Businesses need shipping services. It’s an integral part of the business world. Sometimes, packages reach the destination on time. And there are times when the shipper does not deliver the package on time.

While we can all agree on the fact that not every Shipment has to reach the destination exactly on or before the stipulated time, there are several time bound, super important packages that saves lives and matter that much. That’s what we think. For every late shipment, there are hidden and direct consequences.

The obvious fiascoes with delivery shipments would include these kind of scenarios:

1. A birthday gift reaching the destination a day after the birthday

2. What if Santa delivers that particular Peppa Pig life size toy your child has been coveting for months, a day after Christmas? How do you put a cost to that failure?

3. What if the freight carrier delays the delivery of a very critical part that is of high priority in fixing a commercial jet or a major factory?

4. What if a bunch of women entrepreneurs organize a fair to raise funds for breast cancer and UPS/FedEx arrives with the merchandise to be sold, a day late?

5. Lifesaving medicine. Enough said.

6. A 5 year old’s Birthday Party goodies: balloons, candles, party favors, candies and snacks delivered an hour late. Can you imagine a birthday party with bare walls and no candles?

7. Winter gear lost in transit for a remote camp somewhere in Alaska.

8. A containment of beachwear that fails to make it to the beach for summer.

9. A series of shipments delivered late for a particular client to his client. And your client loses his contract.

These are instances when you cannot quantify the service failure cost.  The value is beyond numerical and currency based calculations. It is beyond quantifiable costs when you talk about these scenarios.  But it is a direct consequence that’s seen and felt.

What we fail to factor as a consequence is the hidden repercussions that cost us. Now, sample this:

Let’s say you are a customer who orders something from an ecommerce site. The site promises to deliver the product to your doorstep in 3 days. You track the shipment diligently. And it appears at your doorstep 9 days later. After several calls to the ecommerce firm and to the shipper. Would you buy from the site again? You don’t care whether the ecommerce site goofed up or the shipping carrier goofed up.  What remains in your memory is that you were let down. So, would you order from them again? Of course, you don’t.

When you are the person who runs the site, you did your part right. You took the order and sent it to the shipper immediately. But if the shipper failed to deliver it on time, you lose a customer for no fault of yours. Here’s a study on how much business is lost due to late shipments.

Average probability of a customer reordering from  an online store

60 %

Average probability of a customer reordering from a store following a late delivery

27 %

Average lifetime orders of customers

4

Average number of late packages

7%

Average number of customers shopping from the stores we analysed

400,000  

Average number of customers affected by Delays

28000

Number of orders lost due to the delays

25200

Value of lost orders

$882000

In conclusion, we see that a shipping carrier’s delay in delivering a package might give you a full refund of your shipping cost BUT your business suffers, thanks to the delay. And for no fault of yours. Hold your shipping carriers accountable for every service failure by claiming late shipment refunds. Sign up with LateShipment and recover your package delay cost.