the things you’re good at,” advises Vaynerchuk.

Sound advice, regardless of the field of endeavor. Fleet outsourcing can be a key to business success. Focus on what you’re good at and leave the delivery to the experts. Contact Crossroads Courier today to learn more about outsourcing your fleet and delivery needs to our caring and talented team.

An entrepreneurial start

Growing up with a salesman dad, professional independent delivery driver for Crossroads Courier, Ginger Theroux-Hough, was influenced by her father’s entrepreneurial spirit. “My dad had a buying service,” said Ginger. “It was one of the first big buying services of its kind in the country. It was for embroidery machines, and he would go to trade shows. I went with him. I learned a lot about sales, how to generate leads, how to close the sale,” she reflected. “I made my first big sale at my dad’s used car lot. I did paperwork, but there was the day that dad was away at a meeting, and a woman came to the lot looking at the cars,” Ginger said. “I was only fifteen, but I jumped at the chance to help her. She was looking to buy a car for her daughter. I sold her a Camaro.” What did Ginger do to close the deal? “After listening to her, I told her that the Camaro was going to be the ‘biggest and baddest’ car around. Her daughter’s car would be the envy of the school’s parking lot,” Ginger said. “I think I can read people pretty well,” she added. The experience was a revelation. “I was extremely proud,” Ginger exclaimed. “Dad was happy. I put the entire deal together. When he came back, all it needed was his signature. It was cool.” From that point on, sales was in Ginger’s blood. Ginger pursued a career in real estate for thirty-seven years. “I’ve been a self-employed entrepreneur my entire working life,” she said. Besides her successful real estate sales career, she also helped to substantially grow a property management company. She was her own boss and doing well.

a Passion for Riding and doing good

Besides her pride in her family- two adult sons and three grandsons – and in her entrepreneurial career, Ginger discovered another passion. “I ride motorcycles. I recently sold my Harley, and now I ride a brand-new Indian Chieftain. It’s a little more comfortable now at my age,” she said. “I started riding motorcycles at age seven, riding on the back of my dad’s. I had friends who rode, and I wanted to be like the boys. I’ve been on bikes for as long as I remember.” “I’m a member of an association. Not an MC, or motorcycle ‘club’. It’s an association. I’m VP of our local chapter. We do events and raise money for charity. All the money we raise goes to support Christie’s Place , an organization dedicated to strengthening the health and resilience of women, children, and families impacted by HIV/AIDS; and Relentless Pursuit , a community-centered, faith-based organization dedicated to eradicating human trafficking and helping to heal and restore survivors and bring offenders to justice. I’m proud of the good that comes out of our motorcycle association.”

At the Crossroads of Change

Despite the goodness in her family life and her charity work, a restlessness was growing inside Ginger in regards to her work in sales. “I woke up one day, AND I WAS DONE, JUST DONE. Burned out on it,” she said. “I just walked in and said, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ So, I quit. Just couldn’t do the corporate world anymore. It works for lots of people, but deep-down I realized I wasn’t being me.” A friend in her motorcycle association chapter, Janice Maki, drove as an independent contractor for Crossroads Courier. “Janice said ‘You ride with me, why don’t you try driving with me?’ So, I did, and I loved it from the get-go.” “The first day I drove for Crossroads, I was hooked. It was a great day. At day’s end, the dispatcher asked ‘I know it’s your first day, but we have a ride out to Hays (Kansas). Do you want it?’ That was a three hour drive, but I said, ‘Why not?’ And it was great. I loved it from the start.” Ginger, who took logistics classes in college, said she knows what it takes for Crossroads Courier to make it all work for their customers each day. “I understand what they do. I was in the corporate world,” she said.

A Culture of Care at Crossroads Courier

For her, it’s the culture of care, cooperation, and collaboration at Crossroads that matters. “I can be me; I can be who I am,” she said. “They love me at the office, and I love them. It’s a team effort.” Driving gives her some alone time. But she says that when she makes a delivery and speaks to Crossroads Courier customers, it’s “two or three minutes, maybe; but “I try to help make their day a little better, a quick hello, a smile. With some of my repeat deliveries, I get to know a little about the customer and help them smile, too. ‘How are the twins doing?, stuff like that.” She understands that in the courier business, one never knows what importance or joy a particular delivery may bring to the recipient, so she treats them all as important. Ginger’s work ethic is embedded in her character. “If you give your best, then eventually you will get your return,” she believes. “It may be way down the road, but if you help people and give your best for them, then good will come back to you.” Her dependability is important for Crossroads Courier. As a contractor driver, Ginger says she believes in common courtesy. She lets Crossroads Courier know when she is working, and when she is taking time to ride her bike. She does “fill-in” routes. “I call myself the ‘back-up girl,’and I pitch in when there is a dire need, even if it’s something I don’t want to do. Then when good things come along, they give it to me.” Ginger is all about the team, as is the Crossroads Courier Kansas City office. “Even through occasional change in the office, they always have an excellent team,” she proclaimed. “The morale is always high, and they’ve created such a good working environment. It’s amazing. I can pick up the phone and call any of them, and they are so helpful. Brad (Crank, Director of Operations) would be there if I needed his help. They have my back.”

The Rise of Women in Logistics

Ginger is excited and optimistic about the growing role of women in the driving force, whether behind the wheels of trucks or in small vehicles as couriers, and she’s enthusiastic about the rise of women in logistics, in general. “If women want to be in the business, they should give it a shot. They should ignore the old saying that it’s a man’s industry. There are many roles in logistics and transportation that women can do as well or better than men,” she said. “We all need to have balance, family life, fun, and contributing to the world in our own way. I always wanted to be a part of things happening in this world. It’s important to me.” “For me as a kid, when it came to motorcycles, I was going to show the boys that I was as good as them when it came to riding – if not better. I’m self-supportive. I don’t mind asking for help when needed, but I’m positively self-supportive,” she added. “It’s all about work ethic, and there is no way anyone can just come in and make a fast buck. You must prove yourself every day.”

A Family of All Types

Today, besides her sons and grandsons, Ginger only has her mother left. “I talk to my mother every day.” Her dad taught her how to ride, to camp, to fish, and to be athletic. “I grew up in a man’s world,” says Ginger. “What Dad taught me; I taught my sons, and I’m teaching my grandsons.” Always the salesperson, Ginger is an advocate for the great culture at Crossroads Courier. “Whether you’re an employee at Crossroads Courier or a contractor, we’re a family – a family of all colors and all types. We have each other’s backs, so the greater good of the entire family will succeed.”

The High Cost of Poor Service